Demolition derby is the real thing

Rumors give way to hard fact: Speedway’s scheduled for leveling

By Jason Vondersmith

The Portland Tribune, Aug 1, 2003, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Dan Obrist hadn’t heard the rumor of Portland Speedway’s rebirth, but he has something to say about the race track.

“I’m tearing it down,” says Obrist, a star stock car driver at the speedway who also owns a Portland recycling and demolition company. “Pulling out the walls, digging up the dirt. Just signed the contract yesterday (Tuesday).

“And as soon as I pull the first board, I’ll drop the first tear.”

For 77 years, Portland Speedway featured stock cars on either a dirt track or paved half-mile oval, then two years of Outlaw cars on another dirt oval in 2000 and 2001. With the prospect of mixed-use development on the property and speedway operators unable to make improvements because of their short-term lease, racing ceased there in 2002.

Dirt and dilapidated grandstands remain on the site, and Obrist plans to level everything in the coming months. Developer Tom Moyer has dropped plans to develop the property, which, along with the adjacent Portland Meadows property, has multiple owners.

“It’s just going to sit there,” Obrist says. “Nobody has come close to asking (the owners) about it.”

Craig Armstrong, the speedway’s former general manager, has heard rumors that he will return from his job of running Atlanta Dragway in Georgia to restart the racing program at Portland Speedway.

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