Birmingham International Raceway

Birmingham International Raceway is a five-eighths mile paved oval located in Birmingham, Alabama. The track operated as a one mile dirt oval from 1906 until 1917. This was originally a horse track. New grandstands were built in 1928, and are still there to this day. In 1933 the track reopened as a one-half mile dirt oval, then closed again in 1942. The track reopened again on October 1st, 1946, again as a one-half mile dirt oval.

Birmingham International Raceway has had several different names, including Fairgrounds Speedway, Birmingham Super Speedway, Birmingham Super Raceway, and Birmingham International Speedway.

From 1958 through 1961, the track operated as a one-quarter mile dirt oval with Bob Harmon at the helm as promoter. NASCAR's top division (Grand National) began competing at Birmingham International Raceway on September 7th, 1958. Fireball Roberts won that race in a 1957 Chevrolet. The pole qualifying speed was 64.03 miles per hour. There were a a total of eight NASCAR Grand National races held at BIR.

Here are the stats for the eight NASCAR Grand National races held at Birmingham International Raceway.

NASCAR's short-lived Convertible division also held one race at Birmingham International Raceway on June 22nd, 1958. Curtis Turner won that event in a 1958 Ford. The pole sitter ran a blistering 64.6 miles per hour.

On June 28th, 1962, BIR began operation as the five-eighths mile paved oval that it is today. Bobby Allison took over as promoter of BIR in 1975.

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