Newsmaker of the Week // Five Mile Point Speedway

After 72 years of springs, summers and falls of offering auto racing to Southern Tier, New York enthusiasts of the sport of speed, Five Mile Point Speedway ran its last races this past weekend. When the final lap was run, Modified favorite Justin Holland, a third generation driver, was standing in the winners circle, taking the final flag and winning the last one with ‘Five Mile Pride’, a mantra that the locals, and track owner Andrew Harpell have worn any time ‘their guys’ repel invaders from other tracks.

As Holland celebrated, fans were reluctant to leave the track, many taking bits of clay with them, or walking around the third mile oval one last time. Such scenes in racing are bittersweet, bitter in that a track is lost, sweet in the joys of the present and in the memories of the past.

Five Mile Point in its last hour, made News!