The site at Flemington began as a half-mile, four-cornered dirt oval built for horse racing as part of the Hunterdon County 4-H Agricultural Fair, with equestrian events dating to 1848. Motorcycles first competed on the track in 1911, and the "Speedway" hosted its first automobile race in 1915, a half-mile dirt oval event promoted and won by Ira Vail. A grandstand opened in 1917 and stood until the venue was demolished in January 2005.
Auto races became a nearly annual fixture at the Flemington Fair. Stock car racing emerged as the weekly Saturday-night attraction from 1955 when permanent lighting was installed. During the 1966–1967 off-season the oval was completely reconfigured into a nearly 5/8-mile, semi-banked rounded rectangle that earned the affectionate nickname "The Square." At its peak the dirt layout was regarded as the fastest 5/8-mile dirt track in the United States.
In 1971 local businessman Paul Kuhl began promoting weekly racing events at Flemington Speedway. He and his son Rick Kuhl continued to promote weekly racing and special events until the close of the 2000 racing season. Until that point, Flemington Fairgrounds Speedway held the distinction of being the oldest operating racetrack in the country to hold weekly racing events — a title subsequently passed to Orange County Fair Speedway.
The track remained on dirt through the end of the 1990 season, when local resident and business complaints combined with EPA standards prompted the decision to pave the surface. The transition dramatically raised lap speeds, but also produced what officials described as a series of serious crashes. Among the drivers injured was Ray Evernham, who would later become a NASCAR Sprint Cup team owner. Track officials responded by installing foam-block barriers, which were credited with absorbing impacts at speeds up to 140 mph (230 km/h) without causing serious injury to competitors.
With the paved surface established, Flemington attracted a wider range of major series. The track hosted the modified Race of Champions from 1992 to 1995, a prestigious annual event it inherited from Pocono Raceway; the race subsequently moved to Oswego Speedway. Flemington also hosted six NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races between 1991 and 1998, and one NASCAR Busch North Series race in 1991, won by Ricky Craven.
The track's highest-profile national series commitment came from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, which held four races at Flemington between 1995 and 1998 under the Stevens Beil / Genuine Car Parts banner. All four events were won by Chevrolet entries. Ron Hornaday Jr. won in 1995 and 1997, Mike Skinner took the 1996 race, and Terry Cook won the final event in 1998. The outright lap record for the circuit was set by Stacy Compton of Impact Motorsports during the 1998 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series visit, at 18.817 seconds.
The track's last pro-touring event was the ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series "Flemington ARCA 150," originally scheduled for August 14, 1999 but delayed a day by a severe thunderstorm. Frank Kimmel won, going on to claim his first ARCA series title that season. The race proved to be the only ARCA event held at the speedway.
Despite the investments in safety and the variety of major events it hosted, Flemington Speedway continuously lost money after paving. The track closed on November 8, 2002. The Flemington Fair had itself ceased annual operations in 1999, and a fire set by teenage vandals in 2002 damaged several structures on the fairgrounds property. The facility was sold to developers and demolished in early January 2005. A multi-use commercial development called Raritan Town Center was subsequently built on the surrounding area, with a Lowe's home improvement store occupying the former racing surface.
Flemington's nearly nine decades of uninterrupted racing — from AAA-era dirt oval events through to national truck series competition — made it one of the most continuously active racing venues in American motorsport history. Its transformation from a celebrated dirt surface to a paved short track illustrated both the safety pressures that reshaped American short-track racing through the 1990s and the financial fragility that closed many historic regional venues during the same period.
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