On June 4, 1946, auto racing promoter Bill France Sr. announced plans for a dual-use dirt track in Greenville, South Carolina, built and financed by Bob Willimon. Willimon had purchased the land from a mail carrier and originally intended a horse racing-only facility, but was persuaded by France Sr. to include automobile racing. The speedway opened on July 4, 1946, with driver Ed Samples winning the inaugural auto race and a horse named Judge Patcher taking the first equestrian event. The opening program was hampered by heavy dust but was considered successful by local media, and subsequent events that year broke South Carolina's attendance record for sporting events. Sunday racing was briefly banned in October 1946 due to local blue laws, but the ban was reversed the following month.
In 1947, Willimon sold controlling interest to John H. Holcombe and Buddy Davenport, with each of the three partners holding a third of the track. Floodlights for night racing were installed in 1948. After the 1952 season the track closed for nearly two years, reopening in 1954 under promoter W. A. McFalls for motorcycle racing. A new lighting system was installed in 1955 under promoter Joe Bailey. On October 6 of that year, the track hosted its first NASCAR Cup Series race; initial winner Jim Reed was disqualified for an illegal engine, handing the victory to Bob Flock.
In December 1955, brothers Pete Blackwell and Tom Blackwell purchased the speedway, demolishing the existing horse stables on acquisition. A concrete grandstand replaced the original structure in 1959, and seating was expanded to in excess of 3,000 four years later. A concrete outside retaining wall was erected on the backstretch in 1964 and later extended around additional turns.
In April 1970, after 25 racing seasons on a dirt surface, the track was paved over the course of two weeks; the new surface hosted its first races on April 18. The following year, the track hosted the 1971 Greenville 200, the first flag-to-flag NASCAR Cup Series race broadcast live on national television, airing on ABC's Wide World of Sports program.
After the 1982 season the Blackwells sold the facility to Jarvis–Landry Associates for $1,000,000, but repurchased it two years later after the firm encountered financial difficulties. In 1987 the pit road entrance was relocated to the fourth turn and the pit area was expanded. The track surface was repaved in 1988 and again in 1995. A major renovation completed in 1996 raised seating capacity to between 9,000 and 10,000; plans for further expansion and corporate suites were also announced. These upgrades made the speedway a testing venue for NASCAR Cup Series teams until 2015, when NASCAR banned testing at non-Cup tracks. Pete Blackwell died on May 11, 2000, leaving Tom as the sole owner.
In 2003, Tom Blackwell sold the speedway to Greenville car dealer Kevin Whitaker. Blackwell remained as general manager and promoter. The facility hosted a Kevin Whitaker Chevrolet 150 race annually from 2006 to 2017 as part of the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. Tom Blackwell died in 2010.
In January 2023, no racing events were scheduled for the season and the track was reported to face an uncertain future. Real estate company RealtyLink acquired a contract to purchase the track in March 2023. Racing driver Jackie Manley subsequently arranged a lease with Whitaker and sought to crowdfund $103,000 by mid-April, but after raising only $60,000 the plan was abandoned in July 2023.
In November 2023, RealtyLink's plans for a 289-acre industrial park around the speedway were approved, with owner Phil Wilson stating he did not intend to buy the speedway itself. The project later expanded to 600 acres across three phases, with groundbreaking on the first phase beginning June 20, 2024. The racetrack was separately listed for sale by RealtyLink at $5.8 million. In January 2025, the third phase of construction — which included demolition of the speedway — was denied by the Pickens County Planning Commission, and RealtyLink agreed to wait one year before reapplying. As of March 2025, the track had received purchase offers of approximately $3 million. On April 4, 2026, a "Save the Speedway" rally was held at District Park in Easley, featuring gubernatorial candidate Alan Wilson as a speaker.
Greenville-Pickens Speedway held NASCAR Cup Series races in two separate periods: 1955–1956 and 1958–1971. The track also hosted NASCAR Weekly Racing Series events across multiple divisions since 1952. The CARS Tour appeared at the venue intermittently from 1999 to 2022. In its final active season in 2022, five divisions competed: late models, super stocks, renegades, pure stocks, and a four-cylinder/four-wheel drive class.
Since 1964, the track has hosted the Upper South Carolina State Fair. The track's retaining walls carry the names of previous track champions as decoration.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.