Car owner Emmett Shelley persuaded Williams Grove Park proprietor Roy Richwine to build a speedway across the street from the park, and the first race on 21 May 1939 was won by Tommy Hinnershitz. The track ran "big car" races under American Automobile Association sanction and select AMA motorcycle events. Operations were halted in 1942 for World War II and did not resume until 1945. Infrastructure improvements followed in 1947 — lighting for night racing, a pedestrian tunnel at the entrance to turn one, and the bridge across the backstretch that became a landmark. The 1949 American Championship Car Racing National Championship drew a large crowd; that race was won by Johnny Mantz.
The 1950s brought a generational shift from open-wheel cars to Jalopy Stock Modified machines, though AAA — and then from 1956, USAC — Champ Car events continued at the venue through 1959. On 20 October 1963, the National Open was born, billed as the "Biggest Race in the East." Eventual two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Gordon Johncock was its inaugural winner. Ray Tilley set a track record of 21 feature wins in a single season in 1966, a figure that stands to this day. By the late 1960s Williams Grove had transitioned to a weekly programme centred on sprint cars.
Morgan Hughes purchased the speedway in 1972, marking only the second family ownership in its history. The arrival of the All-Star Circuit of Champions and World of Outlaws touring series in the 1970s intensified competition, and the term "Pennsylvania Posse" was coined for the local drivers who regularly challenged — and beat — the national touring regulars. An escalating engine-displacement dispute in the 1980s eventually settled on 410-cubic-inch aluminium block power for touring events. The 358 cc sprint car class was added in 1989 to serve as a developmental division. The World of Outlaws Late Model Series held its inaugural race at the speedway in 1988, won by Larry Phillips.
Pennsylvania Speedweek launched in 1991, with Williams Grove hosting the first race on 3 July, won by Steve Smith. Fred Rahmer, Lance Dewease, and Don Kreitz Jr. emerged as the dominant names of the era, eventually surpassing the career win totals of earlier legends. In 2006, the speedway expanded to two racing nights per week to absorb divisions from the closing Silver Springs Speedway, introducing a Saturday Night Series that formally began on 15 April 2006. Morgan Hughes died in 2008, leaving the speedway to his family; his daughter Kathleen assumed operational control.
The decade saw the highest event count in the speedway's history, with both Friday and Saturday programmes running through most of the season. In May 2011, the Morgan Cup challenge was established to formalise the rivalry between the World of Outlaws and the Pennsylvania Posse. Fred Rahmer, the all-time winningest driver at the track, retired in 2013 after winning his first National Open. By 2015, the National Open had grown into a three-day event, making it one of the richest sprint car races in the country.
The most wins in a single season belong to Ray Tilley with 21 victories in 1966. The record for most consecutive wins is held by Steve Smith with six straight in 1976. The most point championships belong to Fred Rahmer, who claimed nine titles between 1997 and 2013. Lance Dewease holds the record for the most modern-day wins at the facility. The youngest winner in the 410 sprint class is Gio Scelzi at 16 years and 10 months.
Williams Grove Speedway has been featured in several video games, including Dirt Track Racing 2, Dirt Track Racing: Sprint Cars, and World of Outlaws: Sprint Cars 2002, giving the track a presence in sim racing alongside its storied real-world history.
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