- Ohio speedway saved last year when NASCAR’s Matt Tifft purchased it.
- Ready to reopen soon, the track will host a range of racing events.
- Opened in 1959, the speedway once hosted NASCAR racing.
While Dale Earnhardt Jr. has spent years flying the flag for saving short tracks by backing events, stepping into grassroots races, and helping breathe life into venues such as North Wilkesboro Speedway, another NASCAR driver has rolled up his sleeves to bring a dormant facility back from the brink.
In May 2025, Matt Tifft acquired Mansfield Motor Speedway after first floating plans for a revival in April. The Ohio property spans 180 acres, with plans to host racing and non-racing events, with a target window as early as 2026.
Racing update on Mansfield Motor Speedway
Since the purchase, crews have worked to turn the clock back. Tifft said the site looked like “a meteor hit it” when he took over, and the project was a labor-intensive effort aimed at restoring racing in the community and drawing in the next crop of drivers.
The overhaul now includes a 70-by-40-foot jumbotron, reworked grandstands, and a dirt track surface set for competition. Plans go beyond stock cars, with motocross, off-road ATV events, and late-model sprint cars on the docket. The venue will also stage concerts, 5Ks, and festivals, casting a wide net.
The speedway also stands as a business play for Mansfield, with more than 200 seasonal jobs expected. The push comes alongside other developments in the city, including the announcement of Northeast Ohio’s first Buc-ee’s and a $25 million housing and business project in the downtown area.
Opening day is set for May 2, with locals branding it the “comeback classic.”
A NASCAR track with history and a long road back
Mansfield Motor Speedway first opened in 1959 as a dirt facility and served local racing for decades. It stepped onto the NASCAR stage in the 2000s, with the 0.440-mile track hosting NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events from 2004 through 2008.
The final Truck race at the venue came down to the wire, as Donny Lia made a last-lap pass in a battle with David Starr and Todd Bodine. The track also hosted two ARCA Menards Series races between 2009 and 2010, won by Parker Kligerman and Max Gresham.
Other series that ran at Mansfield included the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, now known as the ARCA Menards Series East, the NASCAR Midwest Series, the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the ASA National Tour, and the Hooters Pro Cup Series, which later gave way to the CARS Tour. Joey Logano also claimed a Pro Cup Series win at the track in 2005 on his climb through the ranks.
The facility shut down in 2010. Ownership shifted in 2013 when Grant Milliron took control through a property seizure auction run by the Richland Sheriff’s Office, with a reported bid of $800,000.
By 2017, the asphalt was torn up, and the track returned to dirt racing, hosting events for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the All Star Circuit of Champions. That revival did not last, as the venue shut its gates after the Dirt Million event on August 24, 2019, where Brandon Sheppard took the final win to date.
Now, with Tifft at the helm, the track is once again on the grid, trying to go from dust to green flag. Whether it sticks this time is what everyone will be watching, because this place has seen more comebacks than probably any other.
