It’s technically still there, but having seen in person the sorry, dilapidated state it’s in, they’ll never race again at North Wilkesboro and it’s a damn shame. The quintessential “birth place” of stock car racing (I know, along with a dozen other rutted trails in the middle of a cow pasture, but still) – not only had the historic value but produced some really exciting racing to boot.
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Hales Corners Speedway in Hales Corners Wisconsin. 1/4 mile clay track that was a craphole and so much fun! Apparently a home improvement store (menards) and complaining neighbors were more important that midwest short-track racing!

“Our favorite sport has seen many of its classic venues fall to the rising tide of residential encroachment…” OK, apologies in advance, but I have to rant a bit here. While I do lament the racetracks of bygone days, I also worry for some existing tracks which are already getting squeezed by this. Laguna Seca is the local, and to me classic, example. I’ve always really liked that track (a favorite of mine in sims), so lucky me that it’s close enough for me to visit occasionally, for the Monterey Historics (or “Rolex Motorsport Reunion” nowadays, but…Historics) and the like. However, it’s become well-known for very strict noise regulations (which, thankfully, can be waived a few days out of the year for events like the Historics), to the point that a couple I know who have been into racing for years have basically just stopped doing any events there, because it’s too much hassle to avoid getting black-flagged for noise regs. It’s also common for cars to have a “Laguna exhaust”, with more baffling, more-restrictive mufflers, etc. specifically to get the car to pass at Laguna, where everywhere else they can run much simpler systems. Enthusiast forums have no shortage of “How’d you guys pass the Laguna noise check?” threads (which I discovered by accident when trying to learn more about said noise regs). Why are their noise limits so low? Well, because people in the nearby-ish residential communities complain. Which would be all well and good…if those communities had existed when the track was built. But Laguna Seca was, sensibly, built out in the middle of nowhere, because hey, we probably don’t want to disturb a bunch of people. Specifically, it was built in 1957, on land that was originally part of Fort Ord, which, among other things, hosted an artillery range — also not the quietest of facilities (though admittedly it sounds like that was significantly earlier in the Fort’s history, back when it was still a Camp rather than a Fort). You can still see warning signs about unexploded ordnance and such from the track’s access roads. At any rate, my point is, look, you don’t get to be all surprised and offended about noise when you build your house/subdivision/whatever nearby an existing and active racetrack! Ya think maybe you should have researched that a little before making such a major construction or purchase decision?
Now, I may have some of my history or order of events wrong; I don’t claim to be an expert on this subject. There may have been some houses already in existence nearby to that area when Laguna Seca was built. However, being that it was built in 1957, I’m betting that even if such places existed, they are not likely still occupied by their original purchasers, who would be the only ones with a really valid complaint. If you move next to an active racetrack, the same logic applies. If you’ve lived there since before the track was built, and your concerns/objections were overruled, sorry about that, and you certainly have cause to be annoyed. Everybody else, the track was there first. If you’re a motorhead, you’ll probably love living there. If not, live somewhere else or install some soundproofing. I’d hate to see a track like Laguna Seca join the ranks of the lost racecourses of yesteryear because of ex-post-facto NIMBY-ism.

Westwood Motorsports Park, Coquitlam, B.C.