Deadline extended for opening historic SC motor speedway. Will enough donations come in time?

No racing this weekend at Greenville Pickens Speedway, but it’s not doomsday — yet — for the second oldest short track in the nation.

Jackie Manley, a racer whose family has been involved with the track for generations, is not ready to give up.

He’s trying to raise $100,000 to lease the track for a year from track owner Kevin Whitaker, a Greenville car dealer. The original plan was to open the season April 15, but NASCAR has given him an extension until May 1.

He said Thursday he’s more than halfway there with corporate sponsorships. He needs about $45,000 more.

He has started a gofundme page that has raised $6,000 as of Thursday afternoon.

He said he’s not sure why the online fundraising page hasn’t matched the enthusiasm seen on various social media pages.

“It’s a small part of the campaign. Every little donation helps get us closer,” he said.

Manley has been a fixture at the track since he was 3 days old, when his dad picked him and his mom up at the hospital and went straight to the track.

The future of the 83-year-old track has been uncertain since the previous operator elected not to renew the lease at the end of last season.

Whitaker has listed the 300-acre property for sale as an industrial park. Real estate company RealtyLink wants to develop it.

Greenville Pickens Speedway opened in 1940 as a half-mile-long dirt track. It closed the next year during World War II and reopened in 1946, Independence Day, offering fans two horse races and a car race promoted by Bill France Sr., known as Big Bill, who two years later founded NASCAR.

The Blackwell family bought the track in 1955, the same year NASCAR began sanctioning races there. The track, later paved, hosted various Winston Cup races through the years. Family member Mark Blackwell is working with Manley to raise money for the track to open this season.

After nearly 50 years, the Blackwells sold the property to Whitaker, a long-time sponsor.

Whitaker has been unavailable for comment on the track’s past, present or future.

Manley said he hopes fundraising momentum will pick up now, when people realize there are three weeks left to save the speedway.

Manley, who owns J&J Gutter, raced late model cars at Greenville Pickens from 2008 until 2015, when he started running his #28 Ford Fusion at other tracks around the region. He still does.

But his ties to Greenville Pickens brought him home.

If he can raise the money, he said he’ll open the concession stands — they were not open last season and races were not weekly. Chicken strips, hamburgers and that all-time Greenville-Pickens delicacy — fried bologna sandwiches (mustard may be added) — will be back.

Most importantly, he wants to bring back the excitement of a night at the races.

Manley feels certain the fans will return.

On Thursday, the 52nd anniversary of a significant moment in motorsports history took place — the first race aired on national TV, start to finish, broadcast from Greenville Pickens Speedway in 1971. Jim McKay announced on ABC’s Wide World of Sports.