Fans Demand New Future for Iconic Track as City Mayor Helps Racing Star to Revive the Abandoned Oval

Nestled in the heart of Ohio’s Richland County, Mansfield Motor Speedway wasn’t just a racetrack—for a half century, this half-mile concrete bowl opened in 1959 as a dirt battleground, earning its stripes as “Thunder Hill.” When the asphalt came in 2004, NASCAR’s Truck Series giants followed – Ron Hornaday Jr., Johnny Benson, and a young Kyle Busch—turning its 18-degree banking into a high-speed chessboard. The 2008 truck race climaxed with Donny Lia’s three-wide, last-corner lunge – a finish so iconic, NASCAR officials still call it “the Mansfield miracle.”

The cheers died abruptly. After Lia’s 2008 triumph, the Great Recession gutted local sponsorship. Owner Grant Milliron fought the collapsing revenue stream until May 2010, when he padlocked the gates mid-season. What followed was motorsport’s version of a ghost town. Vandals and weeds knifed through cracks, and the electronic scoreboard crashed to the ground in 2015.

By 2019, the Lucas Oil Late Dirt Series Schedule was the last shot to revive this racetrack, and also didn’t bring any hopeful fruits, resulting in Grant Million Industries purchasing the former Mansfield Park for $800,000; portions were donated to a local high school. The track walls were torn down, and portions of the fencing and safety barriers were sold to Nelson Ledges Race Course. And just when it looked like another racetrack would be forgotten and left for dead, Matt Tift took the onus of reviving this racetrack.

When Matt Trifft first walked Mansfield’s corpse-gray pits in 2023, the 27-year-old saw ghosts and gasoline. The former NASCAR driver knew resurrection required more than nostalgia. Diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2019, Tifft had already fought one impossible battle. Now, fresh off selling his stake in Live Fast Motorsports, he mentioned, “I’m not here to flip real estate. I’m here to resurrect a cathedral of speed that’s been bleeding for 15 years. Every crack in that asphalt tells a story—we’re going to write new ones.”

Tifft’s mission to revive Mansfield is so strong that Mayor of Mansfield Jodie Perry also sees this vision as the city’s best economic catalyst in decades; she fast-tracked permits and assembled a task force. “Welcome to Mansfield, Matt Trifft,” she posted on Instagram. “This is our shot to put Mansfield back on the map,” she declared as locals waved checkered flags in approval. Tifft acknowledged the momentum by sharing, “We cannot thank everybody enough for the overwhelming support that we received with the announcement of Mansfield Motor Speedway returning!”

Ever since Tifft announced his mission, fans were curious to know if the 0.4-mile track would be repaved back to asphalt or converted to dirt. In response, the driver shared a video with his plans for the venue, also highlighting the massive financial undertaking. “I know a lot of People are gonna ask this question. If this track is going back to dirt or asphalt, so just get ahead of that. It’s gonna cost about $2 half million to put this back to asphalt just for the paving itself. So for the first few years, it is going to be dirt. We’re hoping that we’re going to be in a good cash flow position to maybe look at doing asphalt in the future, but for right now we are planning to, you know, bring this back as a dirt race track.”

Fans are divided between the dirt and asphalt choices

“Dirt or Asphalt, this baby needs a truck series date by ‘27,” a fan in the comments section stated. Unbothered by the current state of the racetrack, the fan demanded that by 2027, Mansfield should be hosting Truck Series races. This year has been like a big gift for the fans, where NASCAR is bringing back the nostalgia. Rockingham Speedway saw the return of Truck racing for the first time since 2013, whereas the Cup Series went back to Bowman Gray Stadium for the Clash. With the right support and planning, who knows, Mansfield would be back with NASCAR events.

Another reason why fans would want to see Mansfield rise back to its former glory is the lack of options in the central Ohio region. “Would love to see a local track in the central Ohio area again, especially since Columbus Motor Speedway is no longer,” a user replied. Like Mansfield, Columbus Speedway, a half-mile track used to host NASCAR events like K&N Pro Series East, the NASCAR Midwest Series and the ARCA Hooters Super Cup Series. Current Cup stars, Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suarez, and Justin Haley, all raced at this venue. But the track was closed at the end of the 2016 season as the Village of Obetz purchased the land to create a multi-purpose athletic facility.

Talk about the big, bold suggestion, this race fan knew which events would kick-start the festivities after the revival process. “Get the outlaws there.” The Sprint car series will bring the exposure and the attention that Mansfield needs. Imagine if Kyle Larson decides to compete in the WoO race at the track on the clay, and even better would be Christopher Bell joining in to compete in the same event. The possibilities are endless, and perhaps going the dirt way would be the best path for breathing new life into the racetrack.

A lot of fans weren’t picky about the options for the racetrack. Rather, they were just glad to see the track undergo revival, “Wishing you all the best Matt. I really wanna see you succeed.” Back in 2019, Tifft’s racing career got derailed due to seizures, and he was diagnosed with epilepsy. He has undergone extensive medical care, preparing for his NASCAR comeback. 2031 is the timeline, he is expected to get back to racing in NASCAR events. Meanwhile, he can race on dirt or the pavement now that he has a racetrack for himself.

What are your thoughts about Matt Tifft’s efforts in reviving the Mansfield Motor Speedway?

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