In the winter of 1955, R. G. Atwood, Spence Fisher, and Pat Keltner sat down in Mr. Fisher's kitchen and the plans for Lansing Motor Speedway were discussed. Mr. Atwood intended to build a new speedway which would showcase the ever popular super modifieds of the mid to late 1950's. In the spring of 1956, land was purchased on the north west corner of College Rd. and the new US 127 (Cedar St.). With the help of a local stand out racer, Wilson Fedewa, the shape of the new track was laid out. The track was a paved 1/4 mile semi banked oval. On July 20, 1956, the track became a reality and the first race was run under the promotion of Mr. Atwood. There were 74 cars that qualified with Mickey Katlin being the fastest with a time of 15.42. The first race that evening was the fast car dash with Johnny Logan winning the race. Later that night. Art Bennett won the very first feature. The first season featured the modified stocks, old model stocks, midgets, and big cars (sprint cars). The big race of the first season was a 300 lap Championship race with a 200 lap consolation race. Harry Jones won the 200 lapper while Gene Bell won the 300 lap main event. Through out the late 50's. improvements were made to the speedway such as widening the asphalt, adding concrete barriers. and changing the banking. All of the big name drivers of the time raced at Lansing including Gordon Johncock and his cousin Nolan, Nelson Ward, Dave Paul, Mickey Katlin, Art Bennett, Johnny Logan, and Joy Fair. In the early years probably the most dominate driver was a man from Hastings, Michigan by the name of Wayne Landon. The super modifieds were the main attraction until 1962 when the track switched to the flying stocks. The flying stocks were becoming more popular with both the fans and drivers as they were more economical to race and resembled the cars the fans were driving. R. G. Atwood continued to own the track and promote the races until 1964 when the track was sold to Lynn Kestenholtz and his son Tom.
When the Kestenholtz's purchased the track, the name was changed from Lansing Motor Speedway to Spartan Speedway. Also in 1964, they added one of the first figure 8 courses in the state. The addition of the figure 8 track also prompted the moving of the timing tower from the infield to the top of the grandstands. The first "Hare and the Hound" race, which used both the oval and the figure 8 courses, was held at Spartan. The figure 8's became one of the most popular races with the fans as here were always close calls and accidents in the intersection. The Michigan State Figure 8 Championship was held at Spartan from 1966 through 1986. The 1968 State Champion was "Lil" Richard Simmons. He put Spartan Speedway and the rest of the state of Michigan in the limelight when he won the "World Championship" at Islip. New York which was shown on ABC's "Wide World of Sports" to a National TV audience.
During the mid 60's, the flying stocks became more and more advanced. As with their predecessor, the super modifieds, the top drivers in the state began to visit Spartan on a regular basis thus creating the phrase that has been with the speedway for years - "The Track the Stars Call Home". One driver in particular dominated the races when ever he raced at Spartan. That man was Joy Fair. His name could fill the stands. During this time. Butch and Gary Fedewa along with Jim Aldrich and Dave Mulder rose to the top of the class and put there names as drivers to watch. Also in 1966 and 1967, the ARCA national touring series came for races at Spartan Before the start of the 1970 season. The Kestenholtz's purchased the Jackson Motor Speedway to team up with Spartan to give them 2 nights of racing. In 1972, they teamed up with Owosso Speedway under the CARS (Continental Auto Racing Society) sanctioning to give the drivers a 3 night race week schedule for points. The series had individual track champions as well as an overall series champion. The Kestenholtz's ran both tracks until 1973 when they were leased to a young contractor by the name of Andy Beal, who was only 20 years old. He gave up the battle after a couple of weeks. A side note on Mr. Beal, auto racing promoter was about the only thing he failed at as he would be very successful in his life and now has his own bank. After Andy Beal, the track was leased to Warren Simpson. Under Mr. Simpson, the track raced under the ARCA sanctioning body. Tom Kestenholtz took the track back over in 1974 and ran it until 1977 when it was sold to Paul and Dorothy Zimmerman. One of the first things the Zimmerman's did was to repave the track. They made many other improvements to spruce up the run down track. All of the areas where fans walked were paved and the non paved areas had fresh grass.
During the late 70's and early 80's, Gary Fedewa and Jim Aldrich were still the dominate drivers. At this time, 2 young brothers, Jeff and Doug Finley began to make names for themselves along with the very popular Charlie Ryan Jr. By the time they retired, the Finley brothers had won a combined 13 track championships. During this time, Paul Zimmerman changed to running a limited late model class to help combat the high cost of racing. Most of the stars remained but the class gradually changed back to the super late models. Barb Beurman made history at Spartan in 1982 when she became the first woman to win a regular feature against the men. In 1983, Paul brought in the ARTGO race series which brought drivers such as Dick Trickle, Joe Shear, Bob Senneker and Mike Eddy to the track with their ASA style cars. The first of what has become Spartan's signature year end race, the "Harvest 100", was held at the end of the 1983 season. This race has become one of the longest running year end races in the Midwest. For the 1984 season, more bleachers were added in turn four as well as a concrete wall in the turn. The ARCA Permatex SuperCar Series raced at Spartan in 1984, 1985 and 1986. This series brought a young Davey Allison to the track.
In 1985, Paul took a chance and brought in a class of cars that was very popular in the southwestern part of the Midwest. This class was the IMCA modifieds. The class grew very popular with other tracks in the state and a form of this class is one of the main classes today. In 1986, there were battles with the local township concerning complaints about the noise from the races. One night the drivers returned the prize money to Paul to help with the legal fees being incurred. To settle the issue, there was an 11:15 P.M. curfew put in place by the township.
The legal battles took a toll on Dorothy and Paul. The track was sold to Russ Cowper in 1988, who's family owned the Galesburg Speedway. After a 3 year hiatus, Paul Zimmerman and his stepson. Jim Leasure, regained control of the track in 1991. During his hiatus, Paul's wife Dorothy passed away in 1989 and the following year their home was lost in a fire. In the late 1990's, a concrete wall surrounding the racing surface was installed along with a timing and scoring tower. This tower could show the fans lap times, how many laps were completed and driver positions. Together they started a 4 cylinder class in 2001 called pony stocks. This class is very popular with the fans today because of their ability to raced 3 and 4 wide all around the track. In the last couple of years, the old bleachers were replaced with newer aluminum bleachers from Michigan International Speedway as well as a new announcer and timing booth at the top of them.