In 1959, Lime Rock was the site of a notable upset, when Rodger Ward won a Formula Libre race driving an Offenhauser-engined midget car, usually used on oval tracks.

Ward used an advantageous power-to-weight ratio and his dirt-track cornering abilities to defeat several highly regarded sports cars and drivers for the victory.

In 1959, the Lime Rock Protective Association, with support from the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church,[5] took the park to Litchfield Superior Court in an effort to ban Sunday racing.

[6] The track has featured many well-known racers including Paul Newman, who supported his own Newman-Haas team with Bob Sharp,[7] Mario Andretti, Stirling Moss, Dan Gurney, Sam Posey, and Mark Donohue.

The venue is somewhat unique in that it features no grandstands or bleacher seating, instead inviting fans to bring chairs and blankets and enjoy the racing from its grassy hillside areas under the shade of trees.

Following the 2008 reconstruction (see below), Lime Rock's operations people measured all four possible configurations, and as it turns out, each was 1.500 mi (2.414 km) long, plus or minus a few hundred feet.