The facility is often linked to local drivers Mario and Michael Andretti's early racing careers.

[3] Nazareth Speedway started as a horse racing track farther up in the center of the town in the 1850s known as the Northampton County Agricultural Fairgrounds.

The first automotive events held at the location were not racing, instead it was a sport called auto polo.

Following the Great Depression the first large race that happened at the small track would be held in 1947 by the American Automobile Association.

[5] During Roger Penske's ownership in 1988, the small track was sold to nearby Laneco supermarket and demolished.

Al Tasnady started near last in the August 24, 1968 modified event, and won the race by lapping all drivers except Schneider.

The race was won by Al Unser, who beat local driver Mario Andretti.

Vicari cleared eleven years of plant overgrowth, refurbished the facilities, and shortened the large track to a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt oval.

His idea was to host a series of high-paying special events for USAC's Championship Dirt Cars and Modifieds.

Brightbill’s $50,000 victory in a 125-mile Modified contest on October 9, 1983, was the last race that was run there under Vicari’s direction.

At the same time, he sold the section of the property that held the old 1⁄2 mile small dirt track to the owners of Laneco, a former grocery store chain.

The elevation change during the lap was significant, as the backstretch ran steeply downhill for a drop of approximately 30 feet.

It was the first racing oval to feature a warm-up lane to enter and exit the pits, designed in part by driver Rick Mears.

In 1999, Penske Motorsports (which at the time owned Nazareth, Michigan, Fontana, and Rockingham) merged with International Speedway Corporation.

Participants were known to exploit the inaccurate measurement for fuel strategy, knowing that they were running a shorter distance than officially advertised.

In 1997, for fairness and accuracy, the track was remeasured by the CART sanctioning body, and was advertised as 0.946 miles (1.52 km) in length.

[10] Although the Nazareth Speedway hosted rather successful Busch Series and CART events, new owner ISC closed the facility in late 2004.

[12] The unofficial fastest all-time track record on the reconfigured 0.946-mile Oval is 0:18.419 seconds, set by Patrick Carpentier in a Reynard 98I, during qualifying for the 1998 Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix.