Sparta, Kentucky

Sparta is a small city in Gallatin County, established in eighteen oh two and for most of its history a quiet river town along Eagle Creek in Kentucky's outer Bluegrass. Gallatin County was founded in seventeen ninety-eight and named for Albert Gallatin, Thomas Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury. For nearly two centuries, Sparta's biggest claim to the outside world was its proximity to the Ohio River ferry crossings.

That changed dramatically in nineteen ninety-nine when a one-and-a-half-mile tri-oval NASCAR speedway was built just outside of town. The Kentucky Speedway opened in two thousand for truck and Xfinity Series racing, added the Cup Series in twenty eleven, and at its peak drew tens of thousands of fans to one of the least-populated counties in the state. The track hosted its last major race in twenty twenty and has sat largely silent since, leaving Sparta once again a small county town beside a very large piece of asphalt.