Event Coverage 1951 Langhone NASCAR Sportsman 100 mile Movie

Great News reel of the full 1951 NASCAR Sportsman race from the Langehone Mile.

5:18 minutes local/6 cylinder Chevrolet hero Steve Danish.

 

Thanks for posting. Fun video. Nasty crash there at the end. Thankfully safety has come a long way since 1951.

 

Holly Molly . Pure carnage at the end . There had to be severe injuries and or fatalities.

 

Amazingly there were fatalities, there was a compound fracture but no career ending injuries.

I have always heard about this race, the incredible part to me is the fact they started 106 cars!, and the leader was lapping cars at the tail of the field before they took the green.

Imagine being a lap down before completing a lap.

 

Thanks

 

The quality of the track surface looked like a mix of grease and marbles. Combine that with worn-out street tires, it's no surprise cars were hitting the rail. That's actually a pretty good quality movie for the times with no hokey games played by the producers. All guts and no glamour.

 

Wow.......what great filming for 1951 !! Also.......how would you ever score a race like that with 1951 technology. And lastly.......when you witness that huge wreck at the end, you realize what a difference spotters and radios have made in racing today. Thanks again for a great post

 

And fuel cells and....

Awesome footage, thanks for posting!

 

It was use motor oil. To keep the dust down.

People also held their lines and didn't mirror/spotter drive. The race was allowed play out.
No fake debris cations. Guys stopping on the track to bring out their own cations.

 

Langhorne's turn 1 was called puke hollow before paving. In the 1950's Clarence Cagle the track superintendent at Indianapolis Speedway was given the job of smoothing out the 1st turn at Langhorne. He had concrete footings installed from top to bottom of the turn, and a concrete cap on top of the footings a few feet under the surface, in the offseason. The next spring all of the work done was swallowed up by the swamp in the turn. They supposedly probed many feet down with nothing found.

 

A little history of Steve Danish.

From Cropseyville New York

Member of the New York Stock Car Hall Of Fame

Fonda Speedway Hall Of Fame

Steve brought a level of professionalism to short track racing using crew uniforms in the 1950s

Raced and won with BlueFame Chevrolet into the early 60s, he went V8 in the late 50's but with a Buick Nailhead.
The car was not competitive with the Buick, so he returned to the 261 Chevy six and his winning ways! He did go small block in 64/65 and retired 67(?) because he felt racing was becoming too expensive.



Won driving for Frank Trinkaus the Fonda Speedway Feature the night Miss America 1958, Marilyn Van Derbur visited


Note 6 Cylinder Chevy in the engine bay and the early Falcon race car in the background

In Victory Lane at Fonda Speedway with Miss America 1958, Marilyn Van Derbur

The Nailhead

The Small block

 

Langhorn PA was a One mile dirt perfect circle.

Aerial views Langhorne

1951


1958 note houses just off turns 1 and 2


1971


2015-


Side by side 2015 left 1953 right


1953 left 2015 right

 

The site is now a shopping center.

This is looking from the Lincoln High Way toward the back of the grandstands on the front stretch



This is what was the front stretch infield/pits to the right.


I think we should tear down shopping malls, and replace them with oval tracks, drag strips and drive ins!

 

This is the 1954 race-

 

Steve Danish at the 6:30 Mark

 

Enjoyed the hell out of that first race.......having been to Langhorne - supper nice folks up there and got the t-shirt from Langhorne Speed Shop !

 

Thanks for posting the video.