History Lost Speedways

Acouple in my neck of the woods were Riverside Speedway in Agawam MA a small 1/5 mile oval and a 1/2 mile oval a the Easternstates Exposition grounds in Westspringfield MA now host the midway area at the fair. An aerial view still shows a faint outline of the old track. Riverside closed when 6 Flags Amusements bought out the original owners. Also faintly remember a Midget car track also in West Springfield bulldozed for the Century center Plaza.

 

Old Bridge Speedway 1953-1968
Old Bridge N.J.
1/4 Mile paved
N.A.S.C.A.R sanctioned








N.A.S.C.A.R sanctioned Drags on the front stretch-

 

Heree's one that was in Queens, NY. Dexter Park which ran until 1955. I recall my dad talking about it. They played baseball there too. It was located between the Interboro Parkway and Jamaica Avenue, west of Woodhaven Blvd.
http://www.covehurst.net/ddyte/brooklyn/dexter.html

 

Similar to Soldier Field in Chicago Illinois.

 

What is sad is when a peedway is bought and nothing is ever done with the property. I can understand building on it but not seeing it sitting the same way overgrown in 20 years.

 

Isn't this basically what happened to Ascot in Gardenia?

 

State Line on border of New York and Vermont
The grandstand was about ten feet off N.Y. route 67, however the track was in Vermont.



From-www.catamountstadium.com


From- blog.hemmings.com/index.php/tag/state-line-speedway/

Steve Danish and crew always run BlueFlame Chevrolet 6's

From-www.catamountstadium.com


From-www.catamountstadium.com


From-www.catamountstadium.com


From-www.catamountstadium.com


From-www.catamountstadium.com

 

Peachbowl Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia.





The ghost of "The Peach Bowl Speedway" ...great racing. As a twelve year old I used to sell food & drinks in the stands just to get in free. My buds and I would walk the 3 miles to the track back in 1961-1963 (pre driver's license/car).

 

No picture but the abandoned Roseland Speedway in Finzel Md. Just west of Frostburg. Track was on a farm with a pond in the center.

 

Jalopy races-Gardena Stadium, Southern California, 1957.

 

Were is this my wife's parents have a cabin out side of Hatfield I'm up tuere alot and would like to check that out.

 

BRF Speedway is on 27 north of I90 about I'd say 1 1/2- 2 mi. Its behind a basically abandoned car dealership on the left-hand side if the road.... it might come up on a "Lost Speedway" Google search. There is a website on these speedway in wisconsin. That's how I found it years ago....

 

Cairo Speedway, Cairo N.Y.
Only ran 7 to 8 races

From-www.3widespicturevault.com

Hully Bunn in 1975 old timers race driver/promoter Kenny Shoemaker to his right.

From-www.coastal181.com



Mert "Socks" Hulbert in Kennedy's 8



Bruce Carman owned coach driven this day by Bobby Brueckner

From-www.3widespicturevault.com

 

Posted new pics of Peach Bowl Speedway.

See post 41.

 

U S-30 Gary Indiana, IHRA Drag Racing. Rensselaer Indiana Dirt Short track Both gone but not forgotten

 

Yes the back wall fence is still there, I see every time I go up the 110 freeway from the 405. I hear the property is used for auto auctions. Sad.

 

I was there as a 13 year old. My dad had a machine shop on Hawthorne and would drop me off at Gardena stadium Sunday's after church and be out front at 4:45 to pick me up. Great times

 

Norwood Arena Boston Mass
1/4 Paved
Home Track of 1970 Daytona 500 Winner Pete Hamilton

 

Shangril La in Owego NY

 

The Cotati Speedway in Sonoma County, CA was built in 1921. The speedway was a 1.25 mile board track with 38 degree banks and consumed 2,000,000 feet of lumber.




The track opened in 1921 and closed in 1922. There are many opinions on why the Cotati Speedway only lasted two years. The tracks builder Jack S. Prince had a paralyzing stroke, the weather in the Cotati area was too cool and damp, the transportation to the area was poor, the board tracks required too much expensive maintenance and the terrible injuries at board tracks are all listed as reasons that the Cotati track lasted such a short time. The truth is that all these things contributed to, not only the Cotati tracks demise but to the eventual end of all the motordromes.
Today, there is no trace of the speedway with only one exception. After the close of the speedway the track was dismantled and the lumber was sold.



The floor of the Redwood Cafe in downtown Cotati was the racing surface of the Cotati Speedway.

 

Does anybody remember Heidelberg Speedway in Heidelberg just south of Pittsburgh Pa. It is now a shopping center. Saw a lot of 'Jalopy' races there as a kid. One of the turns is still behind the shopping center, left over from the development and after it went from dirt to asphalt.

 

ALL of the board tracks in the USA.....Almost all of them were destroyed by fire....one by a hurricane. Last time I was in Buffalo the burned posts were still visible. Most of the others that I visited were built over or just open land (Des Moine, IA is now the overflow parking lot for the fairgrounds)

Niagara Dragstrip, North of Buffalo (Sunday, Sunday, Sunday)my father and I both raced there), Sunset Speedway, Outside of Omaha NE, a 1/2 mile dirt track was bought but the land was not developed

 

I have heard that behind the Ascot track there was a auto junk yard and the ground is oil soaked plus the track parking lot , so all the dirt needs to be changed for the EPA stuff and just cost's way too money

DND

 

The 'Berg was the premier track in the area in it's heyday. I was there once(dirt era), but too young to remember. They used to show the races on channel eleven on Sunday afternoon's, hosted by local legend "Chilly Billy Cardell"
Lots of greats raced there. Here's a good link for some history:
http://jimmiesoldtimeracing.mywowbb.com/

 

Onteora Speedway in Olive Bridge NY dirt half-mile operating from only 1960-1966


All Photos Joey Lawrence Collection

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