Many of the western New York "gearheads" got their fill of automobile racing, both oval track, as well as drag racing, at Williamson, NY's 'Spencer Speedway'. The track was constructed in 1955, and operated through 1994, by the Spencer brothers Del, Merle, and Walt. It was reported yesterday, that Del, the last surviving brother, passed away on March 29th, due to complications from heart surgery. He was 91 years old.
What a place for the gearheads in the Rochester area to go. I remember more than a few nights back in my mis-spent youth sneaking into Spencer by creeping through the apple orchard right next door. Had to be a little wiley in order to avoid some of the paid help. Well, not really as the Spencer family was rather tight with the bucks and really didn't have paid help. What else is family for? Then there was the drags, which took place on their 1/10th mile track. there were some pretty fast cars that were really challenged to make the turn on the oval. Lots of tire smoke and two-wheel escapades making the turn. Who else remembers Marshall Law, the all black, wheel-standing '64 Ford Falcon convert? Man, that car just resonates with the good old days of drag racing... Sorry that Del is gone. I wonder if anyone took the time to record his story and that of Spencer Raceway???
Aah, I remember it well. One night I borrowed a nifty pair of whitewall pie-crust slicks to mount on my B-Hobby (or whatever they called the class) 62 Bel Air. When the beer-bellied starter Gene Rady lifted the flag, forgetting I now had traction, I immediately scattered the rear end. Ignoring the embarrassment for a bit, we got the car off the track and Del let me park it in his yard until I could return the next day to tow it home. A heart-felt thanks to the whole Spencer family for at least a thousand pleasurable hours at the facility.
That Falcon had a Weber carbed 302 Ford in it, and it's owner, Joe Malone, used to wind the ever-lovin-daylights out of it!! I remember it like it was just last season.... BTW, I haven't seen Joe in a while, been past his garage, but haven't been able to catch him at home. Over the years, he built a few automatic trannies for me.
This could just be a bad rumor, but I had recently heard that Joe was not doing well at all. I hope this wrong. Does anyone have any accurate info???
I should make a better effort to contact him. After I wrote the above post, I realized that I haven't seen him in 7 or 8 years. He lived not too far from my mother, so it was easy for me to stop by and see him. My mother went into a nursing home, due to Alzheimer's, back in '05, so I don't get over that way very much, anymore. If Joe isn't doing well, I'll assume that it's due to his heavy smoking habit....He'd practically light the next one from the previous. I tried to convince him to quit,but I guess it isn't an easy thing to do.
An unfortunate update to this discussion...Joe Malone passed away a couple of days ago, at the age of 69. Sadly,even though I drove past his house a couple of times lately, there didn't seem to be anyone around, so I didn't stop... RIP Joe "Marshall Law" Malone.
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