NAZARETH RACEWAY
In my mind Fonda
was the center of
the universe when it
came to stockcar
racing in the 50’s,
60’s and 70’s. I was
aware of Reading
Speedway, Nazareth
Raceway, Norwood
Arena, and other
mystical far off
places where racing
legends and hero’s
were being made
weekly throughout
the summers. I did
get to see the races
at Reading in the
summer of 1970, and
came away from that
with huge respect
for Kenny Brightbill,
and the quality of
the racing at the
Reading Fairgrounds.
Nazareth Raceway for
some reason was a
well kept secret
from the people that
I hung around with,
we knew it was
there, but knew
little about it.
Recently I’ve
developed a new
respect for Nazareth
Raceway and the
racing that took
place from 1953
until 1988, it was
fast, exciting, and
if my count is
correct, Nazareth
had more legend
class drivers than
Fonda or Reading.
Nazareth is
located in eastern
Pennsylvania's
Lehigh Valley, north
of Allentown, and
northwest of Easton.
The speedway was
described as follows
by John Snyder,
Columnist for the
Area Auto Racing
News. “Nazareth had
all the ambience of
a Louisiana toxic
waste dump, but we
were always drawn to
it as if it were
paradise
reincarnated.
Nazareth was never
quite finished; the
stands, the walls,
the fences, the
pits, every
ramshackle building
on the property
cried out for a coat
of paint. But we
didn’t care. We were
there. Always there.
Sunday after Sunday,
year after year, for
more than four
decades Nazareth
Raceway drew us like
a magnet or a
powerful drug”.
Mario Andretti
started there, the
famous “Tex” Enright
was the starter,
names like Taz,
Rags, Buzzie, Whip,
Pee Wee, and Budd,
added to their
respective legends
there. Schneider,
Cagle, Harwi,
Bottcher, Hoffman,
Hildreth, and others
kept the spectators
on the edge of their
seats week after
week. It was great
stuff. The photos
below only scratch
the surface of the
roster of the
drivers that
participated in
creating a venue
that drew the
competition like a
magnet.
Frank
Schneider, 64
feature wins.
"Rags" Carter,
45 feature wins.
Alan Carter was
nicknamed "Rags" for
wearing clothes
eaten up by battery
acid while a kid
down south.
Will Cagle, 40
feature wins.
Tom Hager, 40
feature wins.
Otto Harwi, 39
feature wins. Otto
Harwi was fataly
injured at Orange
County Speedway
(Middletown NY) on
5/18/64 in the
Dornberger #999.
Sonny Dornberger's
(engine builder and
owner of the 999)
great uncle was
Walter Dornberger, a
German rocket
scientist that
worked with the team
that developed the
V2. The late Kenny
Weld called Sonny
"the smartest man I
ever met".
Buzzie
Reutimann, 33
feature wins.
Jackie
McLaughlin, 24
feature wins. Jackie
was fataly injured
at Nazareth Speedway
on 8/23/64.
Bob Rossell, 8
feature wins. Bob
built Joe Leto's #50
(shown in last weeks
column).
Budd Olsen, 14
feature wins.
Elton Hildreth,
6 feature wins.
Elton's the original
"wildman". Elton
celebrated his 91st
birthday in October.
Billy Tanzosh,
5 feature wins.
Al Tasnady, 28
feature wins . Some
think Taz was the
best of them all.
Once at Vineland Taz
totaled two
different 44's in
two consecutive
weeks. The owner of
the #44 ( Romeo
Gelsi ) went out for
a whole week looking
for 37 Ford two door
flatback sedans.
Each day he brought
another one home
until he had a total
of 11. Romeo lined
them up and told Taz
"go ahead and crash
um, we got more".
Frank Cozze,
21 feature wins.
Kenny
Brightbill, 2
feature wins.
Stan Ploski, 5
feature wins.
Ken Wismer, 9
feature wins.
occasionally I have
used quotes and
facts from Lew
Boyd's fine book
"Paved Track, Dirt
Track" for this
article.
Like I said at
the beginning, the
above are only the
tip of the iceberg,
I'm missing Gil
Hearne, Tommy
Elliott, Parker
Bohn, Ed Flemke,
Wally Dallenbach,
Tony Battle, and on
and on. If anyone
out there has photos
to share with our
Dirt Track Digest
viewers, please feel
free to e-mail me at
rgraham57@twcny.rr.com
. Your help is
needed, and if you
have a story, I'm
all ears.
NEXT: BUG'S /
CUTDOWNS. |
