Cherry Park Speedway – Avon, Connecticut

By John Nelson

Cherry Park was built for horse racing in 1882. According to Allan Brown, the ½-mile track hosted occasional auto races during the 1930s.  Ed Otto, who would soon play a leading role in NASCAR, built a ¼-mile oval for Midget racing inside Cherry Park’s half mile early in 1946.  This was dirt for the first meet on July 28, but was paved during the following week.  ARDC Midgets raced through most of the 1948 season, but in October Otto canceled their late-season championship in favor of stock car races.  Tommy Bradshaw swept the debut stock car program on October 17 against a field that included Wally Campbell and Johnny Rogers.  

         For 1949 Cherry Park ran stock cars weekly under the New England Stock Car Racing Association (NESCRA) sanction.  Nineteen meets were held, Hank Tatro winning 11 features and the season title.  Other winners in 1949 were Barney Smith with two and Red Foote, Jimmy Richards, Moon Burgess, George Janoski, Ralph Sheeler, Chuck Viets, Bert Brooks, and Frank Blum with one apiece.  Roadsters of the American Hot Rod Racing Club also raced here and at West Springfield, Massachusetts.

Ed Otto brought in NASCAR sanction for 1950, although the Nutmeg Stock Car Club sanctioned some of the races.  As before, the track also hosted Roadsters and ARDC Midgets.  The Nutmeg club returned for 1951 with Harry Reisdorf promoting.

         Cherry Park apparently lay idle for several years, as National Speed Sport News for July 3, 1954 stated that a stock car race held the preceding week was the first here in several years.  The Car Owners Racing Association (CORA), the club then directing stock car racing at Stafford Springs, had taken over Cherry Park. 

         On May 3, 1955, Illustrated Speedway News announced that Cherry Park would open in late May under Harvey Tattersall’s United Stock Car Racing Club.  However, no reports of races from 1955 have been found, and USCRC advertisements for 1955 and later years do not mention Cherry Park. NSSN confirms Allan Brown’s listing that the track was torn down in 1959 and replaced by housing.  It was located in the small community of Cherry Park on the east side of S.R. 177 and just west of Secret Lake, west of Avon and about 10 miles west of Hartford.

Sources: Illustrated Speedway News, National Speed Sport News, Roaring Roadsters #2 by Don Radbruch; Midget Auto Racing History, Vol. 2 by Crocky Wright.

Danbury Fair Racearena – Danbury, Connecticut

By John Nelson

Unique among Northeastern Modified venues, Danbury lived practically in a world apart.  Although no national stars ever ran here, its drivers and spectators supported the Racearena enthusiastically.  It was killed in its prime when it fell into the hands of people who had no connection to its tradition.  Its complete story is lovingly told in The Life and Times of the Southern New York Racing Association. Additional information comes from the Racearena Review, track program for 1981 (Danbury’s final season) and from contemporary racing publications.

         A half-mile dirt track was built at Danbury in the 1860s for trotting horses.  An agricultural fair was organized around the racetrack in 1869.  The fair took place annually in October.  Auto races were held during the 1917 fair, and continued as an occasional attraction through the 1930s.  With the rise of Midget racing, a 1/5 mile paved oval was built inside the half-mile track in 1940.  After a hiatus for World War II, Midget racing became a weekly event in late 1945, and the Fair resumed the following year.  The ARDC Midgets ran weekly at Danbury through the late 1940s (Wright 1980).

         In 1950 or 1951, a 1/3-mile waterway for hydroplane racing was built inside the ½-mile and outside the 1/5-mile track.  Boat racing drawing little interest, owner John Leahy filled the moat in 1952 and converted it to a 1/3-mile dirt oval for stock car racing.  It was a narrow track, 36 feet wide at its widest point.  Thus, crashes were frequent - an attraction for spectators and one of the few drawbacks for competitors. 

         Stock car racing began on Sunday, May 1, 1949 under Harvey Tattersall’s United Stock Car Racing Club.  Danbury continued to run Midgets on Saturday evenings.  Following the second meet on May 8, the reporter for ISN wrote, “A disappointing crowd witnessed the second running of the stocks and it is doubtful if General Manager John W. Leahy will attempt to present another stock car program for the present time.”  In fact, these races were discontinued for the rest of the season.  Midgets returned in 1949, but the track seems to have lain idle in 1950 in most of 1951.  A few United stock car meets took place in late 1951.

         Beginning in 1952, the Southern New York Racing Association (SNYRA) sanctioned racing at Danbury.  Founded in 1948, this club began racing on makeshift dirt tracks in southern New York before moving to Danbury.  Once ensconced at Danbury, the SNYRA almost never ran anywhere else.  However, for unknown reasons the track lay idle in 1956 and 1957.  When racing resumed in June of 1958, the 1/3-mile oval had been paved. 

         The SNYRA was a closed club, membership being as highly sought as a New York City taxi medallion.  As of the mid 1970s, only 65 Sportsman memberships were available.  This meant that outsiders never ran at Danbury and conversely, few Danbury regulars raced outside.  Membership was a good deal, as the SNYRA held costs low and purses high.

Danbury sportsmen ran flatheads through 1971, later than any other major track in the Northeast.  Forty percent of the gate receipts went to the SNYRA, which paid the purses in proportion.  Racing papers from the 1970s reported weekly attendance ranging from 5,500 to over 10,000 and payouts of $1,900 to $2,200 to win a 50-lap feature.  In 2017 dollars this is roughly $6,000, the standard winner’s share for a 100-lap Super DIRTcar Big-Block Modified event. To all accounts, Danbury had one of America’s most successful weekly short track programs.  Throughout its history, the SNYRA based the weekly payout on 40% of the gate receipts.  Cost of building a competitive car for Danbury was substantially lower at other New England tracks running open Modifieds.  Until its last few seasons, Danbury never ran extra-distance races: they never lacked for cars and spectators.

         John Snyder wrote (Area Auto Racing News, 7/21/09), “Danbury and the SNYRA were never part of the mainstream of Modified racing. The restrictive, somewhat archaic rules and the closed club organization kept it isolated from other Northeast region tracks and drivers.  Yet for many years Danbury was probably the most successful Saturday night speedway not just in the region, but in the entire country.”  Writing in National Speed Sport News for 6/21/78, Gary London remarked that the engine and tire limits and the handicapping procedure ensured plenty of passing, and a good driver could win from deep in the field.  London rated Danbury’s landscaping, concessions, and rest rooms among the best.

         Danbury called its premier division Modifieds, but at most Northeastern tracks they would have been called Sportsmen.  Until 1972 they were limited to flathead V8s or inline sixes.  Nearly all were pre-war coupes and coaches.  From 1972 onward the SNYRA allowed OHV V8s up to 310 c.i., 12½" tires, and a 2,500 lb. minimum weight.  As elsewhere, Vega, Pinto, and Gremlin bodies became prevalent during the mid 1970s.  The standard program consisted of warm-ups followed by three heat races, two consolation races, and a 25-lap feature.  Danbury rarely ran extra-distance races because (1) they packed the stands for regular weekly shows and (2) they had no interest or need to attract big-name drivers from outside the SNYRA.  An event said to be the first (and perhaps only) 100-lap feature in Racearena history was held on November 6, 1977, Don LaJoie came home the victor. 

For 1979 a Sportsman class was added to the weekly bill.  These cars resembled the regular Modifieds, but were restricted to basically stock engines with a 2-barrel carburetor (Kevin Brown, Vintage Oval Racing, June 2007).

         Owner and general manager John Leahy died in 1975.  No successor having been named, Leahy’s executors and trustees took control of the Racearena and Fair. Despite record attendance and profits, the executors and trustees were not interested in running either the weekly racing program or the annual fair.  They sold the property to a mall developer.  The final checkered flag waved on September 19, 1981.  Writing in November 1980 Stock Car Racing when the end was in sight, Herb Dodge called Danbury “quite possibly the most beautiful, most successful weekly operating racetrack in the United States today.  This year, the track is having its most prosperous season ever.”  Such prosperity meant nothing against the estimated $22.5 to $24 million the mall developer paid just for the land.  

Danbury - Special Records

Most feature wins in a single season - 9 by Don LaJoie in 1975

Most consecutive feature wins - 7 by Chick Stockwell, from 5/21/60 to 7/23/60

Most seasons with feature wins - 19, by Chick Stockwell

Most consecutive seasons with feature wins - 16 by Chick Stockwell, 1955 through 1972