Devil’s Bowl Speedway

September 24, 2017

By John Nelson

Narrative History

         Chuck (C.J.) Richards took to stock car racing in 1959, driving at back-country ovals such as Claremont, NH, Malletts Bay, VT and Warrensburg, NY. It might have been a hard crash at Warrensburg that convinced Richards to apply his talents to promoting rather than driving.  In any event, the following summer Richards organized the Champlain Valley Racing Association (CVRA).  As drivers and car owners began signing up, the new club lacked one thing - a racetrack. 

         An old fairground in Fair Haven was selected.  The ½-mile dirt oval had previously hosted roadsters and stock cars from 1950 to 1952.  Many upgrades being necessary, the opening was delayed until Memorial Day, 1962.  Despite many shortcomings, Fairmont Speedway served the CVRA for five seasons, the program steadily growing.  Increasing clamor from townspeople regarding noise, dust, and traffic congestion at Fairmont convinced Richards that a new site was needed.

         Family farmland five miles north of Fair Haven provided the venue.  The bowl-like layout of the broad valley and forbidding aspect of Rattlesnake Ridge to the east suggested the name, Devil’s Bowl.  Richards built a 4/10-mile broad clay oval with seating for 3,500.  The grand opening took place on Sunday afternoon, June 18, 1967 with the same Sportsman and Hobby class cars that had raced at Fairmont.  Once some early problems, such as a soft clay surface badly prone to rutting, were addressed, Devils’ Bowl steadily grew in popularity.  Seating for another 1,500 was added for the start of the 1968 season. 

         After four good years with Sportsman and Hobby cars on dirt, Richards paved Devil’s Bowl.  Paved tracks seemed to be the wave of the future; equally important, asphalt tracks require less preparation and are less subject to rain-outs.  Intending to run Modifieds, Richards applied for NASCAR membership, but was turned down, apparently to avoid competition with NASCAR’s northern Late Model Sportsman circuit. Thus Devil’s Bowl switched from Sportsman to Modified cars (any size engine), but remained self-sanctioned through the CVRA.  The support division now consisted of late-model, pure stock sedans with automatic transmissions and titled Chargers. Also in 1971, Airborne Speedway in Plattsburgh, New York was added to the CVRA circuit.

         For 1972 Devil’s Bowl joined Airborne, Catamount and Thunder Road Speedways in Vermont, and Sanair in Quebec as a five-track NASCAR circuit for Late Model Sportsman racing. The circuit drew top talent from all over the Northeast, plus occasional Southern invaders.  However, its Sunday-night dates placed Devil’s Bowl at the tail end of a grueling weekly grind.  This led to dwindling car counts and, perhaps, too much dominance by one driver, Milton’s Bob Dragon.  Richards maintained course with NASCAR for two full seasons, but in June 1974 he reverted to the CVRA and replaced high-dollar Late Models with low-budget Limited Late Models similar to Catamount’s Flying Tigers. Then for 1975, Richards tore out the asphalt and returned to clay. “It was a big decision,” he stated in a press release, “but it was easy for me as I knew that’s what the fans wanted.”  Open-wheel Modifieds returned as the headline division, with limited Late Model and Hobby cars in support.  With CVRA sanction, the Bowl returned to the same formula begun at Fairmont in 1962. 

         The mid-late 1970s were tough times at Devil’s Bowl.  Thirteen race meets were lost to weather in 1976 and a fourteenth cut short by a power failure.  The big season finale, which should have drawn a capacity crowd, was rained out twice and then cancelled altogether due to freezing temperatures and snow.  Recession, inflation, and fuel shortages took a toll on all weekly racetracks in the region.  In addition, a number of drivers boycotted Devil’s Bowl in response to misunderstandings over payouts earlier in the 1970s.  Car counts and fan support spiraled downward.  After losing money on every show in early 1978, Richards shut the gates in July and placed the track for sale.  He now devoted all his energy to Albany-Saratoga Speedway, where he had installed the CVRA the previous season. 

         A Mr. Fabian bought the West Haven track and leased it to Tom Perry, a longtime Richards associate, for the 1979 season.  Perry renamed the facility West Haven Speedway and continued with Modified, Late Model, and hobby classes much as before, but under open sanction.  Although he appears to have maintained a steady program, Perry was publicity-shy and accounts of West Haven races rarely made local dailies or racing weeklies.  Most top CVRA stars migrated to Albany-Saratoga, which was heavily publicized and undoubtedly paid richer purses.

         The Perry regime continued through 1981.  Then with backing from Glenn Donnelly of DIRT Motorsports, C.J. Richards repurchased the West Haven track.  He reopened for 1982 and 1983 with the CVRA and the same racing divisions as before. At this time, Devil’s Bowl became one of the first tracks to institute a “spec” tire rule.  For 1984 the Bowl went to DIRT sanction.  This brought many new drivers and different car specifications.  Big-block Modifieds headlined with small-block Sportsman and full-fender Pro Stock cars in support.

         The DIRT experiment lasted one season.  As with NASCAR a decade earlier, Richards found that the costs and restrictions of big-name sanctioning outweighed the benefits.  Accordingly, he returned to the CVRA.  Beginning in 1985, Devil’s Bowl went with a 358- c.i. limit, banning aluminum heads and aluminum wheels. Although several top drivers stayed away, the program flourished.  As Tom Boggie wrote, “In an age of driver worship, Richards discovered that the fans in Vermont and northern New York were just as happy watching their local favorites run at the front of the pack.”  Through the 1987 season, Airborne Speedway stayed with the CVRA, making a three-track circuit. 

         No radical changes were introduced during the late 1980s and 1990s.  In line with national trends, Devil’s Bowl added entry-level support classes that have been called by a variety of names.  These include 4-cylinder and V-8 sedans, straight off the street with no changes allowed except for safety.  The Pro Stock division featured full-fendered racecars that utilize much racing-specific technology but retain cast-iron production V-8 engines.  Open-wheel Sportsman cars, reintroduced in 1991, were identical to the headlining Modifieds except for being limited to small-block engines with a two-barrel carburetor.  Devil’s Bowl Modifieds are of the small-block variety, 358 cubic inches with a four-barrel carburetor.

         As his wife Judy struggled with cancer in the mid 1990s, C.J. gradually turned over management of the CVRA speedways to his son Bruce.  For 2010 brother Jerry took over Devil’s Bowl, while Bruce retained the lead role at A-S. 

         At the end of the 2009 season the Richards brothers changed both Albany-Saratoga and Devil’s Bowl to asphalt tracks. Together with already-paved Airborne Speedway, this created a three-track circuit for dirt-style Modifieds racing on pavement. Then in 2011 both Devil’s Bowl and Albany-Saratoga went with NASCAR sanction, the first NASCAR presence in Vermont since 1985. However, all three speedways struggled with low car counts and spectator turnout. At the end of 2011 the Richards brothers sold Devil’s Bowl to Mike Bruno, a Rutland businessman with extensive racing experience. Bruno continued with the asphalt program for three seasons, but at the end of the 2014 season he covered the pavement with clay and presented three programs. For 2015 Bruno built a 3/10-mile clay oval inside the paved half-mile and presented five dirt-track programs. Full seasons of racing on both tracks took place on both ovals in 2016 and 2017, the dirt program proving more popular among both drivers and spectators. With Albany-Saratoga and Airborne also returning to dirt, Bruno announced that the half-mile track will return to a dirt track for 2018.