Dover Speedway – Dover, New Jersey

         Dover Speedway was located on U.S 46 on the east side of Dover in Morris County, north-central New Jersey, about 30 miles due west of New York City.  According to Brown (2003), it was active in 1933-1935, 1947-1952, and June and July of 1954. We have confirmed racing in 1933, 1947 to 1951, and in 1954. Information comes from various local newspapers on www.newspapers.com, illustrated Speedway News, National Speed Sport News, and www.wallycampbell.com.

         Abner Lipman built Dover Speedway in 1933 on the site of a former horse racing track. Surfaced with oiled dirt, the half-mile oval had turns 60 feet wide and straights 75 feet wide. The opening meet for AAA Big Cars was scheduled for Memorial Day but postponed to June 11 because of rain. Billy Winn of Kansas City took the 20-lap feature with Bob Sall of Paterson 2nd and Al Thiesen of Dayton, Ohio 3rd. Attendance reportedly was 8,000, well over the 5,000-seat grandstand capacity.

         On June 21 Dover management announced that owing to a scheduling dispute with the AAA the track would run “outlaw”. Big Car races on June 25 and July 2 featured local drivers under auspices of the Garden State Auto Racing Association. Winner of the 40-lap main event was Bill Scarine, Scarence, or Scarince of either Garfield or Passaic, depending on which account you believe. Several more race meets at Dover were announced in the local newspapers but no results of these events, if they took place, have come to light. On July 28 came a report that the speedway was in receivership owing $18,000 to the building contractors. No further news of activity at Dover Speedway has been found until 1947.

         Dover Speedway reopened in 1947 with Dominick Esposito as owner and Tom Wheaton the track manager. They presented a weekly program of racing that alternated several of the era’s top racing organizations, including AAA Big Cars, ARA and ARDC Midgets, AMA motorcycles, and modified stock cars of the Trenton-based Atlantic Stock Car Racing Association. Sherman “Red” Crise and Bob Streeter promoted the stock car racing. Later, Tom Grbac of New Brunswick took a hand in promoting; he went on to build New Egypt Speedway. These were some of the earliest regularly held stock car races in the northeastern United States. Unfortunately, Dover’s publicists were far more thorough in announcing upcoming events than in providing the press with results of the races. Although its office was only 25 miles from the track, NSSN printed race results from Dover sporadically at best. On two occasions that paper published photographs of races at Dover without providing outcome of the events.

         Concerning Dover’s stock car races of 1947, the Atlantic club had a roster of talent second only to Bill France and his National Championship Stock Car Circuit, which raced Modified predominantly in the Southeast prior to the establishment of NASCAR in 1948. The Atlantic club featured Wally Campbell, “Pepper” Cunningham, Tommy Coates, brothers Chick and Rocky DiNatale (Rocky’s wife Lucy later competed also), and Ken Marriott plus occasional appearances by several Southern drivers who also raced for Bill France including Bill Blair, Glenn Dunaway, Frank “Rebel” Mundy, Ed Samples, and the Flock brothers.

         A 1947 entry form and program on www.wallycampbell.com advertised a $2,000 purse with the feature winner’s share $445. The program comprised time trials, 10-lap heat races, a consolation race, and a 30-lap feature. Racing was “open to modified and stock cars from 1934 to 1947", and the rules were quite liberal. Engine block and heads had to be production pieces matching the bodies, but internal engine modifications were virtually unlimited, and “superchargers and any type of carburetion will be allowed and any number of carburetors may be used”. Locked rear end, any gear ratios, reinforced wheels and steering components were approved. As for safety, “All drivers must be strapped in and must wear safety helmets”, and, “If car is roadster or touring type, it will be permissible to construct a hoop over the driver’s head to protect driver in event of upset”. 

         For the first half of the 1948 Dover Speedway continued with a diverse program of weekly racing that featured Big Cars, Midgets, motorcycles, and stock cars. Added to the mix were “Roaring Roadsters” or “Hot Rods”, which were open-bodied modified stock cars enjoying a brief period of popularity. However, in August Dover went to stock cars every week except one, where Big Cars were featured. At least some, if not all of the stock-car events were sanctioned by the Eastern Stock Car Racing Club, an independent organization of “over 30 drivers” headed by President Bob Laurie of Morris Plains. Records are scanty, but most of the same stock car pilots who competed in 1947 returned. Others who earned podium finishes that season were Paul Barbiche, Charlie Muscatel, Frankie Schneider, and Lou Volk.  

         The 1949 season saw a return to a varied program that included AAA Sprint Cars, ARA (Automobile Racing Association) Midgets, Roadsters of the Metro Hot Rod Club, and AMA motorcycles. Stock cars raced under at least two sanctioning bodies, in addition to open-competition events. The United Stock Car Racing Association made its debut in late June and ran weekly through July, when they were displaced by the Eastern Stock Car Racing Association with a different group of drivers. Managed by Harvey Tattersall, the United club was a leading organization in southern New England and eastern New York, and it staged races for new-model cars in addition to Modifieds using older body styles. Available accounts do not indicate which type of car raced at Dover. The Eastern club was locally based and its roster included the DiNatale brothers, Wally Campbell,  Pete Harris, Otto Harwi, and Southerner Frank “Rebel” Mundy. Harwi, a “noted Midget driver”, also finished third in an early-season open competition stock car race.

         Following a 100-lap “National Championship” Midget event, won by Len Duncan on October 16, Dover announced a 100-lap “Grand National” stock car race to close out the 1949 season on October 22. Sanctioned by Tattersall’s United club, this race had no connection with NASCAR. The event set a unique record in that is was postponed because of rain four times in 1949 and twice more in 1950 before running to a conclusion on May 21, 1950.

         The poorly documented 1950 season seems to have been totally devoted to stock cars. Following the six-time-postponed “Grand National” race, the speedway closed for nearly two months to rebuild the track. Two races in July were held under unnamed sandtion, following which the Eastern club returned for the balance of the season. No results have been found for any of their advertised race meets. A few interesting sidelights appeared in local news accounts. In his “Rambling on Racing” in the July 28 edition of the Chatham Press, Butch Hatton wrote, “The Dover Speedway is still dirty, with quite a bit of dust being thrown up in the turns, especially the first turn. Dover ought to use the same method the Morristown track uses.” This comment came after two months of down time to rebuild the track in the heart of the season. Articles in August noted that two women were racing stock cars against the men at Dover. They were Lucy DiNatale of Trenton, wife of Dover regular Rocky; and Mary Story, sister of drivers Roy and Ray Hughes. Most likely the women’s status as family members of established male drivers helped them gain admission to a sport where women were commonly barred from competing except in special “powder puff” races, a practice that continued into the early 1970s at some raceways.

         Dover got off to a late and inauspicious start to the 1951 season. Shortly after the gates opened for the June 22 opener, a portion of the grandstand collapsed under the weight of only 75 people. Six sustained injuries; they were treated and released at a local hospital, and the races went on until rain set in and the program was postponed. The remainder of the 1951 season proceeded under Harvey Tattersall’s United Stock Car Racing Association running mainly on Friday nights. Harold Brokhoff won seven out of 15 completed features and the track championship, and Bob Courtwright won three features, while Nelson Applegate, Tony Battle, Johnny Cabral, Howie Long, and Ed Soden each had single victories. Other well-known drivers who raced at Dover in 1951 were Freddy Fehr, Ralph Liguori, and Otto Harwi. Absent from the lists were the DiNatale brothers, who won many races in previous seasons.     

The speedway lay idle for the entire 1952 and 1953 seasons, partly because of complaints about dust and noise.  On June 13, 1954, the track reopened under auspices of the Be-Amused Corporation, with Ray Flannagan promoter.  During the feature race, the main grandstand folded as several hundred fans jumped to their feet.  Eighty-seven people were injured, of whom 11 required hospital stays (New York Times, 6/13/54, p. 72;  6/14, p. 39). In NSSN for 3/8/67, Gary London interviewed Al Tasnady, who claims he was leading the feature when the race was red-flagged for an on-track incident.  At the same moment, the bleachers fell.  “During the stop, I checked my car and discovered I had a broken front king pin and a ruptured fuel tank.  I couldn’t start the race, let alone finish it. But, because of the grandstand collapsing, they called the race and I was declared the winner.” However, contemporary news accounts stated that Nelson Applegate was awarded the win and Tasnady was runner-up. 

         The speedway briefly lost its racing permit because of this incident, but was quickly cleared of liability and resumed racing on July 3 with brand-new seating for 4,000.  Dover ran weekly Modified stock cars through late September. Al Tasnady claimed the season championship; other top drivers included Jack Bergstresser, Jim Delaney, Freddy Fehr, Otto Harwi, Jackie McLaughlin, Whip Mulligan, Budd Olsen, and Kenny Wismer.

         There is no record of racing after 1954. Reasons for Dover Speedway’s demise are not on record, but liability suits from the grandstand collapse undoubtedly played a large role. One suit reportedly was settled out of court for more than $15,000, which is nearly $150,000 in 2020 dollars. After lying vacant for a decade, the property was sold in 1963, and is now a shopping plaza on the south side of U.S. 46 at the east edge of Dover, a city of 18,000 on Interstate 80 about 30 miles west of New York City.

Dover Speedway – Track Champions

Year            Modified

1951            Harold Brokhoff

1954            Al Tasnady