Dug up an antique video presenting Stateline Speedway for you and its right below.  Click the link!!!

State Line Speedway – North Bennington, Vermont

By John Nelson, May 26, 2019

In 1944 Michael Akoury built a half-mile track on his land for the Hoosick Valley Trotting Association.  This track was used for harness racing through the 1940s.  Akoury himself owned and drove trotting horses that regularly finished in the money at Saratoga and elsewhere. Possibly with an eye toward dodging state restrictions on pari-mutuel betting, Akoury’s track straddled the New York-Vermont state border. The front stretch and grandstand lay in New York while the backstretch was in Vermont.  

         The first motorized competition at the State Line track took place on August 24, 1947 with AAA Big Cars (Sprint Cars), with Joie Chitwood winning the main event. Best known for his auto thrill shows, Chitwood was a talented driver who won the AAA Eastern Circuit Big Car championship in 1939 and 1940 and competed seven times at Indianapolis, finishing fifth on three occasions. He also is known as the first driver to wear a safety belt at Indianapolis. The following year, August 22, 1948, Al Nunis presented the newly formed United Racing Club (URC) Sprint Cars.  Bob Cooney swept the program, setting quick time of 26.32 sec and winning his heat and the main event. Cooney went on to claim the URC season championship.  

         In Roaring Roadsters #2 (2000), Don Radbruch discussed Roadster or “Hot Rod” racing at three tracks in Vermont during 1949 to 1952. Photographs by Les King show cut-down, open stock cars with full roll cages racing at Fairmont Speedway in Fair Haven, the track that became the predecessor to Devil’s Bowl. No photos of Roadsters racing at State Line were presented, although Radbruch stated that Wally LaBelle, who later raced stock cars, won a main event there. Aside from the URC event mentioned above, I turned up no accounts of races at State Line in 1948 or 1949. Because local newspapers extensively covered stock car races at State line beginning in 1950, I surmise that Roadster racing took place in 1948 and 1949. This form of racing typically received little or no coverage in either local papers or the weekly racing papers.

         Stock cars raced weekly on Sunday afternoons at State Line in 1950. John Carpenter was the promoter and the Consolidated Racing Association sanctioned the races. The purse was 40% of the gate. According to the Troy Times-Record, Fred Sheppard of Poughkeepsie, New York won eleven feature races driving the Steve Danish # 61 Chevrolet; Danish himself reportedly won eight main events. Other feature winners included Hully Bunn, Bob Gallant, and Ted Langlois. 

         The program grew steadily through 1951 and 1952.  Attendance regularly topped 2,000 and reached 5,000 for the track’s biggest event to date, the Eastern States Championship in September.  Fields of 30 to 50 cars, representing five states, crowded the pits.  In June of 1952, the field was opened to Modified cars racing alongside Sportsman.  Guaranteed purse rose from $500 in June to over $900 in August, paying $200 to the feature winner.  That is about $2,000 in today’s money.  A special race on Memorial Day carried a purse of $2,500, enormous for a local track at the time (the Race of Champions at Langhorne paid $4,000 that year).   

         NASCAR sanction arrived in July of 1953, and State Line ran several big shows.  By September two classes of cars were running, Sportsmen and Jalopies.  As of July 1955, State Line was still racing Friday nights under NASCAR sanction.  Ed Ryan and Mike Akoury shared promoting duties.

         Steve Danish, the “Cropseyville Comet”, was State Line’s dominant driver during the early 1950s.  He took the first four season championships, winning 8 features in 1950, 12 in 1951, 11 in 1952, and at least 10 in 1953.  Also in 1953, Danish was the New York State NASCAR Sportsman champion.  He was among the few to drive a Chevrolet, with 6-cylinder power.  As noted above, in 1950 Fred Sheppard scored 11 feature wins in Steve Danish’s second car.

         State Line dropped NASCAR sanction for 1954 and returned to the Tri-City Racing Association in concert with Empire Raceway in Troy, New York.  Several of the top NASCAR points chasers, including Howard “Jeep” Herbert and Steve Danish, raced elsewhere for a while, leaving the door open for several first-time winners at State Line.  Herbert and Danish returned in July, Danish ending the season 4th in points.  Modifieds were dropped in 1954; the classes were Sportsman and “Jalopy”.  Prize money and presumably attendance showed a decline in 1954.

         NASCAR returned in 1955 with Sportsman racing and no support class. For unexplained reasons, the speedway was closed part of July and all of August.   

For 1956, Ray Clement leased the speedway as promoter and presented Sportsman racing under unknown sanction. Although some of the regulars made appearances, most of the steady competitors were new.  Ed Ryan took over operations in 1957 and ran weekly through June, presenting both stocks and Midgets. The track lay idle after July except for the big New England Championship race in September.  The Troy Record for 4/10/58 reported State Line’s 1957 total attendance as 10,000, compared with 14,000 at Pine Bowl, 20,000 at Lebanon Valley, and 35,000 at Empire.  Akoury announced intention to run “specials only” for 1958, but in June, Ed Canfield leased the facility and tried weekly racing. Following several rain-outs, the speedway lay idle through July.  A final attempt was made in August with both stock cars and AMA motorcycles.  No results made the papers; the final advertised date for stock car racing was August 15.

         Besides Steve Danish, top drivers at State Line included George Baumgartner, Gene Bergin, Hully Bunn, Rene Charland, Pete Corey, Dick Eagan, Pepper Eastman, D.D. “Rebel” Harris, Don Hendenburg, “Jeep” Herbert, Bernie Ingersoll, Butch Jelley, Jim Luke, Earl Maille, Spence Parkhurst, Ollie Palmer, Spencer Parkhurst, Al Perry, Sonny Rabideau, Ken Shoemaker, and Irv Taylor.  

         The rise and fall of State Line Speedway followed a familiar pattern. The early 1950s were a gold rush for stock car racing. Hundreds of new tracks opened, and with minimal effort a promoter could make good money. By the mid 1950s the novelty wore off, and only the best-run organizations survived. Michael Akoury was devoted to his race horses and left management of the stock car racing to others. Frequent changes of promoter, sanctioning body, and program disconcerted racers and fans alike. Other local speedways, notably Fonda Speedway, ran consistent programs and reliably paid top purses, attracting the top driving talent. Another local speedway, Lebanon Valley, struggled to prosperity after nearly dying along with State Line in the late 1950s.  

         State Line was located on the south side of S.R. 67 on the Vermont-New York state line.  The oval has been nearly obliterated, but the site was never redeveloped.  Sources: Bennington Banner and Rutland Herald (on microfilm), Illustrated Speedway News (hard copy), Troy Record, Troy Times-Record, North Adams Transcript (online at www.newspapers.com).

State Line Speedway - Track Champions

Year            Sportsman

1950            Steve Danish (may have been unofficial)

1951            Steve Danish

1952            Steve Danish

1953            Steve Danish

1954            Dee Goodermote

1955            Jimmy Morris

1956            Joe Wunderlich

1957, 1958 -    Short seasons, probably no champions