BREWERTON SPEEDWAY
(Courtesy of the Brewerton Speedway Website)
The Brewerton
Speedway first opened in 1948 under the ownership of Alvin Richardson, of
Buffalo, NY. Richardson built the
¼ mile dirt track, Charlie Bray was the President and Ted Brown was the PR
Director.
The first race
in 1948 was halted due to poor track conditions, which was a result of wet
spring weather. The Speedway was
then paved after the first race, and midgets were the headline class, as they
were popular at the time. The
Brewerton Speedway had $53,000 invested in the track.
July 4th,
1949 was the first race at the paved Brewerton Speedway.
4000 people showed up to witness the first midget car race, which was won
by Steve Yanigan, driving a car owned by Al Brown.
Other winners throughout that first year were Roy Graham, Ed Lenz, Leon
Lorber, and Stan Disbow.
In 1952, Lee
Petty won a NASCAR sanctioned event at the track, defeating Jimmy Reed, Neil
Cole, and Roscoe Hough.
For the next
few years, Richardson continued to own and promote the track.
Some of the top runners over the next few seasons were, Wee Willy Allen,
George Cady, Cliff Fuller, Nolan Swift, Nick Lassaro, Bud and Dick Laribee, Rod
Turcott, and Art Reynolds. Owner
Alvin Richardson farmed out the promoting duties in 1958, with Donald Gillette,
Dick Brown, and Bill Luke taking over.
In 1960, the
track was renamed the Route 11 Speedway. The
track operated on Friday nights, and the admission price was $1.50.
Gillette, Brown, and Luke promoted stock cars and go karts.
Notable racers that entered the picture in the early 60’s include Eddy
Bellinger, Dutt Yanni, Sammy Reakes, and Cliff Kotary.
Jim Carroll
took over the promoting duties in 1961, and the track continued to run on Friday
nights. After a few races in 1961,
the track was closed, and the corners were rebanked, with a lowered infield.
In 1962, John
Colbert picked up the promoting duties, and ran the speedway under the sanction
of the Empire State Racing Club. They
raced Late Model Stock cars on Wednesday nights, and Friday nights.
Admission costs were lowered to $1.00 per person.
The promoting
duties once again changed hands the following season, with Bob Rogers, and the
Tri-Counties Racing Association in charge of promoting the track.
Dave Kotary won the track championship after winning 17 out of 20 events.
Kotary was only 20 years old at the time.
In 1965, the
Brewerton Speedway changed ownership for the first time in its 17 year old
history. Alvin Richardson sold the
Speedway to Archie Greene, who also owned the junk yard next to the track.
Bob Rogers continued to promote the track.
Closing the
end of the decade of the 1960’s Bob Rodgers continued to promote the Speedway,
and Archie Greene was still the owner. In
1969, Rogers became president of a new sanctioning body called the Maple Grove
Raceway Association. They also
promoted the Waterloo, and Weedsport Speedways.
Unfortunately, the group fell apart, and Rogers association with the
trick dissolved after 6 years. Track
owner Archie Greene promoted the track over the next
2 years.
Clifford J.
Carey promoted the track in 1971, and ran a limited schedule of racing.
Other notable racers entering into the picture in the early 70’s
include, Neil Tooley, Gary Reddick, Chuby LaRoux, and John Michaels.
The following
year, Balwinsville resident David Snyder took over the promotional duties of the
track. He converted the ¼ mile
paved track into a 1/3 mile D shaped dirt track. Snyder ran modifieds on Thursday and Saturday nights. The
first race on the new dirt surface was held on July 20, 1972 with Will Cagle
picking up the win.
Archie Greene
continued ownership of the track in 1973 and David Snyder continued to promote
the track. Will Cagle was the
champion. Other top runners were
Jack Johnson, Jerry Cook, Lou Lazzaro, Jim Shampine, and Dave Kneisel.
The following
year, Tom and Joe Grosso took over the promoting duties, and ran the speedway on
a very limited schedule. The Track opened for the season in late July, and
closed for the season just a month later.
In 1975, the
ownership remained the same, as Archie Greene has been the track owner for his
10th year. However, the
promoting duties once again changed hands for the 4th time in 5
years. This time, Roger Burdick,
Paul Bowker, and Lynn Holmes took over the duties.
They also lasted on full season, and opted out at the end of the year
because of lease problems. Some
notable winners in 1975 included Doug Carlyle, Fran Kitchen and Bob McCreadie.
Roger Allen,
Dave Fox, and Hal Dixon took over the promoting of the track in 1976.
They ran 318ci sportsman cars as the headline class.
Some familiar names that won races in 1976 were, Jim Spano, Bob
McCreadie, Duane Decker, Mike Noto, and Chubby LaRoux.
The 1978
Season opened up in June under the leadership of Steve Armstrong.
Armstrong ran his events on Friday evenings, with limited sportsman, and
street stocks running weekly.
The track did
not open at all in 1979, but returned to action for the 1980 season under a new
promoter once again. This time,
Fred Mathieson took control of the events at the speedway. He ran small block modifieds, Strictly Stocks, and VW Mini
Sprints. Mathieson later purchased
the track from Archie Greene, who had owned the Speedway for the past 15 years,
and renovated the entire facility, from the grandstands, to the restrooms.
The Grand Re-opening of the track was held in late May of 1980, with
Canadian racer Colin Slade picking up the big win.
Mathieson
continued ownership of the speedway for the next 5 years.
Other notable drivers that won events over this time was Donnie Wetmore,
Roger Phelps, Leroy Hurlburt, and Bob McCreadie.
The track was
closed for the 1985 season. The
track reopened in 1986 under new ownership. Charlie and Bob Trump purchased the
track from Fred Mathieson, and completed many improvements to the track.
In 1988, a new
partner entered the picture, as Jim Ferlto joined the ownership group, and they
made many more improvements to the speedway.
The track ran on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons.
Donnie Wetmore was the modified champion for the third straight season.
In 1989, the
track ran under the Outlaw banner along with Fulton, and Utica Rome Speedway.
Regular winners were Donnie Wetmore, Dale Planck, Roger Phelps, and J.J.
Michaels.
The Brewerton
Speedway continued under the Outlaw circuit until 1994.
Harvey, Joan and David Fink took over the track, and made Big Block
Modifieds the headline class. DIRT
Motorsports was brought in to sanction the events.
This was the beginning of a very successful era for the track known as
the D-Shaped DIRT Demon.
The Fink
family continued ownership of the Speedway for the next several years.
They would also pick up ownership of the Fulton Speedway along the way in
1998.
They Fink’s
sold both tracks and left for Florida. They
were only gone just a few short seasons, and now they are back in 2009 running
the weekly programs at both tracks once again under the ownership of
Businessman/Car Owner/Track Owner/Racing Dad, John Wight, who saved both
speedways from extinction in the spring of 2009.
.
