The Southern New York Racing Association (remember Danbury was in Connecticut!) crowned their first Danbury Racearena champion in 1950. The track was a tight 1/3-mile asphalt oval. Lesser known drivers like Billy Boo, Bones Stevens and Danny Gaudiosi were feature winners at the track. In 1821 the town of Danbury held its first agricultural fair, but it was not until 1869 that the fair became an annual event. That year, in a small tent borrowed from the Barnum & Bailey Circus, the Danbury Farmers and Manufacturers Society held the first annual fair on a property known as the Danbury Pleasure Park.

CandleliteStadium – Bridgeport, Connecticut

By John Nelson

Carl Brunetto, co-owner of theBridgeport Bees minor-league baseball team, built Candlelite Stadium for theteam in 1947. Brunetto also owned theadjacent Candlelite Restaurant, which had a terrace overlooking the park. The Bees played at Candlelite until1951. Bill Tuthill opened a 1/5 milepaved oval track inside the stadium on June 30, 1947 for Midget racing. The stadium had seating for 7,000 spectators;the baseball showers and dressing room were available to the drivers. Stock carracing began March 27, 1949 under the new United Stock Car Racing Club. TedTappett won the feature race over Al Keller, Art Cross, Johnny Rogers, and anumber of others. The stocks proved sopopular that 4,000 seats were added for the start of the 1950 season. In 1953 the speedway ran 52 meets.

Candlelite ran strong during its briefexistence, but 1954 proved to be the final full season. The Southern New York Racing Association rana few shows here early in 1954 before Danbury opened for the season. Candlelite than went back with United. Jerry Humiston won five feature races in1954. Other feature winners were ChickStockwell, Doug Benjamin (2), Jack Nalley, and Hal McCarthy. The final stockcar event at Candlelite, a 250-lap team race, took place on September 26, 1954.

The stadium was sold early in 1955 toE.M. Loew’s Theater, Inc. for $110,000. Grandstands had already been partiallyremoved when the final Midget racing show took place on May 1. Loew replacedthe stadium with two drive-in theaters, which later gave way to assortedcommercial properties. The site is on the northeast side of River Street aboutmidway between North Avenue (U.S. Rt. 1) and the Pequonnock River bridge indowntown Bridgeport.

Sources: IllustratedSpeedway News, National Speed Sport News, Bridgeport Telegram on www.newspapers.com

CherryPark Speedway – Avon, Connecticut

By John Nelson

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

For 1949Cherry Park ran stock cars weekly under the New England Stock Car RacingAssociation (NESCRA) sanction. Nineteenmeets were held, Hank Tatro winning 11 features and the season title. Other winners in 1949 were Barney Smith withtwo 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 Clubalso raced here and at West Springfield, Massachusetts.

Ed Otto brought in NASCAR sanction for1950, although the Nutmeg Stock Car Club sanctioned some of the races. As before, the track also hosted Roadstersand ARDC Midgets. The Nutmeg clubreturned for 1951 with Harry Reisdorf promoting.

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

On May 3,1955, Illustrated Speedway News announcedthat Cherry Park would open in late May under Harvey Tattersall’s United StockCar Racing Club. However, no reports ofraces from 1955 have been found, and USCRC advertisements for 1955 and lateryears do not mention Cherry Park. NSSN confirmsAllan Brown’s listing that the track was torn down in 1959 and replaced byhousing. It was located in the smallcommunity of Cherry Park on the east side of S.R. 177 and just west of SecretLake, west of Avon and about 10 miles west of Hartford.

Sources: IllustratedSpeedway News, National Speed Sport News, Roaring Roadsters #2 by DonRadbruch; Midget Auto Racing History,Vol. 2 by Crocky Wright.

DanburyFair Racearena – Danbury, Connecticut

By John Nelson

Unique among Northeastern Modifiedvenues, Danbury lived practically in a world apart. Although no national stars ever ran here, itsdrivers and spectators supported the Racearena enthusiastically. It was killed in its prime when it fell intothe 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 YorkRacing 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 fortrotting horses. An agricultural fairwas organized around the racetrack in 1869. The fair took place annually in October. Auto races were held during the 1917 fair, and continued as anoccasional attraction through the 1930s. With the rise of Midget racing, a 1/5 mile paved oval was built insidethe half-mile track in 1940. After ahiatus for World War II, Midget racing became a weekly event in late 1945, andthe Fair resumed the following year. TheARDC Midgets ran weekly at Danbury through the late 1940s (Wright 1980).

In 1950 or1951, a 1/3-mile waterway for hydroplane racing was built inside the ½-mile andoutside the 1/5-mile track. Boat racingdrawing little interest, owner John Leahy filled the moat in 1952 and convertedit to a 1/3-mile dirt oval for stock car racing. It was a narrow track, 36 feet wide at itswidest point. Thus, crashes werefrequent - an attraction for spectators and one of the few drawbacks forcompetitors.

Stock carracing began on Sunday, May 1, 1949 under Harvey Tattersall’s United Stock CarRacing Club. Danbury continued to runMidgets on Saturday evenings. Followingthe second meet on May 8, the reporter for ISNwrote, “A disappointing crowd witnessed the second running of the stocks and itis doubtful if General Manager John W. Leahy will attempt to present anotherstock 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 seemsto have lain idle in 1950 in most of 1951. A few United stock car meets took place in late 1951.

Beginningin 1952, the Southern New York Racing Association (SNYRA) sanctioned racing atDanbury. Founded in 1948, this clubbegan racing on makeshift dirt tracks in southern New York before moving toDanbury. Once ensconced at Danbury, theSNYRA almost never ran anywhere else. However, for unknown reasons the track lay idle in 1956 and 1957. When racing resumed in June of 1958, the1/3-mile oval had been paved.

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

Danbury sportsmen ran flatheads through1971, later than any other major track in the Northeast. Forty percent of the gate receipts went tothe SNYRA, which paid the purses in proportion. Racing papers from the 1970s reported weekly attendance ranging from5,500 to over 10,000 and payouts of $1,900 to $2,200 to win a 50-lapfeature. In 2017 dollars this is roughly$6,000, the standard winner’s share for a 100-lap Super DIRTcar Big-BlockModified event. To all accounts, Danbury had one of America’s most successfulweekly short track programs. Throughoutits history, the SNYRA based the weekly payout on 40% of the gatereceipts. Cost of building a competitivecar for Danbury was substantially lower at other New England tracks runningopen Modifieds. Until its last few seasons,Danbury never ran extra-distance races: they never lacked for cars and spectators.

John Snyderwrote (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 keptit isolated from other Northeast region tracks and drivers. Yet for many years Danbury was probably themost successful Saturday night speedway not just in the region, but in theentire country.” Writing in National Speed Sport News for 6/21/78,Gary London remarked that the engine and tire limits and the handicappingprocedure ensured plenty of passing, and a good driver could win from deep inthe field. London rated Danbury’slandscaping, concessions, and rest rooms among the best.

Danburycalled its premier division Modifieds, but at most Northeastern tracks theywould have been called Sportsmen. Until1972 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 upto 310 c.i., 12½' tires, and a 2,500 lb. minimum weight. As elsewhere, Vega, Pinto, and Gremlin bodiesbecame 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 thestands for regular weekly shows and (2) they had no interest or need to attractbig-name drivers from outside the SNYRA. An event said to be the first (and perhaps only) 100-lap feature inRacearena history was held on November 6, 1977, Don LaJoie came home thevictor.

For 1979 a Sportsman class was added tothe weekly bill. These cars resembledthe regular Modifieds, but were restricted to basically stock engines with a2-barrel carburetor (Kevin Brown, VintageOval Racing, June 2007).

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

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Most feature wins in a single season - 9 by Don LaJoie in1975

Most consecutive feature wins - 7 by Chick Stockwell, from5/21/60 to 7/23/60

Most seasons with feature wins - 19, by Chick Stockwell

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