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New York National Speedway Reunion
By Ted Pappacena
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| Original burnout sign. |
March 20, 1966 was a very significant date in the history of Long Island New York or for the east coast as well. At least in the sport of drag racing, that is. That signified the opening of the long awaited New York National Speedway.
At the time, the track was built at a cost of one million dollars which was quite a hefty sum back then. It had a state of the art control tower and the best traction anywhere on the east coast. It started off being sanctioned by the AHRA, then the unheralded UHRA, and finally closing out its tenure on the Island with NHRA. That sad day was sometime in 1980.
Ah, but during its hay day, it hosted some of the sport’s biggest events. Many AHRA Nationals were held there (naturally) as well as the U S Funny Car Championships, the 1966 and 1968 Super Stock Magazine Nationals, the ill- fated P R O Race and even an NHRA Eastern Summer Championship race in 1977.
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| Speedway sign, trophy, and Tee Shirt. |
Practically every touring pro and match racer raced there at one time or another and many got their reputations there as well. Remember when Dickie Harrell put his blown Camaro on one rear tire during the 67 AHRA Summer Nationals? Right then and there he became “Mr. Chevrolet”. Or how about Leroy Goldstein putting the Ramchargers Challenger into the record books with the first official 6 second run for funny cars?
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| Rear engine dragster pioneer Bernie Schacker gets interviewed by Dennis Quitoni. |
Need more? Bernie Schacker debuts the first successful rear engine dragster and promptly puts it in the 6 second zone. He competed with Duane Ong’s equally revolutionary rear engine dragster at the AHRA Summer Nationals in 1970 and Duane’s became the first rear engine dragster to win a national event. This was a year before Don Garlits debuted his rear engine dragster. It goes on and on.
We cannot forget to mention all the local racers who went there week in and week out racing everything from bone stock family sedans and muscle cars to gassers, funnies, dragsters (gas and nitro), and even dune buggies. AHRA had a class for everything! Sam Biondo, Scott Shafiroff, Richie Sullivan, Bill Mitchell, the Cobra Rat, the Patty Boy Sunoco fleet, Charlie Castaldo, Brooklyn Heavy, Carman Rotunda, the Zeffiro Brothers, Richie Zul all put their time in at the track.
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| Wilko Brothers T/S Monza and Pacers Tasmanian Devil AA/FA overlook the crowd. |
Then sadly, one bleak day in 1980, the gates closed forever. To this day, racers and fans alike lament the passing of this great track.
In the summer of 1998 at Long Island Dragway (Westhampton), Walter Frey who was the tech inspector for the cars that were racing there tried to have a N Y National Speedway reunion. We both shared a fondness for N Y National and one Sunday he held a mini reunion. A small tent and a table were set up and he and I put up memorabilia pertaining to the track. There wasn’t a big turnout but the seed was planted.
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| Funny car pilots Harlan Thompson (L) and Al Segrini (R) check out the Drag Racing Imagery archives. |
Fast forward to January of this year as I was looking around Facebook, I spotted a blurb about a New York National Speedway Reunion to be held on July 27th of this year at Raceway Park, Englishtown New Jersey. Walter was behind it and had the blessing of the Napp Brothers; proprietors of the track. I immediately jumped on board along with Charley Powell and Bill Gonsowski. Flyers were made and we handed them out at many events on the Island as well as the surrounding areas. With Walter’s guidance the reunion went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect and the turnout was nothing short of fantastic.
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| Trophies and scrapbooks packed with memories. |
A special New York National Speedway eliminator was held that day and literally hundreds of cars showed up. The memorabilia tent was overflowing with scrapbooks, displays, trophies, signs, and even the red bulb from the tree.
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| Red light from the tree. |
So many racers and industry people who were instrumental in the sports growth were on hand. Ed Eaton (track manager), Scott Shafiroff, Ernie Kreig (S&K Speed), Bernie Schacker, George Kook, Dennis Quitoni, George and Scott Snizek, the Wilko brothers, Claude Pardee (A&P Automotive), Sam Biondo, Nunzi Romano, Frankie Peronne, Jimmy Messinger, Anthony Gentile, Joe Gentile, James Antonette, and Hohn Bruzo to name quite a few. I was set up with my photos and videos so I was very limited as to who and what I was able to see. What I did see and hear was amazing and I hope we can repeat this whole process again next year.
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