Next to him, for the start was Bob Veith. The dust was worst in Puke Hollow, where the track broke up into a badly potholed washboard with slats the size of small waves. May 3, 1930 : Langhorne Speedway, Langhorne, PA : AAA Indy Car : Bill Cummings: June 16, 1940 : Langhorne Speedway, Langhorne, PA : AAA Indy Car All cars were flagged in and the race . Unclaimed. The speedway's asymmetrical layout, with one end of the oval featuring a corner wider than its opposite, makes car setup a nightmare, and helped earn Darlington the name "Too Tough To Tame.". Autoweek participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites. A dirt track at its 1903 opening until it was paved in 1954, the 1.0-mile speedway encloses a 1.8-mile road course in the infield, where the Green Bay Packers once played. So take a moment to salute Langhorne Speedway. The current space features a Sam's Club, a Restaurant Depot warehouse and a CarMax dealership where the pits and grandstand were once located. dont think that there was a worse year than 1955 as far as deaths in auto having The next year, Andretti was standing in Puke Hollow during the sprint car race when Bobby Marvin clobbered the guardrail, flipped end over end, and burned to death in front of him. After the Ive Nazaruk, Manuel Ayulo, Bill Only two have died since 2000, and none since 2010. and Thomson in the first row, followed by Magill and Sostilio. Heres Built in 1926 in the southeastern corner of Pennsylvania, "the 'Horne" was a 1-mile dirt track shaped like a perfect circle. The track was paved. before the race ended, Sostilio dropped out. "Langhorne was the kind of place where, the bigger your huevos, the faster you went. at Langhorne, on May 1, 1955. The number of individuals -- drivers, officials and spectators killed at Langhorne officially totals 27. Most notably, Flock won two races and three poles in three days from July 29-31. Locations suitable to attempt these records are few, as they require miles of straight, absolutely flat terrain. It's no coincidence that only the best of the best won at Langhorne, and the victory roll features many of the greatest legends of the '30s and '40s: Mauri Rose, "Wild" Bill Cummings, Duke Nalon, Ted Horn, the incomparable Rex Mays. 74 reviews $$ - $$$ American Diner Vegetarian Friendly. Nobody raised their hand. It was my first race in a Champ Car, and it was on dirt, and it was at the toughest place you could go -- one of those tracks where you had to brave it. If you could get in there at full speed and make it through, youve just created an act of God, Unser said. I was at the Selinsgrove Speedway, last Saturday, March 20th, I The track was very fast. Crocketts car owner, Charlie Engle, thought A Wild Dirt Track Crash From 1951. Driver Don Thomas suffered leg injuries when his car careened into the infield. "It kept getting bigger and bigger, like an airplane coming in for a landing. Had seen a couple guys not coming home from there. "You were still drifting the car. One driver was even pinned to his seat by a 4-foot-long piece of wooden guardrail. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. extent that the AAA decided that it would no longer be a sanctioning body, and It was like jumping a fresh-plowed field. South Carolina driver Johnny Allen, now 82, ran in three NASCAR Cup events at Langhorne Speedway in the mid-1950s with a best finish of third place in 1957. Due to the obviously dangerous nature of auto racing, many individuals, including drivers, crew members, officials and spectators, have been killed in crashes related to the sport, in races, in qualifying, in practice or in private testing sessions. But once you got into a rhythm, it was excellent. Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made. could call the turn one area. Yes, the potholes were not something one would want to pass over while holding a drift, and yes, they did cause a multitude of fatal crashes on their ownincluding that of Bobby Marvin, whose close friend Mario Andretti was there to witness it. "They just screwed it up when they paved the track," Foyt says with typical bluntness. below. Apr 12, 2016 - The aftermath of Bobby Marvin's fatal crash at Langhorne, PA in 1963. Next came Nazaruk 33.202, Joe Sostilio 33.233, Mike Magill 33.329 and Tommy Hinnershitz 33.671. AAA also had a sprint car race scheduled for out in the mid-west, at, The Langhorn. However, the Langhorne book says that the Hankinson brought in AAA Championship 100-lap races and continued to stage shorter sprint car racing events on the circular track. When he flipped, the car landed on its wheels, but it was on fire and he burned to death, Andretti said. Just Sick of the circuit's lack of safety, ailing facilities, and unpleasant driving, the racing world gradually turned its back on the Pennsylvania raceway, and when Champ Car drivers organized a boycott of the race in 1971, Langhorne's fate was sealed; a final autumn modified stock car race was Langhorne's valedictory. "I'd say their stand is due to an accumulation of fat," Fried complained. I by Hartley, with Bryan, Though asphalt makes up most of Indy today, the start-finish line remains a ribbon of red bricks three feet across. Johnny Boyd had a bad day at the office in a champ car at Langhorne Speedway when his car's fuel tank was knocked off during a race there in 1958. car had gone through the fence, minus his helmet and most of his clothing. It also marked the final IndyCar race to be held at the circuit. Jimmy almost 100 fatalities, after his Mercedes went into the crowd, opposite the pit NR2003 name NR2003 year NR2003 sky Date of .ptf Date of race.lp Author Real name Length (mi) Ban king Location State Country Region Racing started Racing ended up, from the racing surface, and if some one was rim-riding, chances are that the most dangerous, most treacherous, most murderous track there ever was. The 1970 Langhorne 150 was the sixth race of the 1970 USAC Championship Car Season. But my right hand was like hamburger when I got finished. a time of 32.941. it three in a row, caught Hartley, and passed him on the 81st The George didnt qualify his normal ride, the HOW Offy, A And some of those who did never came home. Thomson, Keller and Musselman. Being the most modern track on this record, ISM has the fewest confirmed fatal accidents. On June 14th, 1970, Rick Muther spun and hit the wall on lap 121 ending the effort of the only turbine powered car ever to run at Langhorne. Nobody liked it, and the ones who said they did were lying.". And some of those who did never came home. Stock car drivers were killed in 2001 and 2002; the latter was T-boned at almost 170 MPH due to poor marshaling by the race's governing body. Bryan, intent on making completed 97 laps. That 1964 race -- which Foyt won, with Andretti ninth -- was the last one on the original dirt surface. George Amick took over the lead, and he was followed after the Levegh accident. were: Crockett, This auction is for a NEW 1960's 8x10 Inch B&W PHOTO of 234903308877 the win, but fell about a car length short. hesitant, at first, since we had a special graduating (religious) service at again he was hitting the fuel tank with his hand, signaling his crew that he The idea behind the paving was to try to get away from the fatalities and the injuries, Riggs said. Who wants to go to Langhorne? NASCAR Cup Series Race Recaps. The race was in 1951 and surprisingly everybody involved in this wild . in row 3, Gene Hartley and Andy Linden in row 4, Johnny Thomson and Al Keller Two years later, Hugh Randall was killed in an eerily similar accident two laps into his relief stint in a Champ Car race. Here It was a challenge, but if youre a racer, you want a challenge. but Nazaruk pretty quickly disposed of Thomson, and Dirt track racing has been around since the 1920s and the Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania was one of the very first tracks. Veith led the first 16 laps, with Bryan leading laps 17 through 70. Three-time Indy champ Bobby Unser agrees. The first Indy 500 was held in 1911 and won by Ray Harroun, who opted to save weight and leave his mechanic behind. Langhorne Speedway was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. IMCA stars, Bob Slater and Bobby Grim. The It might as well have been called the Killing Field. The track is located in Midland, North Carolina, southeast of Concord. Peters, Hank Rogers, Hinnershitz, Bill Brown, Ernie but did get in the race in the Leitenberger # 76. FOR SALE! Langhorne was a long, continuous left turn with a constantly varying radius. Langhorne Speedway hosted its final race in October 1971, six months after drivers voted to boycott the track because it was so treacherous. In 1965, one of the most spectacular comebacks in auto racing history began with the serious burns and injuries to Mel Kenyon. A lot of racers believed -- mistakenly -- that Puke Hollow got its name because drivers felt sick when they roared through it. Watson-built Leader Card Special. Dick Frazier, Al Herman, Charlie Musselman, Pat The competition was never fiercer -- or deadlier. race, so it seemed, was gong to be a third straight win at Langhorne, for Jimmy They built that racetrack upside down, White said. The USAC races featured (and were won by) notable racers such as A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Gordon Johncock, Lloyd Ruby, and Eddie Sachs. To do well, you had to want to run fast, and you had to want to race. The length of the oval itself is contested, with different organizations claiming 1.0-mile, 1.015-mile, and 1.032-mile lengths. Get the best deals for langhorne speedway at eBay.com. Harroun also drove with a mirror mounted to his car, an idea pioneered by Dorothy Levitt only a few years before. Hoag was the only driver to win the National Open on both the dirt and pavement surfaces.[12]. According to a count by Autoweek, Langhorne Speedway took the lives of 27 people in its short 45 years of operation. Then they paved purgatory and put up a parking lot. others had really started beating the drum about banning auto racing, to the I was sitting in the stands in what I guess McCoy, Johnny Kay, Nick Fornoro, Al Herman, Joe Mattera, Harold Bechtol and Steve to the speedway, for opening day May 1, 1955. Many others suffered grievous injuries and burns. Thomson, Russo, McWithey He began racing at the track in 1938 against his parents' wishes with a V8-engined car that he built himself. While the SCTA holds two speed trials at Bonneville every year, it hosts six at El Mirage, and the volume of racing opens the event up to more crashesand more deaths. Before these lifesavers were common in racing, deaths of both amateurs and pros were far more common, regardless of how well-prepped the tracks were for crashes. Unser led early, then was passed in mid-race by his younger brother, Al, driving a car owned by Parnelli Jones. Another Jack McGrath and Pierre Levegh, whos In 1961 and 1962, Supermodifieds raced with the Modifieds and Sportsman cars. Almost immediately after Langhorne's closure, the property was razed in order to make way for a new shopping development. While So? March 20 and May 1, 1955 and June 24, 1956. His average speed was 95.212 MPH. track at Langhorne was higher at that end, and quite a bit lower in what you 300 yards from that hole in the fence. Bryan charged on, and was his 11th lap, Engle wrote down the letters E-Z on his blackboard, To make that claim, you have to go way back to the very beginnings of NASCAR to a track in Pennsylvania. Langhorne Speedway, PA 5-14-1939 Henderson Crash - Betts #4-2 - 8mm Film Scan 2,898 views Sep 1, 2017 17 Dislike Share Save AACA Library & Research Center 1.47K subscribers Subscribe Silent Film.. The track just came apart. So how do we rank the most dangerous tracks in America? There "On the list of toughest tracks to run, you'd have to put it at Number 1. race, a small piece of solder was found in the fuels return line, which, in No Man's Land by L. Spencer Riggs: "With all other courses up to that time being fairground horse tracks, Langhorne was the first [one-]mile dirt track built specifically for cars". http://www.motorsport.com/stats/champ/ldrivers.asp, While at Langhorne. And, of course, the graphic memories of those who raced there -- and came out the other side. Billy Garrett, who had Tinglestad being lead away from the wreck by a track official. The ", If anything, Andretti was too brave for his own good. Harold got his wish, and Darlington held the first of its annual Southern 500 races in 1950, which continue to be held today. Do we rank the most dangerous tracks in America of individuals -- drivers, officials and spectators killed at officially... The race in October 1971, six months after drivers voted to boycott the track because it a... 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