“Stock car racing” was quite popular during the 60s at the Danbury Racearena located at the Danbury Connecticut fairgrounds. The fair itself dates back to 1821. Auto racing began in 1932 on a dirt oval. The facility was demolished in 1981 to make way for what is now the Danbury Mall. During the 60s, the track was a 1/3 mile dirt oval. Race machines were 30s/40s “stock cars” powered by Flathead motors. To make things interesting races were run with what I would call “inverted starts”. Faster cars were seeded near the back of the field while the slower cars were seeded near the front. This made for some exciting moments. According to longtime race announcer Paul Baker, the Racearena packed them in with typical Saturday night crowds of from 6 to 10 thousand.
During the summer months, my friends and I would make the trek from our home in Pleasantville, New York to Danbury nearly every Saturday evening to watch the fun. Racing was always exciting and the grandstands were always packed with rabid fans cheering for their favorite drivers. I even talked my parents into coming along for the ride and was surprised that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience. In the end they became regular spectators for the show. Below are a few images of Racearena iron I found on the internet.
I vividly remember 7-11 entered by Don LaJoie. His cars always looked sharp and he was always in the running for a win
Below is an image of Chick Stockwell taking the checkered flag.
Below is an image of Kenny Webb taking the checkered flag
Below are a few video links
https://www.youtube....h?v=s1ANxuWOu9k
https://www.youtube....h?v=wGunrQlU8OQ (lots of race footage some of poor quality. Race footage starts around 1:26)
At Electron Raceway we have established an Early Modified Class. See the link for description and images of the cars
http://slotblog.net/...odifieds-redux/
