18 replies to this topic

[ThunderThumb]

Did Engleman have names for his tracks , if they did does anybody have a list for them

[don.siegel]

Good question! Had never really thought of it that way... 

 

Found exactly one ad for Stan Engleman (Car Model, Dec. 66). The official name is Stan Engleman Enterprises / Hi-Speed Raceways Inc. 

 

No track names given, but it does say: 

First commercial track builder in USA

Originator of the Hi-speed bank. 

 

Don 

[tonyp]

I’ve never saw the Engleman tracks referred to by name. Even the Engleman east coast rep raceway didn’t not have names

We always referred to them as the blue 220, orange 165 etc.


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[SpeedyNH]

well, i remember the "Engleman" as being a specific track (160'?), as we had at Queen City Speedway in Manchester and which also was popular throughout new england. there was also a stadium version with the back straight, if you will, being recessed underneath the main straight. he also had a hillclimb (reverse donut?) and a short hillclimb, which we also had one of. so think he did name them, or at least we did. 

wish that i could remember the others. somewhere there's a list of them with diagrams. 

[elvis44102]

in 1968 Cleveland area had at least six raceways which three had what i think were englemans  they were just big long staights we never called them by any names..that didn't start till later with the blue kings and orange tracks lol

[Jaz]

Well, there was one raceplace where you had to call it the Nuvolari
😆😆😆

[Bill from NH]

well, i remember the "Engleman" as being a specific track (160'?), as we had at Queen City Speedway in Manchester and which also was popular throughout new england. there was also a stadium version with the back straight, if you will, being recessed underneath the main straight. he also had a hillclimb (reverse donut?) and a short hillclimb, which we also had one of. so think he did name them, or at least we did. 

wish that i could remember the others. somewhere there's a list of them with diagrams. 

 

Speedy, the QCS track was 185'. The lower straight was only partially underneath the top one. I have heard that arrangement referred to as a "grandstand" before. It also had esses that I think Englemans didn't have. (Maybe that was the company's All-Tech tracks.) I don't know who was the first to call it an Engleman at QCS, it might have been Matt, it might have been Steve Ogilvie. The 105' purple track QCS called "The Hillclimb" had an entirely different name on the Ogilvie track website. I'm not 100% sure, but the former QCS Engleman may have gone to the dump when Peter Adamo, the Danbury raceway owner & distributor passed away. Last I heard,, it & a larger hillclimb(?) were not bought after the smaller tracks were sold.

 

Jaz, I was on the Nuvolari  only one time, back in 1978 or 79. The raceway was still in the basement beneath the bowling alley in those days.

[elvis44102]

Well, there was one raceplace where you had to call it the Nuvolari

i was wondering....the car goes so far way that at my eye level i just could not judge distances for braking and such...Jan and I and bendes went to the famous Nuvali track were i crashed and burned while Jan kept saying they wanna give you the rookie of the nuvalaria award...just could not see the car in that far off corner area...ah memories

[SpeedyNH]

the QCS Engleman grandstand did not have esses.  and 185' does not seem right.  

[old & gray]

 

Speedy, the QCS track was 185'. The lower straight was only partially underneath the top one. I have heard that arrangement referred to as a "grandstand" before. It also had esses that I think Englemans didn't have. (Maybe that was the company's All-Tech tracks.) I don't know who was the first to call it an Engleman at QCS, it might have been Matt, it might have been Steve Ogilvie. The 105' purple track QCS called "The Hillclimb" had an entirely different name on the Ogilvie track website. I'm not 100% sure, but the former QCS Engleman may have gone to the dump when Peter Adamo, the Danbury raceway owner & distributor passed away. Last I heard,, it & a larger hillclimb(?) were not bought after the smaller tracks were sold.

 

Jaz, I was on the Nuvolari  only one time, back in 1978 or 79. The raceway was still in the basement beneath the bowling alley in those days.

 

Bill,

The "other" track was an Ogilve built 220' engleman style with no esses and banked corners; very fast track. From what I have heard the QCS track and the other when to the dump.

[Bill from NH]

It did have esses(squiggles). When you came out of the finger, after the bank, the short straight before the right hand turn going onto the lower straight. had them right in the middle.  I describe this running the track in the proper direction before it was run backwards.  If you want to go backwards, come down the lower straight into a left hand, almost flat corner. The short straight with the esses is right after that corner, before the 180 right corner that leads up the bank. The esses were something that Matt always claimed he had Ogilvie add in, I never measured that track, but I helped re-braid sections more than once. It was always advertised as 185', even on the QCS web page.

 

Bob, that's what I thought too. In the end, the transportation costs would be more than anyone was willing to pay to move them elsewhere. I heard lots of stories about that 220' Engleman, but was never on it.

[Weedracer]

Well, there was one raceplace where you had to call it the Nuvolari
😆😆😆

And it wasnt an option.

You also had to memorize a totally different and senseless lane rotation and heat lengths.

I loved that crazy old track, warts and all.

[old & gray]

Well, there was one raceplace where you had to call it the Nuvolari
😆😆😆

 

 

And it wasnt an option.

You also had to memorize a totally different and senseless lane rotation and heat lengths.

I loved that crazy old track, warts and all.

 

At the sister store in Connecticut the 155 foot track was the Jimmy Clark and absolutely not a King as it had been called when it had a standard lane color scheme.

[Paul Menkens]

Wish that i could remember the others. somewhere there's a list of them with diagrams. 

 

About 30 years ago there was a raceway, Rapid Transit Hobbies, in Schenectady, New York with a 90' Engleman that was almost identical to an American 90' black flat track, wonder what ever happened to it?

[gatormark]

I'm told this is a engleman of sorts. Comments?

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[jimht]

Stan Engleman built similar tracks with no esses when he worked for Alltech.

 

After leaving them and forming his own company, Hi-Speed Raceways, the tracks he built with similar designs all had esses, but only just before the lead-on to the main straight.

.

[Bill from NH]

Mark, that might be a Steve Oglivie built Engleman. We had the mirror image of the track layout in photos at Manchester, NH, except the two straights were elevated, one half way over the other like a Grandstand track. That local 185' Oglivie track was always called an Engleman, but it was probably a Grandstand.

[Jim Difalco]

The Nuvolari, Hawthorne and DePortago tracks at Elmsford were named after famous race car drivers from the 1950's and 1960's era, just in case anyone did not know this trivia.

 

Since the track was built in the basement of a bowling alley there were support posts that the track had to be built around to shoe horn the track into the location.

[Gil Aubin]

The Nuvolari, Hawthorne and DePortago tracks at Elmsford were named after famous race car drivers from the 1950's and 1960's era, just in case anyone did not know this trivia.

 

Since the track was built in the basement of a bowling alley there were support posts that the track had to be built around to shoe horn the track into the location.

 

And I was told by the man himself that the reason white and yellow lanes were on the outside was because the lighter colors would make the track look wider!  I'm not sure that I agree but it made for a good story