In May of 1940, Louis J. D’Amore of Dedham, MA found himself with a new challenge. The young racecar owner was excited about the opening of a brand new race track in Thompson, CT. The land on which the track was built had been transformed from a dairy farm into a speedway following the farm’s destruction at the hands of the infamous 1938 hurricane.
D’Amore had been watching races on dirt and board tracks since he was a kid in the early 1930s, but this May 26th opening of the Thompson Speedway was to be something new and exciting. Property owner John Hoenig had constructed the largest race track in the northeast and had bucked conventional wisdom by making the racing surface out of macadam instead of the traditional dirt, clay or wood that topped most tracks of the day. Hoenig had built the first ‘asphalt’ race track in the United States. Racers of the day could not wait to test the all-new, high banked speedway. None had ever raced on a surface like the one Hoenig had used, but that did not keep them or race fans away. A full field of racecars and the huge grandstands were filled to capacity for this grand opening.
Photo Gallery
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Concord, NC — The Mason-Dixon Meltdown is a Super Late Model version of a racing civil war. Although it is a Pro All Stars Series (PASS) South Super Late Model race, the event attracted scores of PASS North regulars when it was held at South Boston Speedway (VA) in 2006.
Maine‘s Cassius Clark led a charge to victory by his homestate’s contingent of Johnny Clark, Ben Rowe, Mike Rowe and others last season. But it wasn’t before a number of strong Southern racers, including Travis Kittleson and Jason Hogan, put up a good fight.
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Jack will be in the hospital for awhile.
Send cards and letters to: Jack Glockner 34 Lawrence Rd., Halifax, MA 02338.
Just a couple of quick notes this week, as it’s time to look back at the 2007 American-Canadian Tour/Thunder Road/Série ACT Castrol racing season by the numbers.
First, we’re hearing that youngster Brooks Clark has a new chassis under construction at Jeff Taylor’s Distance Race Chassis shops in Maine. Clark, one of the young lions of Thunder Road’s Thursday night Late Model division, has designs on racing the full slate of events in 2008. The Fayston, VT driver attempted about 75% of the Thunder Road schedule, and was impressive on a number of occasions, including a pair 8th-place runs midway through the year and a 14th at the “regular season” opener in May. He drove the #68 A.W. Clark, Jr. & Son, Inc./Lackey’s Sunoco Chevrolet in 2007.
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The NEAR Movie Party is all set to go this Saturday November 10th. Although advance tickets are no longer available, tickets will be available for $20.00 per person at the door. Proceeds go toward supporting the NEAR Hall of Fame. Admission includes a hot and cold buffet.
The movie party is a good time to meet many of the NEAR Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers, as many former and current drivers are always in attendance. This year the Movie Party will be featuring many vintage videos provided by Ken Meisenhelder of KGM Video. Ken will also be offering many of his DVDs for sale. As always plenty of bench racing will be taking place.
The Dante Club is located at 1198 Memorial Ave. in West Springfield, right across the street from the Eastern States Exposition Grounds main entrance. The party is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.
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Las Vegas, NV — Tim Jacobs walked through the Mandalay Bay Resort and took note of the changes since he had been here last year. In just his third year as a car owner, Jacobs has already become a fixture at the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series championship banquet.
This year, Jacobs’ driver Steve Carlson will be in the spotlight as he is officially crowned the 2007 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national champion during Saturday’s banquet.
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