Old school re-visit

[pettycash]

I was in Princeton NJ last week for work. Thursday evening, I made my way to a friend's house in Trenton. He drove me all around the perimeter of what USED to be Trenton Speedway. The track is long gone & has been replaced by a sculpture garden, UPS terminal & subdivision.

Then:



Now:



After that, we drove to Langhorne PA - about 20 minutes away. We found the Pennsylvania Historical Commission marker noting the spot where Langhorne Speedway once stood.

Then:



Now:



So a Schaefer Scha-LOOT to 2 former tracks where the Pettys had success: Richard at Trenton and Lee at Langhorne.

[revilo]

That looks like Langhorne, alright. One giant car lot.

[pettycash]

How the area looks today. Yep, plenty of car lots. haha

I understand the track sat behind what is now Sam's Club - in that empty tree/grassy area.

[pmossberg]

Trenton - Our man Richard won the 300 miler at Trenton three times, 1967, 1970 and 1971. The KIng is the only Nascar driver with more than one win at Trenton.

NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup
Season Date Winning Driver Manufacturer
1958 May 30 Fireball Roberts Chevrolet
1959 May 17 Tom Pistone Ford
1967 July 9 Richard Petty Plymouth
1968 July 14 Lee Roy Yarbrough Ford
1969 July 13 David Pearson Ford
1970 July 12 Richard Petty Plymouth
1971 July 18 Richard Petty Plymouth
1972 July 16 Bobby Allison Chevrolet

A race was scheduled in 1973 but was rained out and never rescheduled.

USAC/CART open wheelers ran until 1979.

[pmossberg]

Lee Petty won at Langhorne in 1952.

Here's another view.

Comparing this picture to the current view posted above and using Woodbourne Road & the housing development streets as landmarks, I believe you can see the original curve of the track in the woods behind Sam's Club.

[pmossberg]

ID'ed as 1951...at Langhorne.

The Oldsmobile #22 at the right of the photo cannot be further identified as the record of this race at Langhorne has many of the car numbers unrecorded. Of the 36 drivers competing in this race, eight of the cars' makes are not recorded, and only 18 of the cars' numbers are recorded, while only three of the starting positions are noted! Of the car makes noted, five were Oldsmobiles.

[ricklou]

Trenton was definetly a tricky track and Pocono's first turn is modeled from Trenton. Too bad its gone.

Langhorne was very dangerous but a bigtime race for it's day. My grandfather watched Lee Petty win there.

[pettycash]

A couple of blog entries about 2 of RP's Trenton wins:

1970 Schaefer 300
bench-racing.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-12-this-day-in-schaefer-and-petty.html

1971 Northern 300
bench-racing.blogspot.com/2010/07/july-18-this-day-in-petty-history.html

Blog about his 1967 win will be posted later this summer.

[ricklou]

Chase, when you send Chili a case of Shaefer can you send me a case also ?

[pettycash]

Apr 26, 2012 13:43:10 GMT -5 ricklou said:

Chase, when you send Chili a case of Shaefer can you send me a case also ?

You are about an hour or so west of Baltimore. You are more likely to find a honey-pot of it nearbythan I can mining for nuggets of it around here. You should send ME some Schaef - or at least Natty Bo. haha

Its no longer sold in Tennessee. I have to bootleg mine home from places like south Georgia, Wilmington NC, San Antonio TX, Newark NJ, and yes... Baltimore MD.

As for Chili, she needs to buy a case of Lone Star Beer - and she'll just about have Schaefer. That brand, like Schaefer, is owned by Pabst Brewing along with brands such as Old Milwaukee, Hamm's, Olympia, and Old Style. I'm now about convinced Pabst brews and sells the same product with different can labels.

[ricklou]

Indeed Baltimore is a Blue Collar Beer town. I will check into it.

Have to give you some cred Chase as long as we have been aquainted I have been giving you the business about Shaefer ......LOL

[ricklou]

About the Trenton race in 1970

I bet that Richard questioned bringing the Bird to New Jersey having just too much car for the track. Trenton was cut of the same cloth as Darlington.

The first and second turns were completely different and then you had to deal with the reverse kink on the back. Turn 2 was real tight and I would think that Richard caved the right front getting off of 2.

Regardless, Richard's success at the bent paper clip shows that he was the purest driver in NASCAR. Petty would keep on throwing it over the plate no matter what.

RIchard's last real driving lesson happened at Darlington in 1970 with his big
endover costing him a shot to win the title.

This shows why Richard was a pure driver. Fear was not in his Mojo. At Darlington in the Spring he tore up a Bird in practice so they went back to Level Cross and brought a standard Road Runner built by Ray Nichels. So Petty is running the race and smacks the wall damaging the steering. He stayed on track and hammered the pit wall being lucky to survive.

This is why Richard was the man. With all of the hard knocks Petty still threw it over the plate. After 1970 Petty won 5 championships and 5 Daytona 500's

[pettycash]

Some home video footage from 1970 Schaefer 300 at Trenton.

[EllAlence]

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