Auto racing continued at the speedway each year until the beginning of World War II when motorsports nationwide was suspended due to shortages of gasoline, iron, steel, rubber and aluminum. Weekly stock car racing began on April 16, 1950 and has continued every week since that time.In 1946, after World War II ended, the Harry Clay Oval was renamed Victory Speedway, Inc and saw the return of ARDC Midget racing. Stock car racing officially began at the speedway on September 18, 1948 as Rocky Dinatale is credited with the first-ever stock car win.
The first fully contested championship season began on April 16, 1950 and the first race of the season was won by Tex Enright driving # 407 Modified coupe. Enright would later go on to be one of the most popular flagmen in dirt track auto racing. The Orange County Fair Speedway nicknamed The House of Power, boasts a long history of dirt track auto racing where many legendary northeast dirt track drivers have tested the boundaries of the hard clay. Today, the Orange County Fair Speedway still operates on a weekly basis from April to September.
Nicknamed "The House of Power", the Orange County Fair Speedway boasts a long history of dirt track auto racing where many legendary northeast dirt track drivers have tested the boundaries of the hard clay. The track also hosts the annual Eastern States Weekend, where dirt Modified, 358- Modified, and Sportsman drivers race their cars in 200 , 150 , and 50 lap races. This is the end of the racing season for most regulars at the track. Stock car races, 5 divisions of racing on a 5/8 mile dirt track oval, demolition derby, motorcycle races and many other events. Orange County Fair Speedway is the oldest continuously operating dirt track in the United States.
It was constructed in 1857 for horse racing at the annual Orange County Fair. In 1919, the first auto race was held on what was then called the "Harry Clay Oval." Racing continued every year until the outbreak of World War Two caused the suspension of motorsports nationwide. After World War Two, "Big Car" racing continued for a year or so at the fair, and midget racing was immensely popular on Wednesday nights. In 1948, the first "Stock Car" race was held on the ½-mile track. The first winner of the first heat race was Frankie Schneider, who went on to become a legend in these parts.
OCFS hosts five classes of racing, and something for every racer's budget. From the Street Stocks to the Mighty Big Block Modifieds, and every division in-between the racing here is non-stop action from green flag to checkered. The Eastern States 200 Modified race is the oldest consecutively-run championship event for dirt track Modified stock cars in the United States. During a truly dark Spring for pari-mutuel harness racing in New York State, a bright shining light was provided through the kindness of the Goshen Historic Track trustees. First, through the trustees, SOA of NY director Ray Schnittker was able to utilize the facility to accommodate an initial number of qualifiers. These races not only prepared horses for their anticipated return to live racing, but also provided necessary charted lines for the horses, as the USTA sanctioned the events for this purpose.
"If you're a fan of dirt-track racing, every top driver of all time has raced there. It oozes the type of nostalgia similar to NASCAR's Darlington. We're the Darlington of dirt track racing." In 1962, Orange County Fair Speedway began the Eastern States 100 and it quickly became one of the signature events of dirt modified racing in the Northeast. Buzzie Reutiman won it the first time he went north from Florida in 1965. Gary Balough, one of the great innovators of modified racing, in 1977 won the first Eastern States he competed in and led flag to flag, the only driver to accomplish the feat. In 1913, the Orange County Fair Society director, George Martin, who was an auto racing enthusiast, brought the idea of replacing the horses with automobiles to the board of directors but his proposition was denied for six straight years.
Martin's idea was vetoed by the board but he was stubborn and he argued, talked and persisted until he finally convinced the board of directors to at least try it in 1919. The race was witnessed by 5,000 in attendance and was won by James Benedict driving a Benedict Special powered by a Deusenberg motor. 1924 saw the track resurfaced with clay from a nearby pond, which was found to be soft enough for the horse races that still occasionally took place on the track yet tacky and stable enough for auto racing. This "hard clay" allowed for the track to gain a reputation for its speed that persists to this day.
Weekly stock car racing began April 16, 1950, and has continued every week since. This week's celebration culminates with a $100,000 purse going to the victor in Saturday night's centennial race. The track was lengthened to its current distance, 5/8 of a mile, and in 1924 a unique form of clay was trucked in from a pond in nearby Goshen. Annual races were held and regularly attracted 25,000, and after a hiatus for World War II, the stock car was born and the track flourished. It attracted some of the all-time greats, Al Unser, Mario Andretti, and Bobby Allison among them, and capacity crowds. The original layout was built in 1857 as a half-mile horse track — the Harry Clay Oval — about 20 miles west of the Hudson River in southeastern New York.
In 1913, fair director George Martin, a car enthusiast, began lobbying to bring in auto racing. It took him six years to convince the board and on Aug. 15, 1919, the inaugural race featured 10 cars and attracted a crowd of around 5,000. Jim Benedict won it in his Duesenberg Special, which is still around today. Orange County Fair Speedway has begun its 99th year of auto racing in Middletown, making it the oldest continually operating dirt track in the United States. When Rocky Warner picked up his first Modified points championship this season at Fonda he became the first driver to win a title in four different divisions .
Warner is the first driver in Fonda's history to accomplish the feat. "It's the first track that I went to when I was eight years old and the first time I was exposed to any kind of car racing," said Hearn, a New Jersey native. "Ultimately, from that experience it led our family into racing. An inauspicious beginning to what has become a remarkable career. Hearn, about to turn 62, has more than 900 career wins, a third of them in modifieds at the old clay track, which turned 100 years old on Thursday and is the oldest, continuously operated dirt track in the country.
Though OCFS has lost 10 early season races due to the COVID-19 shut down, it is not uncommon for the track to suffer the loss of several events in the rainy spring months of the early season. Now that the northeast is entering the summer months, prime racing season is upon us and OCFS is fortunate to be opening their gates, albeit in a limited capacity. 40 Lap / $4,000 to win Big block Modified feature with full Sportsman program.PIT GATES - 3PM | HOT LAPS - 6PM | RACING - 7PMGrandstand and Drive in Admission, Adult $24 , Seniors $20. April 10Small Block Modifieds and Rookie season openers Plus full sportsman program. 25 lap Small Block Modified, 20 lap Sportsman and 12 Lap Rookie Sportsman features.PIT GATES - 3PM | HOT LAPS - 6PM | RACING - 7PMGrandstand and Drive in Admission, Adult $20 , Seniors $16.
April 17Small Block Modifieds, Sportsman and the Street Stock Season opener. 25 lap Small Block Modified, 20 lap Sportsman and 15 Lap Street Stock features.PIT GATES - 3PM | HOT LAPS - 6PM | RACING - 7PMGrandstand and Drive in Admission, Adult $20 , Seniors $16. April 24Small Block Modifieds, Sportsman and Rookie Sportsman.
Each year, we look for the best in family entertainment, local and national music, racing and auto events such as our monster trucks and of course amazing amusement rides. The practice of raising money and donating funds to Historic Track and the Hall of Fame began in the mid-1970s with Monticello Raceway publicity icon John Manzi, and has continued ever since. He secured a ninth-place run in the DIRTcar Modified Series race on Thursday at the five-eighths of a mile speedway. He finished in sixth in Friday's Centennial 80-lap event and placed fourth in the Small-Block event also run on Friday. At stake for some of dirt racing's top Modified competitors was a $100,000 payday when Saturday night's 160-lap feature event concluded.
Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway more than 30 years ago. Initially, competitors will be welcomed back with just 2 divisions a night. Opening Night will feature the United Rentals Big Block Division in a 43-lap race and a $4,300 to win boosted purse with the Sportsman division supporting. As I'm writing this, there is still snow on the ground, but the local racing season here in the Northeast is not too far away. In addition to auto racing, the facility will begin a new era of motocross racing on a race track built in 2013 outside of turns 3 and 4.
Between concert performances, the Grandstand will also host fan-favorite dirt events, from tractor pulls to sprint cars starting on September 14. Harness racing is a family business for Huckabone III, 47, whose dad Claude Huckabone Jr., 68, previously won the NYCFF training title in 2019. His son Dylan Huckabone-Miller, 20, finished second to Kyle Cummings this year in the driver standings in his first season racing full-time at the fairs.
It allowed Tremont to stay focused on the Modified title he is trying to secure at Lebanon Valley Speedway. Tremont needs to finish 13th or better in Saturday's feature event to lock up his 14th Modified championship at the West Lebanon oval. When Stewart Friesen won Thursday night's 25-lap qualifier for Orange County Fair Speedway's 75-lap main event, he picked up a $1,000 check and the pole position for the big-block modified feature race. The Orange County Speedway is the oldest operated dirt track in the United States. "I think the No. 1 thing that makes the track so special is the history and the nostalgia component of it," said Chris Larsen of Orange Motorsports and Entertainment, which leases the track and has an option to buy it.
"You feel like you're at the Brickyard. There's 100 years of history there. When you're there, you just kind of reminisce about races you've seen 30, 40 years ago. The victory was Sheppard's fifth of the season and 74th series win of his career — tying him with Darrell Lanigan for second on the all-time wins list. The New Berlin, IL driver and Centerville, PA's Max Blair waged an epic battle in the closing laps, resulting in the two exiting turn four for the final time side-by-side.
Blair had thrown his Viper Motorsports car underneath Sheppard in the final corner to pull even with him, but the blue Rocket1 Racing machine had the better momentum up top, propelling him ahead of Blair at the finish line by inches. In addition to weekly auto racing, the Orange County Fair Speedway has built a brand new motocross track on the grounds which made its inaugural debut in 2014 with six dates of racing. Over 100 competitors filled the pit area for one of the final nights of racing in 2021, with the main event action kicking off first with The H.O Penn CAT Small Block Modifieds. Bernard Joseph White, sports fan, dog lover, harness horse breeder, and beer & brat connoisseur passed away, 31 July 2021, at the age of 85.
Born in the South Bronx on 23 November 1935, Bernie honed his basketball skills on the streets of NY. He took a school bus instead of the subway and he showed up to high school in a suit, like a good Catholic school boy would, forcing all of the students to wonder "who died"? He soon found his way in school playing on the undefeated Bushman Football team and Basketball team for the rest of his tenure at PBHS. Following the fourth race, track announcer Dave Little recognized Major Lindsay Jacobson, who was in the grandstand with her family. Major Jacobson is a graduate of Goshen High School and is a C-17 pilot with the 105thAir Lift Wing out of Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh. She recently returned home from Afghanistan, where she was part of Operation Allies Refuge, helping in the evacuation effort.
She received a standing ovation from the crowd at Historic Track. County fair races for 2021 were contested at 21 different tracks throughout New York State prior to the finals. To qualify for the finals at "The Cradle of the Trotter", the 22nd track of the season, all competitors needed to have at least five starts. The eight NYCFF races each sported a purse of $10,000, for 2- and 3-year-olds of both gaits and sex. On Sunday, September 5, the New York County Fair Finals returned to Orange County, NY, for only the second time in its history, but that's not where the repeating ended.
Trainer Claude Huckabone III won his second straight NYCFF title with his student Brave Element by scoring in the 3-year-old colt and gelding pace after winning the 2020 event for 2-year-old male pacers. Last weekend Orange County Fair Speedway celebrated the track's 100th anniversary with a three-day event at the Middletown oval — the Centennial Race Weekend. — A few inches and a bit of luck separated three-time and defending World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model champion Brandon Sheppard from another step in series history Thursday night at Orange County Speedway.
Orange County Fair Speedway is located at 239 Wisner Ave in Middletown New York. If you don't want to attend in person but wish to catch all the racing excitement they offer a live stream which can be purchased to watch from anywhere. Orange County Fair Speedway week 2 and once again the Grandstand will be empty but that doesn't mean you have to miss any of the racing excitement. You can choose to stream it live from anywhere or plan to bring the family to the Drive In.
Orange Motorsport & Entertaining LLC, a Nanuet-based developer and promoter, has signed a five-year lease to operate the fairgrounds. OME has begun restoring buildings and seating on property surrounding the five-eighths mile oval track off 239 Wisner Ave. The first auto race at the speedway took place in 1919 and now capital improvements have the green light. When the drive-in section inevitably fills up with eager race fans, many will be left without a seat. For those fans and others outside the area or at higher risk of illness, OCFS will be presenting live streaming of the event. A broadcast quality, multi-camera production will be available for fans to stream on the OCFS website for a fee of $24.99 starting at around 6PM on Saturday, June 6th.
Even in the Drive-In social distancing rules must still be maintained as we continue to slow the spread of COVID-19. Usual Drive-in activities like cooking/grilling and children bicycling in between racing action will be prohibited until further notice. Fans will be permitted to bring already prepared food that must stay contained in their vehicle and/or designated parking area. Sign Up For The PRI eNewsletter to get the latest in racing industry news, special events, new product information and more directly to your inbox. Thousands of events that previously used stopwatches and thumbs to keep track of results now rely on MYLAPS technology. In 1968 the annual 100-lap event was increased to 200 laps.
The all-time track champion at Orange County Fair Speedway, Brett Hearn has won the Eastern States 200 a record 12 times since 1979. Even though social distancing is encouraged, there are no plans for any capacity restrictions on the fairgrounds or in any buildings. The 2021 Three County Fair will also have a variety of shows throughout the weekend with national acts, and the livestock competition. More information and a full schedule of events, can be found on the Fair's official website 3countyfair.com. Leon Bailey, with his win in the 3-year-old colt and gelding pace with Mr Dunnigans (American Ideal-Legacy), moved to the top of the driver standings over Claude Huckabone III. Normally, the county fair races kick off July 4th weekend in Goshen, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, the races were held on the Labor Day weekend.
Rodeo Beach has won two of 11 races this season and three of 19 lifetime, earning $31,086. Fourth through the first half of the race, Mullinax charged forward from there and became the race's fourth and final leader. Levine is owned by driver Zeron, who was unable to attend Sunday's Historic Track races because of commitments at Harrah's Philadelphia, which was hosting the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes championships and consolations for 3-year-olds. Loyal Fox Hanover had four wins and four second-place finishes in 10 starts last year, earning $76,118.
He finished second in a division of the John Simpson Memorial and concluded last season with a victory in a division of the Liberty Bell. This year, though, he was winless in nine starts heading into the Landmark. Askmelater Hanover led through the first half of the race before Loyal Fox Hanover took a slim lead at three-quarters. The two trotters battled around the final turn before Loyal Fox Hanover pulled away nearing the wire. The SOA of NY cultivated volunteers to collect fees and helped defray the costs associated with the effort in order to provide a starter, racing office personnel, a USTA qualified presiding judge, along with associates and a paddock judge.
A teletimer was installed and a company was secured to monitor its proper function on a regular basis, as was a track re-measuring protocol completed. Additionally, the USTA provided an online entry portal and both an ambulance service and disinfecting company were hired. Monticello, NY –Gerry Fielding is celebrating, and why not? After all, how many 78 year-old drivers still are able to drive much less rein a winner in pari-mutuel contest as Fielding did this afternoon at Monticello Raceway. In the remaining months and upcoming year, we plan to have more fun-filled events suitable for the whole family.
In 1976, he and Heidi built Tamarack Manor and started their own Standardbred nursery. He loved breeding his own race horses, watching them train and race. Serving as the President of Goshen Historic Track for 12 years, he oversaw the resurfacing of the racetrack, renovation of the Grand Stand and expansion of stabling.
He loved going to the Great American Weekend over July 4th weekend and experiencing the sport in such a historical environment. He returned to Pine Bush "temporarily", when his father died in 1960 to manage White's Bar on an interim basis. Realizing how much he loved the country, he received a Master's Degree in Education from SUNY New Paltz and started his career as a teacher and, eventually, a high school administrator. Around this time, the Standardbred industry was booming and Bernie was thrilled to be part of the action, purchasing his first race horse "Some Adam". After graduation, he journeyed to East Lansing to attend Michigan State University where he played football. Graduating with a BS in Business, he worked as a Salesman for Proctor & Gamble for 5 years.
