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Part
IV
The start of the second
half of the 50s at Dorney Park would find a new club running the show.
Starting in 1956 the Lehigh Valley Stock Car Auto Racing Association was
guiding the racing at the Park through the remainder of the 50s.
This same club would stage shows at the Evergreen Speedway near Hazelton
and at the Lehighton Fairgrounds. The 1956 season at Dorney Park
would again feature the stock cars. The support class that season
would be the non V8 division. Rain would play a big part in the '56
season. Tracks all around the east coast would lose a number of
events during the 1956 season due to the bad weather.
Jack Rudy won five features in 1955 and he started the 1956 season off
with a victory in the first show. Over the next five weeks rain and
Rocky Ewing were tied with two each. Rain claimed two shows and
Ewing won two events. Also during that time span, a driver that
would later become a major factor at the Reading Fairgrounds captured a
win. That driver was Freddy Adams.
There was a problem early in the 1956 season. Dorney Park was racing
on Saturday nights. To the south of the region, the Sanatoga
Speedway was running stock cars also on Saturday nights. Dorney Park
promoter Red Crise made the decision to move Dorney Park from the
long-held Saturday night position, to one of Friday nights. The move
worked. Later in the season when some problems developed at Sanatoga
the move really paid off as drivers from that track switched to the Park.
The move to Friday nights made for a very competitive field. The
first four Friday night shows found four different winners. Red
Lesher, Jimmy Ryan, Dave Holdeman and Dick Keen were the winners during
the time. Then the rain really hit. The next four shows, a
full month of racing, would be lost due to the inclement weather.
Following the lost month Dick Havens, Freddy Adams and Jack Rudy won
features before what may be the biggest upset win of the 50s. Ron
Wolf started up front and held off the charges of Dave Ely and Jack Rudy
to score his only victory during the 50s. The week before Wolf's big
win the team races were back. 200 laps, two drivers per car, the
usual format. Drivers Freddy Adams and Jack Rudy were hard enough to
beat separately, but together they were kings of the hill. This duo
topped the team of Mose Moore and Harry Moore.
The final month of racing in 1956 started off with a midget show.
ARDC and USAC combined to present a big midget race on the fifth-mile.
Red Marlowe topped Dutch Schaeffer and Ronnie Evans on that night.
By now the drivers from Sanatoga had swelled the pit area at the Park.
The next show would find Sanatoga regular Harry Moore gaining the win.
The next week the Park regulars were given a week off and in came the late
model stocks. The show featuring the current car models of the
highways would be won by Johnny Dodd Jr. Dave Haldeman would then
end the season with his second feature win of the year.
The non V8 class raced at the Park during 1956. As I have mentioned
in the other articles, the results for the support classes are much harder
to find. I am sure a few races are missing. Here is what I
have. The big winner in the non V8 class was Red Rhode. Red,
he also raced in the stock cars, took four feature wins. Single wins
went to Marvin Heimbach, Tim Trevarthen, Bimpy Marx and Earl Rothrock.
1957 started off just with the Lehigh club back running the events.
Red Crise moved the race night from Friday to Saturday. Like 1956, rain
would shorten the season, to the point that for the first time in the 50s,
less than 20 shows would be run. The stocks were back as the main
class. The non V8 class would again be the support class.
The big change would come in a small way. The quarter midget craze
was sweeping across the state. The small racers would run at the
Park for most of the season. Some of the races, including one
grinding 100-lap affair, would be staged on the fifth-mile surface.
The rest would be held on a newly built smaller surface.
Rain took out the first show. Warren Mutter then claimed two of the
next three while Dave Ely won one in between Mutter's two checkereds.
Dick Keen was the winner of the fourth event before rain claimed another
race.
Jack Rudy was the driver of the late 50s and he went on a tear after the
second rain out. Jack Rudy took three straight topping drivers
such as Freddy Adams and Warren Mutter. Mutter would bring to an end
the Rudy streak with a win on a night where the quarter midgets were the
support class. Cal Lieb, a driver that would later be a big winner
at the Leesport Speedway, won the event for the small cars. Dick
Havens would take the next feature before rain claimed another show.
The next two shows at the Dorneyville race track would be triple card
events featuring the stocks, the non V8s and the quarter midgets.
The first of the triples found Dick Havens winning the stock car portion
while Red Rhode continued to be the master of the non V8s. Art
Tucker won the last part of the event by taking the quarter midget main.
The following week Sam Kellar topped Dick Keen to win the stock cars.
Keen had finished second the week before. Bill Yerger was the victor
in the non V8s while Art Tucker made it two in-a-row in the quarter
midgets.
The season was winding down as Dick Havens took a big win by coming out in
front in a 100-lap championship race. Rain would claim the following
show. George Sleight and Dick Keen would be in victory lane for the
next two shows. One big change at the Park would come the next week.
The team races, popular through the 50s, were gone and in their place
would be twin features. For the first twin show the first main would
be 100-laps in distance. For the second feature the laps would be
cut in half and they would tour the track for 50-laps. John
Kumernitsky topped Ed Horn and Monk Kellar in the 100 lap race. In
the 50 lap show it was Dick Haven winning over Monk Kellar and Dick Keen.
The racing season at the Park ended on a whimper as the next several shows
were rained out. Promoter Red Crise decided to end the year at that
point.
In the non V8 class,
Sonny Oswald was the top driver. Oswald piloted his machine to four
feature wins. The only other repeat winner was Cookie Hauze with
two. Single victories went to Russ Keller, Red Rhode, Allen
Neidlinger and Butch Moyer.
In the final section of the Park history of the 50s, racing goes on in
1958 but in 1959 drastic changes come to the show. Driver problems
at another speedway spill over to Dorney Park and out go the stock cars
and in come the go-karts.
Be sure to check out
Steve Bubb's weekly column in Area
Auto Racing News
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