Entering the 46th
Merrittville Speedway is now entering
it's 46th year of operation but many spectators wouldn't
have given it a second chance after attending the opening
day - Dominion Day - Monday July 1, 1952. John Marino and
George Cullen decided to open the track during the daytime,
however temperatures hovered in the 90's range. The
races were accident free but clouds of dust settled on
everything. - including the 800 fans sitting in the wooden
grandstands - caused by the sliding and spinning racers.
For the next five decades racing continued to grow in
popularity and Merrittville along with it. During the
1950's many branded stock car racing as a fad that wouldn't
last but as we enter the 1997 season, dirt track racing
continues to flourish. The names change, the cars change,
but the aim is the same, to be first over the finish line,
and offer race fans exciting family entertainment.
During the 1950's Bill France of NASCAR fame tried to
organize tracks and drivers to join NASCAR. His prediction
was that a non-NASCAR track wouldn't last without their
sanction. NASCAR's backbone in the early days was the
Sportsmen-Modified division consisting of pre-World War II
coupes. The 'new car' Grand National division was a
fledgling division trying to gain momentum. The big
enticement for a stock car driver was that if he competed at
a NASCAR sanctioned track as a member, he would be allowed
to compete at the year end Langhorne 100 miler - the biggest
race for stock cars. I remember my father and former
track owner Ken Kavanagh saying that Big Bill France in the
1950's stated that a small dirt track such as Merrittville
Speedway wouldn't be successful without NASCAR sanction. The
facts are that pavement racing became popular in the US -
NASCAR shifted it's focus to pavement. More and more grand
national races were held on paved short tracks and
superspeedways and therefore in 1968, NASCAR renamed it's
Sportsmen division to a Late Model division - eliminating
the post-war car from the division. Dirt track racing at
Merrittville Speedway is a tradition that continues to grow
in popularity. The northern NASCAR tour formed an 'all
star league' which brought together the best drivers in the
northeast to compete on both dirt and asphalt. This
continued to 1974. NASCAR was as committed to pavement as
Merrittville was committed to dirt. So here we are as the
1997 season starts - you be the judge. You, the fan have
been the backbone of stock car racing in Niagara and we
thank you. The track owners and drivers - past and
present owe you a debt of gratitude for the generations of
support shown to this area sport. From our first track
champion - Orville Kelly to our present one - Pete Bicknell
- we've endeavored to offer - 'fast family fun.' Sit back
... relax and hold on for the ride. WELCOME to our 1997
season!