The Abandoned Nazareth Speedways Early History
Author: Jesse Rucinski
What has happened to the Nazareth Speedway is truly heartbreaking to me. Even with never attending an event at the track. I know what Nazareth meant to the community it was in because I grew up just a stone’s throw away from the Pocono Raceway in White Haven. I know what Pocono means to our community and the local area in Long Pond. I have seen what has happened in the area with Pocono losing one of its races. I can only imagine what it meant to and did to the local community when the Nazareth Speedway closes its doors for God. I hope that through the episode of Ghost Speedways and several posts here on Substack, the history and memory of Nazareth Speedway can live on.
The Beginning
The history of the Nazareth Speedway goes back to the 1850’s with the Northhampton County Agricultural Fairgrounds before being relocated to a more spacious facility where it now rests in the 1900’s. This is where it was the Nazareth Speedway as we know it was born and where the gates first opened in 1910 under the name of Nazareth Fairgrounds track. It operated with the original 1/2-mile dirt track up into the 1960’s. That is when the 1 1/8th mile, 5 turned dirt track was opened in 1966 and named the Nazareth National Speedway.
There was only one event at the big track in its first year and it was dominated by Frankie Schneider as he swept the event. He had the fastest qualifying time, won his heat race, and won the feature event on the night as well.
In the year 1967 the track held a record high 9 events for the track where we saw Frankie Schneider, pictured above, win 5 of those events. In 1968 we saw the speedway hold 5 Modified events in which Schneider won 3 of them. On one occasion on August 24, 1968, we saw Al Tasnady start near last on the field during a modified event. He would take that near last starting position and turn it into a win of epic proportion where he lapped the entire field, minus Frankie Schneider. We also saw the USAC Dirt Champ cars run a race on July 13, 1968. In that race we saw the legendary Al Unser pick up the victory against local driver Mario Andretti. Yes, that Mario Andretti.
Al Unser, Nazareth 1968
Mario Andretti, Nazareth 1968
In 1969 we saw Mario Andretti win the USAC dirt champ car race and Rags Carter win 4 consecutive races. Shortly after, we sadly see the track close for many years before being brought back to life. Between October 15, 1966, and November 7, 1971, we saw Nazareth Speedway host 52 total races. Frankie Schneider won more races in that time than any other driver by winning 11 times at the track. The track would then close for the first time on November 7, 1971, and would sit dormant until 1982.
During that dormant period, we would see several owners with different plans as to what they would do with the facility. It was originally bought by Donald J. and Michael F. Ronca for 225k at a sheriff’s auction with the goal of turning the land into an industrial park. Thankfully, it was a plan that never came to fruition. It was sold at yet another sheriff’s auction in 1979 for 205k. It would continue to sit dormant until 1981 when it was purchased by a group comprised of Lindy Vicari of the Racing Sanctioned Corporation of America, Michael Ronca, and Donald Wescott for 480k.
After refurbishing the facility, and modifying the length down to a 1-mile track, we got to see racing again at Nazareth from October 7-10 with the running of the Triple 100’s. The new operators attempted many races that drew large crowds with races from the USAC Championship Dirt Cars and Modifieds. The last of these races was a 40-lap modified stock car race that was won by Carl Collis on April 29, 1984. Sadly, we would once again see the track go into bankruptcy in 1985.
Carl Collis, Nazareth 1984
That would be the end of the story for racing on the dirt track at the Nazareth Speedway. Thankfully, it wasn’t the end of the story for the track but definitely the end of an era. That is a story I get into further detail on in the first official episode of Ghost Speedways and that I will get into in much more detail here on Substack in the coming days. The link for the first episode on YouTube is below if you would like to watch it. It is only the first that I will be doing on the history of this amazing and historic speedway.
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