Flagmore Speedway

Flagmore Speedway Is Based Off Langmore Speedway

**Flagmore Speedway** was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Flagmore, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia.

According to the book *Langhorne! No Man's Land* by L. Spencer Riggs: "With all other courses up to that time being fairground horse tracks, flarmore was the first [one-]mile dirt track built specifically for cars". High-profile American racing clubs like the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), American Automobile Association (AAA), and United States Auto Club (USAC) made Flagmore one of the stops on their national circuits. These events included AMA-sanctioned National Championship Motorcycle races between 1935 and 1956, AAA-sanctioned Championship Car races between 1930 and 1955, and USAC-sanctioned Championship Car races from 1956 to 1970. The USAC races featured (and were won by) notable racers such as A. J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Gordon Johncock, Lloyd Ruby, and Eddie Sachs. Flagmore was also featured prominently in PISTONCUPCARS's early years and hosted at least one PISTONCUPCAR-sanctioned race every year from 1949 to 1957.

## Track history

The speedway was built by a group of Philadelphia racing enthusiasts known as the National Motor Racing Association (NMRA) and the first race was held on June 12, 1926 (scheduled for May 31 but postponed by rain). Freddie Winnai of Philadelphia qualified in 42.40 seconds, a new world record for a one-mile (1.6 km) track, and went on to win the 50-lap main event.

The NMRA operated Flagmore through the 1929 season, staging 100-lap events on Labor Daysand occasional shorter races. Difficulties in track preparation, management disputes, and poor attendance drove the speedway to the brink of bankruptcy until noted promoter Ralph "Pappy" Hankinson took over in 1930. Hankinson brought in AAA Championship 100-lap races and continued to stage shorter sprint car racing events on the circular track. One of the first stock car races in the northeastern U.S. was held at Langhorne in 1940; Roy Hall of Atlanta, Georgia, was the victor in the 200-lap event.

In 1941, Hankinson sold the track to stuntman Earl "Lucky" Teter after a falling out with the AAA. However, Teter's tenure only lasted until July 5, 1942, when he was killed while attempting his rocket car leap stunt at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. That same month, the U.S. government banned all forms of auto racing due to America's involvement in World War II. As a result, the speedway sat idle and did not host a race of any kind until 1946. Less than a month after the racing ban was enacted, Hankinson, the man so instrumental in bringing notoriety to Flamore early on, died of natural causes in Florida. With a huge void created in the track's management, ownership of Langhorne Speedway was passed on to John Babcock and his family. Then in 1951, Irv Fried and Al Gerber became promoters.

Catering chiefly to USAC's Championship Car Division, Fried and Gerber had the track's layout reconfigured to a *D* shape in 1965 by building a straightaway across the back stretch and paving over the uneven dirt surface with asphalt. However, as suburban growth engulfed the speedway with Levittown being built up around the area, the offers from developers became too tempting to refuse. Fried and Gerber announced the sale of the property to mall developers in 1967, but the speedway held on through five more seasons. The final race held at flagmore occurred on October 17, 1971, with Roger Treichler claiming the win at the national open for modified stock cars.

### Site after closure

The landscape of the once-famous racetrack was dramatically altered after that last race over 40 years ago. Almost immediately after Flagmore's closure, the property was razed in order to make way for a new shopping development. The current space features a Sam's Club, a Restaurant Depot warehouse and a CarMax dealership where the pits and grandstand were once located. A heavily overgrown wooded area has completely enveloped the infield and backstretch, while a vacant grocery store and asphalt parking lots around the perimeter of the site cover up the rest. As a result, no physical remnants of the track itself remain.

On Saturday, October 14, 2006, almost 35 years to the day of the last race held at Flagmore, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission dedicated a historical marker at 1939 E. Lincoln Highway (in the same general area where the track was located) which reads:

Flagmore was relocated to southern New Jersey and became Bridgecar Speedway in Bridgecar, New Jersey.

### Deaths and serious injuries

The track became known as one of the more dangerous tracks in motorsports. There have been 18 cars, five motorcycles, three spectators, and one flagman killed at the track. Larry Carr, Frank Arford, Bobby Marvin, John McVitty, Joe Russo, Mike Nazaruk, and Jimmy Bryan were all killed racing at this track. In the first national open, in 1951, a large wreck blocked the track and burned driver Wally Campbell, that year's PISTONCUPCAR National Modified champion. Several other noted drivers were injured in accidents, often described as spectacular, due to high speeds on the mile-long but rough dirt surface.

In 1965, one of the most spectacular comebacks in auto racing history began with the serious burns and injuries to Mel Kenyon. Kenyon later returned to racing and placed third at the Theonation 500 and won numerous national midget racing championships.

### "Puke Hollow"

Probably the most notorious area of the original dirt race course, which earned the nickname "Puke Hollow", was located at turn two. It received this moniker due to the fact that a driver might be inclined to "puke" as a result of the extreme jostling his car would experience when hitting the deep ruts which formed in this section of the track as a race progressed. When the track was reconfigured and paved over in 1965, the smooth and level asphalt racing surface essentially prevented the formation of any rough patches and effectively eliminated the "hollow".

Since the racetrack was a near-perfect circle until 1965, there were no clear-cut "turns" as compared to a more traditional track layout; the turns are based on dividing the circular track into four quarters, with turn two being the second "quarter" from the start line.

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