" Mountainview Speedway Memories"
(near Windgap, PA)
From the Visitors of the Vault
Photo from Mountainview Speedway, Windgap, Pa - September, 1960
Photo from Mountainview Speedway, Windgap, Pa - September, 1960
Photo from Mountainview Speedway, Windgap, Pa - September, 1960
Here's Your Memories of Mountainview Speedway
(Most Recent Comments Appear at the Top of the List)
Terry Fehr 06.29.22
I ran the blue henry j in the 60 s 70 s. I would still be there if it did not close,
Brenda Schaadt 05.28.22
Great memories of the drag strip during high School in the '70s, a former classmate , Craig would give us passes to go see the drags and it was great. Until I read this I could not remember where the drag strip or race track was now I think I'll take a ride to see the area! Thank you for the wonderful memories and great pictures!
Stan Engler 03.11.15
This raceway and the drag strip were built around 1960 by Emmit Wentzell , Sterling Rissmiller, and Stew Engler. The dirt track only operated for a short time. Having been in the service at that time, I don't know a lot about the track operation. I did drag race there in 1963 before turning to: " turning left ".
Larry Phillips 07.11.14
You are correct! The dragstrip shutdown was the oval track. The return road weaved through the woods back to the pits.I raced there from 1960 till about 1964 In 1962 won $22 in points money! WOW
Ed Beers 02.17.12
Hi,
I have friends that raced at the drag strip in Wind Gap and I have been there several times for the “Sticks” Reunion/car show. I am wondering when did the dirt track operate ? Was the asphalt laid on the front stretch of the dirt track? I have never actually walked to the area behind the “hill” over looking the strip. Can you still see the outline of the dirt track? Any idea when those photos were taken?
I am researching for an article I’d like to write on drag racing at oval tracks and could really use this information.
Thanks, Ed Beers
Dennis Hammerl 02.04.12
Many thanks to Lisa Morgan for the pix of Mountainview Speedway. They complete a minds-eye picture that had back in '71. Having been a dirt racing junkie since the late 60's, I had little to do with the drag racing crowd but a friend who raced at the Wind Gap drag strip told me that the run-off at the end of the shut-down ran into what looked like an old race track. One fall day I rode my motorcycle up to the drag strip and jumped the fence. I walked the length of the drag strip and down past the end. The run off did turn right and I could make out what did look like a race track. The run off led into either turn one or three (couldn't make that out) and the “wrong” way down the stretch. The surface was all in heavy weeds and the infield in larger growth. Still, I could make out the shape and size of it. No one has ever supplied any information till now. I assumed it had been a midget track from the forties or fifties, midget racing having been the the most prevalent of the sport after the war. Seeing it now, as it was then, fills in the picture.
A further note; I raced Karts for many years and on to other larger cars. There was a time when our track was threatened by closure and we set off to find some other place to race. I visited a small, High banked, concrete track behind a hotel just north of the mainline of Philadelphia. We rejected pursuing the
facility because the plates had shifted and caused unacceptable bumps. The track had been unused for many years but nobody in the hotel could supply us with any information. Wonder if anybody could shed any light on that place ? I plan on riding down to Pottstown and doing a Sanatoga pilgrimage this summer. Thanks for such a great site, I've spent more hours in 3wide's way-back machine then you can imagine. Living where I do, my memories are of Dorney Park, Nazareth, Reading, Grandview, Big Diamond and Mahoning Valley. Harmony too. If I had a “bucket list” wish, it would be to watch a race at every dirt track in the USA. Could anybody live so long ? Maybe. I think Kenny Shrader has raced at almost every one.
Thanks again.
Dennis Hammerl
Allentown, PA
Warren Wetzel 10.31.10
I attended that first show at Mountainview Speedway, near Windgap, Pa. What a neat surprise to see photos from the track. They were shot in about the spot that my wife and I sat. Notice the board fence that separated you from the track surface. The spectator stands where located in between the first and second turn and the track was pretty high banked. Should a car hit that fence, someone was going to get hurt! In fact, the opening show I attended, the foreground car in the second photo vaulted over the fourth turn and down a thirty foot embankment. Driver Johnny Bright was not injured, but imagine what would have happened if that would have been the first or second turn fence. I never went back because of that.
I'm not sure how many times the track actually ran races. I have been told that it was only one time while others, including driver Dick Altemose, say several times. In any case it wasn't many.
The basic track was still there in the early eighties. Now it is the sight of the "Cuisin' in the Sticks" show, as well as, a Blue Grass festival. The track is no longer visible, but the bank that the spectator stands sat on is still there. Thanks for posting, hope there are several more.
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