Fortunately, his crew chief was Tommy Hinnershitz, a prewar dirt-track champion who'd unlocked Langhorne's secrets. Mike Magill was coming, and he went past If you could get in there at full speed and make it through, youve just created an act of God, Unser said. The blood would start running out of my hands with about 10 laps to go. In 1964, accidents at the track claimed the lives of Jimmy Pardue and "Fireball" Roberts. Ive He made the winning run in Puke Hollow, the nickname for the pothole-filled, washboard-like area between turns 1 and 2. The 1970 Langhorne 150 was the sixth race of the 1970 USAC Championship Car Season. thumb had to be amputated in the hospital. I had seen so much happen there. been thrown out after one or two barrel rolls. A The lives of future racers of Darlington, I hope, will remain with them. The first Indy 500 was held in 1911 and won by Ray Harroun, who opted to save weight and leave his mechanic behind. The 1-mile track. Marvin's car hit the outside fence, flipped high in the air and landed on Bud Tinglestad's car. The This was the first, but not the last, of a remarkable variety of machines that competed at the track. Two years later, he finished second in a modified race in a '37 Chevy. Nobody liked it, and the ones who said they did were lying.". Richard Speck, of Mechanicsburg, was sitting in the infield. In the 50-mile feature, held as usual during the worst of Pennsylvania's summer heat, Russ Snowberger, who would go on to achieve considerable fame at Indianapolis, was overcome by the combination of humidity, dust, bumps, and fumes from his straight-eight Miller. "And when you started doing that, you'd better have your right rear all fired up and spinning real good or you were in a lot of trouble." Bobby Grim raced directly underneath it. View NASCAR Cup Series driver stats at this track. Sweikert and Pat OConnor were on hand, along with Many drivers flat refused to go to Langhorne. instant fashion, with him receiving a broken neck and a severed jugular vein. on one of those flips with Crockett being found about 300 feet from where the Unclaimed. Failing White said Langhornes well-known history of death and dismemberment didnt faze him. I felt like I was going into battle. On June 20th, 1965, Kenyon's engine blows at Langhorne, PA, causing a fiery crash that puts him in the hospital fighting for his life. Garrett, Flaherty, Rathmann, McWithey, The competition was never fiercer -- or deadlier. UPDATE 6:55 p.m.: Crews have cleared the scene of an earlier crash in the 2000 block of Langhorne Road in Lynchburg. three events that appear, below. The track now is a faded memory. The speedway has enjoyed a packed racing schedule for decades, and with its popularity has come an unfortunate number of accidents. 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. the most dangerous, most treacherous, most murderous track there ever was. No Man's Land," calls the track "a man-maker and a man-breaker." Clarence told me that he took a crew up there and poured concrete footers and then put in a concrete table across the track about 10 feet in, said L. Spencer Riggs, author of Langhorne! turn area. While the SCTA holds two speed trials at Bonneville every year, it hosts six at El Mirage, and the volume of racing opens the event up to more crashesand more deaths. I was sitting in the stands in what I guess With that, his run at in row 8 and Dick Rathmann and Elmer George in row 9, retired from competition during the LeMans race, right On January 22, 1967, William A. Credit: C**rt*sy of L Spencer Riggs over to the race track next door (the Langhorne Speedway, now gone). "Billy" Foster was classified last in the Motor Trend 500 at the Riverside International Raceway after he lost his life in a practice crash two days earlier in his #22 Dodge. And it was very unforgiving. We'll never see its kind again. Touch device users, explore by touch or with swipe gestures. remember, quite well, his last lap as he raced his way to disaster. were: Crockett, Less than a month after the racing ban was enacted, Hankinson, the man so instrumental in bringing notoriety to Langhorne early on, died of natural causes in Florida. lap, Bryan According to a count by Autoweek, Langhorne Speedway took the lives of 27 people in its short 45 years of operation. Indy car ace Paul Russo, whose brother was killed at the track, told Riggs that Langhorne "gave me butterflies the size of B-29s." As a result, no physical remnants of the track itself remain. Besides sprint cars and midgets, there were modifieds, late-models, and stock cars. of 32.909, for an average speed of 109.392 MPH. The American Motorcycle Association sanctioned bike races at the 'Horne for more than a decade, and Carroll Shelby even won a sports car race there, holding off a 4.4-liter Ferrari in his bizarre-looking Cadillac-powered mongrel. Thomson, Keller and Musselman. During the prewar years, the lap record was already a few ticks above 100 mph -- an astonishing speed considering it was a dirt track with no straightaway. May 3, 1930 : Langhorne Speedway, Langhorne, PA : AAA Indy Car : Bill Cummings: June 16, 1940 : Langhorne Speedway, Langhorne, PA : AAA Indy Car took Amick 1:03:01.463 to go 100 miles. Langhorne Speedway, which opened in 1926 and was closed in 1971 to make way for a shopping center, also played host to Indy-car races. the lead if he could make up that lap before Bryan got back onto the track, but But when it was paved, there was no forgiveness. area. Killed in a crash at Langhorne Speedway's dirt oval, when the car went through the guardrail. Autoweek.com takes a look at the history of Langhorne Speedway, a track that opened in 1926 and closed in '71, and in between was notorious for death and destruction. Earnhardt's outspoken disregard for some safety equipmenthe was an obstinate opponent of the HANS devicecaught up with him at the 2001 Daytona 500, when a last-lap crash into the wall caused multiple serious head injuries. That view was basically never been to Langhorne previous to this day, and was making his initial run in Nobody liked it, and the ones who said they did were lying. It would get awful rough, he said. But if I'd gone 10 feet past that pole, I would have gone straight over the guardrail.". Next to him, for the start was Bob Veith. started to sputter. Langhorne Speedway, which opened in 1926 and closed in 1971, was tabbed with numerous nicknames during its almost half-century of stock-car, open-wheel and motorcycle racing. having was taken by Walt Imlay. Amick led the rest, Langhorne Speedway: 1.0 mi./1.609 km. Like Bonneville, the speeds built into El Mirage and land speed record racing means monumentally dangerous crashes. Land Speed Racer Memorial cites 10 deaths of competitors at the Bonneville Salt Flats throughout history. Joe Mattera, Dick Mealy, Harold Bechtol Then they covered it back up with dirt. a time of 32.941. Thats Langhorne. They just don't name corners like they used to. Another two people were killed during a 2012 motorcycle cruise at the track, when two riders broke event rules, speeding at up to 70 MPH in opposite directions on the circuit's banked corners. Race driver Phil Walters (Ted Tappett) was racing at LeMans Langhorne on the 24th, to see the Indy car race, but didnt want to to make the show were Rodger Ward, Bill Cheesbourgh, I watched poor Bobby burn to death.. Only two have died since 2000, and none since 2010. . show. His average speed was 95.212 MPH. That 1964 race -- which Foyt won, with Andretti ninth -- was the last one on the original dirt surface. March 20, 1955, was no exception. fast but rough track greeted the drivers and fans on June 24th. The speedway's asymmetrical layout, with one end of the oval featuring a corner wider than its opposite, makes car setup a nightmare, and helped earn Darlington the name "Too Tough To Tame.". And some of those who did never came home. As drivers began to don protective gear and race safer cars, track owners kept pace with their own safety advancements, building Armco barriers, runoff areas, curbing, and even SAFER barriersall of which serve to prevent serious injuries. Tinglestad being lead away from the wreck by a track official. track at Langhorne was higher at that end, and quite a bit lower in what you You wanted to go there and run good because it was so tough. Tinglestad escaped injury. go alone, so he asked me. "The whole place had deteriorated over the years -- the infield, the pits, everything.". 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. a time of 3:22.33 and an average speed of 106.930 MPH. Considering the risk of speed record attempts and the 104 years of doing so at Bonneville, we can hope that this count stays low, if not static. Amazon.com: OnlyClassics 65 USAC Jim HURTUBISE Kenyon AUTO Racing Crash Langhorne Speedway Photo INDY 500: Photographs Nicknamed Crash for his early drives, he settled down and became a very smooth driver. Note: Some of this information, below, was taken Driver Joe Eubanks crashed heavily into the grandstand guardrail, causing his car to spin violently like a top. But on the first lap his car got crossed up diving into Puke Hollow, hooked a rut, and launched an estimated 55 feet into the air. But he missed the challenge of racing at Langhorne. I was part.of his pit crew for a while when Stevie raced for MK Speed Shops in Langhorne. According to Riggs, nearly two dozen drivers were killed at the 'Horne, along with another dozen or so. He qualified on the outside of the front row and took the lead at the start. Langhorn. Stock car drivers were killed in 2001 and 2002; the latter was T-boned at almost 170 MPH due to poor marshaling by the race's governing body. again he was hitting the fuel tank with his hand, signaling his crew that he Heat The payoff was a record setting, whopping were built level, so in the first turn area, the stands were quite a lot higher langhorne speedway diner - CLOSED Unclaimed Review Save Share 74 reviews $$ - $$$ American Diner Vegetarian Friendly 2029 E Lincoln Hwy, Langhorne, PA 19047-0000 +1 215-949-3533 Website See all (5) Enhance this page - Upload photos! AAA was in town for a day of racing with the sprint cars. In September 1949, Langhorne hosted the fourth race of NASCAR's first year of . Langhorne hosted the fourth-ever Cup race in that series first season -- on Sept. 11, 1949. ", Although 25,900 fans had shown up for the Champ Car race in 1970, the 'Horne was increasingly unpopular with drivers. Daytona opened in 1959, and within the steep, 2.5-mile tri-oval, which reaches 31 degree banking in some spots, a 3.56-mile road course exists, where the 24 Hours of Daytona are raced, as well as a short oval, a dirt oval, a karting tack, and a motorcycle circuit. Tinglestad being lead away from the wreck by a track official. If youre afraid of racing, you best get out of it. The track was built as a near-perfect circle and was dirt for most of its existence. Track finances are in question, and some are concerned that the recent sale of one of the track's grandstands is the first step toward dismantling the whole thing.