Hatfield Hi-Speedway

Hatfield Speedway had a paved half-mile oval with a third-mile dirt oval inside it. The drag strip was the eighth-mile of straightaway in front of the grandstand. Drivers ran the eighth-mile, then had to turn left to slow down and stop. Bud Groner of Drag News wrote in September 1957 that some made the turn and some didn’t, and warned newcomers to watch out. Later that month the paper reported that the Eastern Hot Rod Association had told its members to stay away from the new commercial strip because of that turn. A few cars had already spun out, and the club worried a serious crash could hurt drag racing at the other Delaware Valley strips.

The first drags were set for June 23, 1957, which is earlier than the 1958 start date given by other research. On July 7, 50 entries raced for trophies in five classes: motorcycle, stock, modified, sports car and fastest time trial. The fields kept growing, from 83 cars before 500 fans on July 21 to 104 cars and motorcycles on August 4 and 168 cars before 1,200 fans on September 15. Corky Doan of Morrisville won Class C for the second week running on September 8, clocking 53 MPH in his 1956 Chevy.

George Marshman, a controversial figure, ran the races from about 1957 to 1959 and gave out unusual prizes. At the season championships on December 1, 1957, winners in four classes each got a week for two at a Miami Beach hotel. On October 19, 1958, the top stock winner got 100 gallons of gas, the top modified winner an overhead valve engine and the fastest car a set of racing tires. The second Winter Championships on November 23, 1958, again offered beach vacations, free gas and a new Buick engine.

Art Malone raced there for Don Garlits on October 4, 1959. Dick Heist became race director in 1960, and Art Arfons brought his Allison-powered “Green Monster” on March 20 that year. By 1961 races ran Friday nights and Sunday afternoons. Garlits came on August 18, 1961, hoping to beat Dick Belfatti’s track record of 124.960 MPH. In 1962 racing switched between Friday nights and Sunday afternoons by season, under the Professional Racing on Speedways organization headed by Dick Fleck. In winter, fans watched from their cars parked in the infield. The strip had 65 classes in 1963 and was resurfaced in 1964.

Bill Yoder, Ron Wellington and Paul Ruth leased the strip in 1965 and raced on Sundays. In 1966, its last season, it was called Hatfield Drag-O-Way. The Mid-summer Championships on Thursday night, July 21, 1966, was one of the last drag races there and possibly the final one. Ron Smith and his altered-wheelbase 1965 Mercury Comet were among the featured cars.