Nazareth Speedway

Nazareth Speedway at the fairgrounds started as a half-mile track, just northeast of where the later one-mile track stood. The one-mile, five-turn dirt track opened in 1966, and the two ran side by side until about 1988, when the half-mile was demolished so a large grocery store and its parking lot could expand. The speedway is best known for launching Mario Andretti’s career.

Promoter Jerry Fried thought about adding drag racing in March 1959 but waited another year. The first drags ran on the night of May 31 on the half-mile’s freshly calcium-treated clay front stretch, timed over a sixteenth-mile (425 feet). Bob Buskey of East Orange, New Jersey, won top eliminator among 130 cars in his ‘60 Chevy, and Bob Hawk of Phillipsburg, New Jersey, had the quickest time, 6.23 seconds in a 1959 Pontiac. The next Tuesday drew 164 entries, and Bruce Bilheimer of Allentown won with a 6.85 at 56.2 MPH in his ‘60 Chevy. The course grew to 480 feet on July 5, 1960, when Warren Klipple took top eliminator in his dragster at 71.42 MPH, and went back to 425 feet on July 19. On August 16 Pete Jones of Scranton set a track record of 73.77 MPH in his modified Corvette for his fourth straight top eliminator.

On August 15, 1961, Don Garlits’s car set a track record of 84.9 MPH. By one account Connie Swingle was driving, and he crashed in turn one on the next run. Garlits wrote about the crash in several books but placed it at Reading Fairgrounds, while Nazareth papers covered it in full. The next week Chris Karamesines raised the record to 91.73 MPH, then lost control, hit the guardrail and flipped several times, destroying the car. An ad promised Dick Belfatti’s “Shadow,” but no results turned up. Chester Kilmer Jr., known for his Timberman Pontiacs, was a regular. In 1962 Fried let class winners pick a wristwatch, transistor radio, camera, jewelry or a wallet instead of a trophy. The drags lasted until about 1964, and the old track was later torn down for a shopping center.