Reading Fairgrounds Speedway

Nothing leftNothing left No longer racing, and nothing of the track remains.

Raced
1960-65
State
Pennsylvania
What's left
The site was redeveloped and nothing of the strip remains.
On the site today
Mall
Raced on
Fairgrounds
First race
June 29, 1960
Last race
summer 1965
Track
1/16 mile
Surface
Clay
Location
Front straightaway of the half-mile oval at the Reading Fairgrounds
People
  • Ed Otto, promoter (1960)
Sanction
NASCAR
Elevation
317 ft (96 m)
Coordinates
40.38174, -75.93110

Drag races ran on a sixteenth-mile stretch in front of the grandstand at the fairgrounds’ clay half-mile oval, under NASCAR sanction. They were held every Wednesday night starting June 29, 1960, with Ed Otto as promoter, and regularly drew more than 200 cars racing for 25 class trophies. AMA motorcycle drags on September 13, 1961, opened a week of racing at the Reading Fair. Research found no drag racing in 1963 and 1964, though the oval stayed in use. Weekly drags returned in the summer of 1965 under the Reading Stock Car Association, usually drawing about 130 entries for class and eliminator trophies. A mall now stands on the site.

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