Williams Grove Speedway
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
- Thursday night drags on the oval's front stretch drew more than 200 entries by July 12, 1962
- Raced
- 1962-63
- State
- Pennsylvania
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- Raced on
- At an oval speedway
- First race
- June 28, 1962
- Last race
- 1963 season
- Track
- 1/16 mile
- Surface
- Dirt
- Location
- Ten miles southwest of Harrisburg, between Mechanicsburg and Dillsburg
- People
- Bob Richwine, owner
- Darwin Doll, drag race manager (1962)
- Elevation
- 444 ft (135 m)
- Coordinates
- 40.15553, -77.03378
This half-mile dirt oval opened in 1939 ten miles southwest of Harrisburg, between Mechanicsburg and Dillsburg. Bob Richwine owned it. In mid-June 1962 newspapers reported a meeting at the track to decide what would be done about drag racing at the Grove that season, as there was interest in racing on the oval. Drags ran over a sixteenth-mile on the front stretch every Thursday night, managed by Darwin Doll. The first was on June 28, 1962, and the fields grew steadily, passing two hundred entries by July 12. The races were popular enough for a full Thursday season in 1963, which turned out to be the last year of drag racing at the Grove.
Background
The Hughes family has owned Williams Grove for more than 50 years, and it still runs Friday night shows from spring through fall. Its biggest date is the World of Outlaws National Open for sprint cars each fall, which pays $75,000 to win.
Video
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