Speedway Park on Stoney Creek mountain was my first taste of racing. It was the only racing I knew about being 6 or 7. Just walking in the front gate seeing people selling programs, popcorn, a photographers booth with 8x10 black and whites clipped to a string of the previous weeks winners, a t shirt and hat booth and all the smells and sounds of racing including the voice of Dizzy Dean, the flagman standing right on the track and waving the green as the cars went by him on either side, guy was insane.
I watched them on a Friday nite and then raced with them in the backyard sand pile using "dinky cars" the rest of the week. Hotwheels were just coming out and were too good for playing with outside mom said.
I only got to go about a dozen times because my dad and mom were split and there wasnt much $$$ but when we did go I cheered for Wayne Ready because he was my Dad's friend, but I had many other favorites including a guy that lived down our street. He wasnt very good but he let me watch them pound the body out and groove the tires when the garage door was open.
My alltime favourite was Billy Rafter. His car was #22 and I said when I start racing, because I knew I was going too..lol, that my car would be #22 when I could get it.
I met Billy Rafter about 10 year ago at a Merrittville Reunion. We were trying to finish fixing a damaged car all day Saturday for Flamboro and i just dropped the tools and said..."screw it, has anyone every seen a race at Merrittville?" and we put everything away and headed there not even knowing about the reunion. Rafter must have thought I was 6 yearsold. Telling how he was my fave, my car number was his and all.... My one buddy said they wondered if he was going to have to come with us since I wouldnt let go of his hand.
Like many here i could probably write a book about racing stories and bore most...lol.

Nilestown was always a great place to watch a race. Holiday mondays they would run in the afternoon and then Delaware would run at night. When we were kids, we'd go to the afternoon show, sit on the side of the hill in turn four and watch the action cheering for the Lobo 1 (Jack Sharpe) or Al Mitchell in the Jamieson 24. Never got to do the second show at Delaware because we'd already done the shows at CNE on Friday night, Bridgeport on Saturday, back to the CNE on Sunday afternoon. Nilestown was the first race track I was able to get into the pits with my Dad, running on wednesday night. At the time he was helping Les Covey in the 226, a super-modified purchased from Jack & Casey McCutcheon out of Brussels. My most vivid memory was standing on the trailer parked off the edge of turn 3, watching the fog roll in just as the supers were lining up for their feature. Early in the race, there was a big wreck on the back straight entering turn 3 but because of the fog you couldn't see anything. A tire and wheel landed directly in front of us on the trailer from out of nowhere, bounced and disappeared back into the fog.
When Flamboro opened up to the supers after it was paved, it was like going to a superspeedway compared to the tight quarter miles like Bridgeport and the CNE. You used to be able to stand right at the fence on the back staight beside where the gate to the track used to be. The was no catch fence to protect you, just two pieces of that Armco barrier bolted to posts driven in the ground. The supers were always my favourite at this track but they sure were scary fast compared to the safety features they afforded. I think back and recall "Driven Ivan" Little with a super, Bud Anderson in the B-25, Charlie McCann & John Norton out of London, Ken Snazel, Harvey Lennox, Glenn Schurr, Jimmy Howard, Gary Witter, Bob McGillvary, Harold "Little Ben" Brown, Bill Weir, the Engle brothers from Kitchener (Dixie and Fred), Ron Snyder in the ? and the list goes on and on. The two who made the biggest impression on me as a kid for all the wrong reasons were Sam Snider and Hazen McIntosh (who's throttle stuck on the front straight and he went through the wall in turn 1.)
Thanks for letting me share some memories.

Okay, somebody has to start repping for the northern crowd. It was April of 1996. There was a Beaver Jamboree (camp out) at Sauble Speedway, where the beer garden is now. As a treat, we got to sit in the stands and watch practice day. I was interested in racing, but not hooked yet. The track was quiet as we sat down, and then out came the All-Pro Modifieds. First racecar I ever saw in person? The #11 All-Pro Modified of Jerry Downey (who still is involved with racing, sponsoring our own smokinjoe00!). Spent the next 10 years begging and pleading with my Dad to let me try a Junior Late Model while spending almost every Saturday night (and some Sundays and Wednesdays) at the track, cheering on the likes of Blake Thompson, the McCulloch brothers, Kevin "Cooter" Curry, Dan Wright (who needs two hands on the steering wheel anyways?), Duncan Atkinson, Kelvin "The Oil Burner" Harris, Tyler Williams, Jason McLellan, Andy Schmidt, Ron Lipske, and too many more to remember right now. Now, it's fun to go back and race there, and watch some of the older dogs go head to head with the young(er) guys like Andy Kamarath and Jason Parker.

Well I am not as old as many of your stories, but I can remember back in the early 90's when my family was racing at delaware in the enduro class. There was an unbelieveble car count. I would have to say around 200 cars. There were a group of Tubby's cars that had to make up a team of 8 or 9 cars. Miss Book use to run with the boys and she did very well. Well those were the days when the enduros were really crazy. It sure would be nice to get the car count around a 100 or greater.

Bandit

we had a cottage in southampton and my grandfather took us to sauble speedway the first year it opened and it was dirt if i remember correctly...
90 percent of the cars came on tow bars and at night each corner the brake lights on the rear deck lids would light up the night...
i remember a guy racing a snowmobile around during intermission, he took of the front skiis and had some sort of axle on it....i remember my grandfather saying the place would never be successful, but then he knew ron joyce when he was a cop and actually told him, like so many other..."you'll never make money just selling coffee and donuts named after a hockey player..."