Track Information

The Bedford Speedway, located at the Historic Bedford Fairgrounds, has emerged as one of the oldest active speedways in the United States.

The first racing event at Bedford was held in 1936 during the Great Bedford Fair. Racing only occurred during fair week until the mid 1960’s. These fair races were part of the championship open wheeled “Big Car” series, sanctioned by the AAA (American Automobile Association). The Bedford Fair Association commissioned nationally known race promoters Sam Nunis and George Marshman to promote these early fair races.

Some of the best drivers in the country participated at Bedford during the 1930’s, 40’s and 50’s. The road to Indy came right through Bedford. Indy 500 winner Bill Holland graced Bedford’s victory lane during this period. Other notable drivers during this time included 1952 and ’53 Indy winner Jimmy Bryan, Ted Horn, Paul Russo, Tommy Hinnershitz, Joie Chitwood, Duane Carter, Bill Schindler, and Buster Warke. Indy 500, Daytona 500, and Formula One World Driving Champion Mario Andretti even competed at Bedford in 1961.

The AAA ended their racing division in 1955 to concentrate on being just an auto club for the general public. From this point until the late 1960’s the United Racing Club (URC) open wheel sprint car division sanctioned the fair races. Friday night companion races were also staged with Super Modifieds and Semi-Late Models (forerunner to today’s Super Late Models).
The 1967 fair race saw its first and only loss of life. Up and coming driver Joe Ciski (pronounced “Chicki”) was rounding turn 4 when he bumped wheels with future Indy 500 starter, Jerry Karl. Joe flipped end over end down the front stretch, landing in front of the flagman’s stand. Joe was pronounced dead at Bedford Memorial Hospital shortly after his arrival. Ciski’s death might have had a significant impact on the racing world. The sprint cars during this time were open cockpit with no roll cage, but shortly after Ciski’s death, roll cages similar to the ones in today’s sprint cars became mandatory nationwide in all sanctioning bodies. Ciski’s URC sprinter was also unique because it carried a 6-cylinder Ford Falcon engine, built by Ciski himself.

The end of the sixties marked the end of the fair races. They would be reinstated by the fair board in 1990, but the memories of those early races will live forever.

Weekly racing at Bedford did not start until 1965 when Breezewood’s Roy Morral became the promoter. Roy is credited with installing the first lighting system and opening up the Super Modified rules, which eventually turned the class into Winged Super Sprint cars.

The big winner during these years was Fredericksburg, Pa’s Ray Tilley. Driving the number 88 Ford Super Modified/Sprint, Tilley was the east coast leading feature winner with many victories at Bedford. Some of the other tracks at which Ray won were the prestigious Williams Grove, Hagerstown and Port Royal speedways.

Notable drivers from the Morral era included Kenny Weld, Gerald Chamberlain, Boyd Arnold, Milt Miller, Muss Weyant, Elmer Ruby, Mitch Smith, Bob Elbin, Jim Kennedy, Bryan Osgood, Junior Ritchey and many others. Future Hall of Fame drivers Turk Burket, Larry Wright, Miles Chamberlain and Jim Nave started their careers during this period in the Semi-Late division.

An interesting story from this time period was when a race started while the previous race winner was being interviewed on the front stretch. The year was 1965 and Lewistown’s Pete Swarmer had just won the Super Modified feature. During the post race interview, the Semi-Late Model class was getting lined up on the backstretch when someone turned on the green light and total mayhem transpired in front of the grandstand crowd. To this day nobody knows, or will tell who turned the light on.

Swarmer, who was fitted with a wooden leg, dove on to the hood of his car after seeing the cars coming out of turn 4 at race speed. Crew members, officials and fans did everything they could to get out of the way of the roaring mass of metal bearing down on them.

The front row starters immediately started slowing down once they noticed Swarmer and the others were still on the track. The drivers in the back did not. They plowed into the front cars and into Swarmer’s car, with Pete and his wooden leg clinging to the hood. Unbelievably, no one was seriously injured, but there were a lot of bent up race cars and unhappy drivers and car owners.

Roy Morral ended is promoting career in 1966 and concentrated on being a car owner. Many drivers raced for Roy over the years, including Junior Ritchey, Smokey Snellbaker, Gary Howsare, and Keith Kauffman.

Only special invitational races were held from 1967 to 1971, along with the fair races. These invitational races included Langhorne Speedway qualifiers and Late Model races, which were promoted by Mel Norris of Everett, Pa. This would not be the last we’d here from Mel Norris.

Bedford’s promoter