Pete,
Your recent blog regarding stock car racing in Tuckerton caught my attention and I am passing on to you some back ground information on how it all began and how it ended.
To the best of my knowledge, I was the only one from New Gretna who raced a car at the Tuckerton track and that was in the summer of 1951. Jay Belk raced his only in Pleasantville. Myrtle Wiseman Falkenburg drove his car in female driver events, and I understand she was quite good. Following is a photo of my car #192 in the pit area of the Tuckerton track. Standing with me is Bob Dawson who was my driver.
Racing was started in Tuckerton by the Pullen family who lived on Clay St. The article you reference was written by their father. There was quite a bit of excitement when it started but, due to lack of vehicles and time between races, it got a little tiresome and soon lost its appeal. The inspiration was provided by people who worked at the fish factory and came up from the south for the fishing season. #18 car was owned by the Pullen’s and driven by Hoiser who worked at the fish factory. Cars came from Waretown, New Egypt/Browns Mills and as listed in the article
As interest increased tracks were established at Wall Township, Pleasantville and Browns Mill/New Egypt. These tracks were bigger with lights for night racing, speeds were faster, pileups more dramatic, with many more cars and larger cash prizes. So going into 1951, Tuckerton had its faithful followers, but it was tough going. No gas station/garage in New Gretna supported any car with the exception of Jay Belk of his own. That is not to say prizes were donated.
The track was located off North Green Street in a gravel pit which had been scraped to form more of a circle than a oval with a distance around of less than a 1/2 mile, with many soft spots. Spectators sat in their cars on the banks surrounding the track and a free will collection was taken during the event. It was located approximately in the area where the current school is located. The Beacon article that stated best track in NJ was very much overstated.
The above covers in a general way what I remember. On Aug 4, 1951 the last event with my car being driven by Bob Dawson leading the pack. As it rounded the turn, it hit a soft spot causing him to lose control and the vehicle to flip on its right side. He was restrained by a seat belt but apparently struck his head on the gear shift knob causing him to be unconscious. The First Aid squad was on site and immediately transported him to the hospital where he died. That ended my stock car adventure and the Tuckerton track.
Bob left a wife and a young child. She remarried, and I believe is still living in the Tuckerton area. Check the Beacon around the above date which should have more detailed information. Maybe a memorial blog would be in order, I don't know about such things.
Clif Brown
Clif Brown (l) and Bob Dawson at the Tuckerton Track in July, 1951. (Photo courtesy of Clif Brown.)
June 14, 1951 Tuckerton Beacon ad.
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Clif,
Thanks for the first hand information, although I am saddened by the news of the tragic crash by Bob Dawson. I know about Myrtle Wiseman Falkinburg driving on various area tracks and plan to do a blog entry and Bass River Gazette article on her exploits. Stay tuned!
A current arial photo from Google Maps shows the faint outline of the Tuckerton Race Track off Route 539, just behind the George Mitchel Elementary School and the Arcadia Nursing Center.
The outline from the old Tuckerton Race Track can be seen in the trees just to the west of the George Mitchel Elementary School and the Arcadia Nursing Center. My thanks to Bruce Ellis for suggesting a look at Google Maps for a trace of the track. I was surprised to find it still visable. (Aerial photo from http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl with labels added.)
The following history of the Tuckerton Speedway by Jon H. Clifton is worth reading. It fills in some missing information and provides an excellent summary of the brief history of the track. It is from Jon's web site at:
http://www.njracingnostalgia.com/tuckerton.html
THE TUCKERTON
by Jon H. Clifton
As most race fans know, racing really started to take off in the early to mid 1950's when several small dirt tracks around the country started springing up almost everywhere you looked. If someone had enough property to carve out a dirt circle in his or her cornfield or back yard, he was often approached to become a "partner" in the racing industry. These tracks were the grassroots of racing and just about everybody has their favorite memory of an early track they attended. Some of the noted grassroots tracks were the Lakewood Speedway in
The first automobile race in the
In early 1950, racing enthusiasts Tom and Bill Resch, Bob Dawson and Bert Courtney, all of Tuckerton, decided to build a track in their hometown. As fast as the idea was thought up, they started the ball rolling and by
The response was overwhelming. In just one week, having accomplished the major part of chopping down trees, burning the brush and clearing out the trash from the proposed site, plans began to start grading and laying out the course. When the track was laid out to where it was going to be, there was only one problem. The road grader that was to be used was broken and wouldn't run. But the men would not let this minor problem stop them. A tractor was borrowed and with the help of a very heavy chain, the grader was pulled around the track until it was smooth.
On
After 12 weeks of consistent work, the Tuckerton Speedway was ready to go. Opening day was Memorial Day, 1950. Some 2,500 spectators turned out to see the first ten-race program on the new 1/4-mile dirt oval. This was a pretty good crowd since the population of Tuckerton in 1950 was only 1,332. The first casualty was Vice-President Bill Resch, who flipped Sam Spraggs #1-1/4 car. Remembering that day, Resch said, "We didn't know how the people were going to react to the races. So to create some excitement, Bob Dawson and I decided to flip our cars. This is how I became the first casualty, then Bob flipped his". The races were so popular that the local movie house in Tuckerton and one in
During the second meet on June 11th,
Two months later on August 3, new management took over the track with Bob Dawson’s brother, Hilliard, the new man in charge. A tower was erected for a starters stand, white posts were placed on each side of the start/finish line and the track was properly graded, oiled and sprinkled. J. Simpkins of Green Bank won the first heat on the new track. Hot Shot won the first feature and took home the top prize of $5.00 and an inner tube donated by local Sunoco dealer Watson Spragg. Prize money back then was great for the time but not by today's standards. For example, during one meet in August, Hot Shot won the feature. His prize money was $5.00 and turkey dinner at the historic New Gretna House. Bill Resch, who finished second, received a car polishing kit and third place finisher Bert Courtney received two gallons of oil. Mel Holloway received $2.50 and a can of Wonder Luster cream for winning the consolation race. But there was one race that didn't have a winner. On August 6, three cars started the fourth race. Two of them flipped and the third one was disqualified.
By now, the track was not only drawing the local top drivers but also a lot of outsiders. Cars from many surrounding towns were making the Tuckerton Speedway a weekly stop on their schedules. The men to beat were Bert Courtney, Chappy Wagner, Chippy Chipman, Al Tart Jr., Floyd Clark and Michael "Boots" Zimmerman. In just two meets, Boots racked up an incredible ten wins and one second place in just eleven races. No other driver ever equaled this record in such a short period of time. Throughout the 1950 season, there were good times and bad. Good times when the pits were filled with cars and people lined the banks to root their favorite driver on to the checkered. The track was built in a way where you could park on the banking and watch the races without ever getting out of your car. Bad times when Mother Nature would not cooperate and rain washed out the day’s activities or when the drivers had mechanical troubles or crashed their cars beyond repair. By the end of the first season of racing on
Hot Shot Hoiser won the first race of 1951 but Manahawkin’s Boots Zimmerman took five of the eight races run. (For you Wall Stadium fans, Boots is the father-in-law of modified driver Tom Michel). A week later, fans saw seven races won by seven different drivers. Competition was getting better and better. Drivers were now racing for a point fund. The driver with the most points at the end of the season would receive the Whealton Trophy, a beautiful engraved trophy offered by local jeweler Eugene Whealton.
Thirty races into the season, 26 year Bob Dawson announced that the August 5th race date was going to be his last as a driver. However, nobody suspected that this statement would actually turn out to be an omen. The day came, and on the last lap of the feature, Bob was running wide to pass another car when his car hit a rut in the track and catapulted into the air, flipped over and landed back on the track. Driver Bert Courtney, who had been running right behind
Today, after fifty-four years, 209 races with 52 different winners, the track still sits behind the Little Egg Harbor Elementary School. Fully overgrown with weeds and trees, the only noise heard today is the wind and the sound of birds. Racing in Tuckerton is history. A recent trip to the site was a bit unsettling. Standing on one of the old banks, I heard a strange noise. It wasn't the wind, birds or a visiting deer. The sun played strange shadows over the trees and brush as I strained to see what was making the noise. Maybe it was Joe Pullen's number 18. Or Vern Simpkins triple zero. One more look might find Bert Courtney coming down for one more checkered flag. Or maybe Bill Resch had come out of retirement for one more final lap. But as much as I wanted to see it, none of these were true. Sadly, the last checkered flag dropped at the Tuckerton Speedway on
I would like to thank Bill Resch, Bert Courtney, Al Tart Jr. and the Tuckerton Beacon for their invaluable help in making this story possible.
You can read the histories of most of the tracks in New Jersey at Jon's web site home page at:
Is anyone still moderating this blog? Asking because I’m the first born grandson of Bob Dawson, oldest son of the child he left behind the day he died. Yesterday, August 15, 2020, I celebrated with my grandmother, Bob’s widow, as she turned 90.
ReplyDeleteWow such an amazing story. Thank you Tyler for responding. I hope you are all well.
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