Hartford Courant
April, 1949. Emphasis here is on Al Keller, who also drove midgets.
ISSUE 1MA
Hartford Courant
April, 1949. Emphasis here is on
Al Keller, who also drove midgets.
Located on the grounds of the Amusement Park of the same name, Riverside Park Speedway had begun [like so many other tracks] as a midget venue. While flourishing in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, stock cars had not made many inroads into New England in 1949. That NJ/PA area had similar cars to the modified coupes Down South, and were very competitive with them. Both Northeasterners and Southerners were racing in NJ?PA at the time. Al Keller began there, baptized in very high quality competition.
Courtesy of Jeff Hardifer
Al Keller, with the W.O. Taylor Ford at Langhorne in 1949.
When some very excellent racing operations
began to spring in the Northeast - particularly out of places like Paterson, NJ,
Newark, and the like, W.O. Taylor put out a stable of two or three full fendered
modified coupes that could run with most of the best. He took on Keller, a very
successful open wheel driver and also used Tommy Coates in the team car. Keller,
who usually ran the Taylor "89, would appear in tne NJ/PA circuit, in New
England [such as Riverside], and even into the
Capital District area of New York at places like Rhinebeck and Empire.
Hartford Courant
Ad from 1949 for a major race at
Riverside.
The group of others mentioned in clippings about Riverside, 1949 included Ted Tappett [Phil Walters], Jokko Maggiacommo, Gene White, and Dick Eagan. Eventually, there developed quite a cooperation among Riverside Park Speedway, Agawam, MA; Empire Raceways, Menands, NY; and Pine Bowl Speedway, Snyder's Corners, NY. Both Keller and Coates would be seen at many of these races, which involved some of the most prominent stock car races in the Northeast. They also raced often at Rhinebeck Speedway and other nearby New York ovals.
 Frank Smith Photo Ted Tappett during this period. |
 Courtesy of Bob Simons Jokko Maggiacommo. |
 Courtesy of Red Berring Gene White drove this Furness Bros. car out of Conn. before he became a well-known FIrestone dealer. |
 Gordon Ross Collection Courtesy of Dick Hansen and Otto Graham Dick Eagan is probably best known for co-driving to the first Langhorne Speedway stock car feature win along with Hully Bunn. |