TWIN STATE SPEEDWAY Known to Most of us as Claremont

TWIN STATE SPEEDWAY
Known to Most of Us as Claremont

Courtesy of NH Short Track Heroes Website, by George Hill

When I used to go to the races at Fairmont Speedway in the early to mid 1960's, some of the most prominent performers at the Vermont track were New Hampshirites - primarily from the race track at Claremont. Today, the track is thoroughly modern, but - in those days - it resembled a circular path in a sand pit. Many of the local cars were holdovers from Claremont's old Claremont Jalopy Association - and they looked it.

Courtesy of Phil Chastenay II

Courtesy of Neal Davis
Sonny Fleury awards the goods to a young driver.

I honestly believe that Claremont's bigger stars in those days had come from the racing at the Cheshire Fairgrounds track in Keene, NH. Also, the old West Brattleboro/Rhythm Inn circuit had contributed better runners, as well. Some of the jalopies would go on to improvement; but that core of stars from the earlier days remained in place into the next decade - at tracks like Claremont and Devil's Bowl, to name two.
When Claremont began to upgrade its divisions and headed towards more modern engines and chassis's, some of the hardline flathead runners were saved by the creation of Bear Ridge, up the interstate, in Bradford, Vt. Claremont went on to feature - at one time - Northern NASCAR Late Model Sportsman shows, as well as state-of-the-art modifieds and pro stocks.

Courtesy of racersbored.com Site
Rocky Cusinelli strikes a typical pose for the Claremont Jalopy Association Era.
Many more such shots were shown in the Cavalcade of Racing.

Photo Source Unknown
Lloyd Severance [711] drives by a fire involving Ernie Hastings of
Gill, Massachusetts and a Claremont local car.

Cavalcade of Auto Racing
Keene's Mike Cody was a track champion at Claremont in
the earlier years - when it was dirt.

Cavalcade of Auto Racing
Stroker Smith [Keene, NH] and Sonny Rabideau [Brattleboro, VT] were
the 1963 Champs at Claremont - plus being big stars at Fairmont.

CLAREMONT JALOPY ASSOCIATION ERA

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
This is described as "the original shape" of the track.

Courtesy of George Hill
Remember the emblem ?

Courtesy of John Snarski Walt Brown, Jr. & Crew	Cavalcade of Racing Butch Watson	Cavalcade of Racing Roger Ranade [Same Car]	Cavalcade of Racing Photo Harold Barrows	Courtesy of Marty Harty The legendary George Barber 46 made a visit to Claremont, with questionable success. It is not clear if the driver is Piper or Forsyth.	Cavalcade of Racing Roger Lessard
Cavalcade of Racing Bill George George raced at a wide variety of NH tracks in the '50's	Cavalcade of Racing Wayne Wheeler	Cavalcade of Racing Robert Hodgman	Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Lloyd Severance, Vermont's racing fur trapper.	Claremont Program Photo Buddy Bardwell	Cavalcade of Racing Walt Billington
Cavalcade of Racing Frank Hall	Cavalcade of Racing Dynamite Al Sanville CLICK HERE for more pix	Cavalcade of Racing Roger Day	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Shorty Collins	Courtesy of Neal Davis Buster Dyer and Wally Hadlock	Cavalcade of Racing Frank Blake

Courtesy of Neal Davis Lloyd Severance	Courtesy of Neal Davis Charlie Jones	Courtesy of Neal Davis Arnie Dixon	Courtesy of Neal Davis Dick Gerard	Courtesy of Neal Davis Don Lawlor	Courtesy of Neal Davis Don Miller
Courtesy of Neal Davis Don Miller	Courtesy of Neal Davis Another Don Miller with Canfield's 8NH.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Fran Voudrien	Courtesy of Neal Davis Frank Buffum	Courtesy of Neal Davis Punky Caron	Courtesy of Neal Davis Jack Harrison
Courtesy of Neal Davis John Mekusick	Courtesy of Neal Davis Leo Howland	Courtesy of Neal Davis Mike Cody	Courtesy of Neal Davis Ted Brown	Courtesy of Neal Davis Vic Jarvis	Cavalcade of Racing Bill George
Courtesy of Neal Davis Jim "Dizzy" Dalzell	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Les Wallace	Claremont Daily Eagle George Watkins, 1951.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Norm WIlson and matching crew.	Courtesy of George Hill Pete Janovsky	Claremont Prograam Photo Cecil Bosworth, with a later George Ingalls 888.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
An early field of Claremont jalopies. The sedan was really quite rare at that track.

Courtesy of Neal Davis
Mike Cody receives a trophy in Walt Ruffner's 33. The car later owned by Henry Merrill, was better known
as the ride of big George Schnyer and later of younger Cody brother, Art.

Dynamite Al's Car

Courtesy of Phil Chastenay
The old 311, after a
rollover - when Al had
acquired it.

Cavalcade of Racing
Al, when featured
in Cavalcade of Racing

Courtesy of Phil Chastenay
The old 311, renamed
97 for Al Sanville. This photo corrupted -
I can't get it back to full size.

Courtesy of Neal Davis
Cecil Bosworth enjoys a win with car owners Harvey Logan and Chet Cashman [center].

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
Early shot from a distance.

Courtesy of Walter Perkins

Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois
The Don LeFrancois family - of Rutland, VT. - took several early - 1950's racing photos.
This pair sure looks like Claremont.

Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois
Neal Davis tells me the #26 here is Pop Brown, father of Walt Brown, Jr..

Courtesy of Neal Davis
A good view of the early speedway, including infield. Contrast this with the similar shot below.
Click here to go there.

Courtesy of Neal Davis
A wreck in the early era of the speedway. A similar view as the photos above.

Courtesy of Marty Harty
An early jalopy lineup awaits the start of what is probably a heat.

POST - JALOPY ERA

Courtesy of Neal Davis Sonny Rabideau, Brattleboro, VT The Stroker Smith 311 out of Keene, NH	Source Unknown Art Cody, Keene, NH The Henry Merrill 33	Cavalcade of Racing Ted Brown, Keene, NH Crew member Richard Castine [center]	Courtesy of Phil Chastenay A feature win for Buddy Bardwell in the latter part of his career.	Courtesy of George Ingalls via Neal Davis Cecil Bosworth in one of the last George Ingalls 888's. This was likely the former Eddie Allen car.
Courtesy of James Howard Buddy Bardwell, Keene, NH	Bill Ladabouche Photo Donnie Miller, Windsor, VT Courtesy of Phil Chastenay	Bill Ladabouche Photo Clarence Heath, West Windsor, VT	Racers Bored Site Photo Danny Ferland	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau An unidentified car. Judging from the win decals, it was really good somewhere.
Boudreau Collection, racersbored.com Mike Cody, Keene, NH	Courtesy of C.J. Richards Howard Stevens, Claremont, NH The Leo Vallaincourt 333 out of Rutland, Vt.	Ladabouche Collection Sonny Wilder, Hancock, NH The former Dutton 657	Racers Bored Site Photo Punky Caron, Goshen, NH One of his early cars.	Bill Ladabouche Photo Another Walt Brown, Jr.
Bodreau Collection, Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Ernie Bodreau, , NH Courtesy of Neal Davis	Courtesy of Marty Harty Allen Whipple, in the V-8 era at the track.	Courtesy of Dan Ody 8MM DVD Lloyd Severance, W. Bridgewater, VT	Bill Ladabouche Photos The Harris car, before.	Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Could this be Ray Harris, Charlestown, NH ?
Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Bodreau Collection Ernie B works on one of his cars.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Arnie Stetson First Car	Courtesy of Neal Davis Arnie Stetson 1958	Courtesy of Neal Davis Danny Ferland *Judging from the number, the body style, and the color scheme, I'd say Danny has a former Frank Smith car there.*	Courtesy of Neal Davis Bruce Wylie, Bellows Fall, VT\ Bruce would be injured in this car at the Vermont Fair show of 1962 and the car would be sold to Norm Scarborough to run at Fairmont.

Courtesy of Neal Davis
Ted Brown, with Dick Humphrey, who owned the "Coffin" car before Ted.

Courtesy of Neal Davis
Pop Goodwin is kissed by his wife after achieving a track championship at Claremont in one of its earlier seasons. Goodwin's
family operated their race track in West Lebanon, NH some years before. Sonny Fleury is at leaft, just out of the photo and
on the right are the flagger and CLaremont city officials.

Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Courtesy of Darlene Burr Blair
Ted Burr, one of the early officials at Claremont. [Right] As a jalopy era driver.

Courtesy of Marty Harty
A good, clear closeup of an early jalopy lineup. The third car is Maurice Condon.

Courtesy of Phil Chastenay
One of Sonny Fleury's early posters.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau What's left of the old Butch Watson 444 sits beside the gas fire.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Car 21 barrels into an unidentified car in the early days.
Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Another early tangle with some of the unnamed cars of the Claremont Jalopy Owners and Drivers Association.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau A well-appearing car 110 runs into our friend in #21.
Courtesy of Marty Harty via George Hill George Barber's much - traveled #46 coupe hits rough times at Claremont. Driver here was either Stub Piper or Roy Forsyth. [Unless that's when Larry Davis was aboard]. As you see down below- Forsyth did have success at Claremont at least once.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau The driver of 200 keeps a wary eye on #8 as he goes to the inside.
Courtesy of John Snarski A 1971 photo of the crowd beginning to file in for another show. The track surface appears to still be dirt.	Courtesy of John Snarski A 1971 photo of the crowd watching warmups or practice.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
Just for the record: Henry owned the car; Mike drove.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
The abovementioned Hal Foisy looks on in the foreground as Ted Winot flags off a race with Davis 404 and Mike Cody.

Courtesy of Rob Davis A James Howard Collection Photo A rarer shot of Cecil Bosworth in the Cashman 37 coupe.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Skip Nielson's 414	Courtesy of Neal Davis A newspaper photo of Ted Brown in one of the earlier 92's.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Ted Brown's 92 sedan, after he wrecked it, the first time out at Fairmont Speedway. It looked worse than it was because the whole body was drilled with holes. The cage was fine.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Unnamed Claremont driver.	Courtesy of Rob Davis The Cashman / Logan 37 probably in the year previous to the photos above.
Courtesy of Neal Davis An early Larry Davis car, from Hartland, Vt.	Courtesy of Rob Davis Chet Cashman and then - driver Cecil Bosworth, at the Vermont State Fairgrounds CVRA show of 1962.	Courtesy of Rob Davis Don Miller in Canfield's 8 NH coupe with a win.	Courtesy of Rob Davis Don Miller with Canfield's 8 NH coupe.	Courtesy of Rob Davis Don Miler with Canfield's 8 NH Pinto, a few years later on.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau A clearer shot of Cecil Bosworth in the Cashman 37 coupe from row above.
		Courtesy of Neal Davis Cecil Bosworth [rt] and car owner George Ingalls.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Familiar owner George Ingalls.

Bodreau Collection
via Ernie Bodreau
Early Claremont Speedway.

Wayne Carter Photo via Ernie Bodreau
More recognition for Bardwell.

Wayne Carter Photo via Ernie Bodreau
Even sweeter recognition for Bosworth.

Some Shots From the NEAR Meet at Claremont in 1983

LadabouchePhoto
A restored 870
of Johnny Boy
Georgiades.

Ladabouche Photo
A Buddy Krebs
Suffield Auto sedan
restored.

Ladabouche Photo
A pair of cars, one one
which I am sure was
that of Hoppy Jensen.

Ladabouche Photo
Somebody's
restored midget.

Ladabouche Photo
Buddy Bardwell's
Hornet, an actual
Claremont car.

Ladabouche Photo
The lineup.

Trophy and Ticket Courtesy of Walt Perkins

All the photos in this next table are, most likely Bodreau Collection items - courtesy of Ernie and Phil Chastenay

	Bodreau Collection via Phil Chastenay Gary Philbrook, Claremont, NH [Thanks to Ernie and George for info]	Bodreau Collection via Phil Chastenay Action shot from Claremont newspaper	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 94 - likely Frank Hall.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 300 - maybe Roger Lancey.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 711 - likely a former Frank Smith car - maybe Lloyd Severance.
Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 909 - Unknown.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 137 - Unknown.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 703 - Unknown.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Unknown.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau Car 12 - Unknown. I Doubt it is Dr. Dick Skillen.	Bodreau Collection via Ernie Bodreau The Frank Viola Car 8 - said to be a track champion car for Art Cody.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
A very happy Larry Davis gets attention from Miss Claremont Speedway. The muscular Davis was called The Gentle Giant by some fans.