THE RACE TRACK AT WEST LEBANON

Courtesy of Sandra Godwin Fontana
You see, Henrietta ? He has lots of nice, safe bars in there.

       Sandra Fontana, a daughter of New Hampshire 1950's driver "Peanie" Goodwin, was kind enough to track down his personal photos from that unnamed track, on what is now the landfill, near West Leb. I will eventually place all of Sandra's scans on this page, totally dependant on available time. My thanks to any and all members of the Goodwin family who may have helped with this. These are primary [non - professional] shots of a track that almost became completely forgotten.
            From the scarce sources on the track, it seemed to have had the Twin State Jalopy Club, and the track itself was called the Twin State Jalopy Track. Thus far,
I have only three or four paragraphs from the nearby White RIver Junction Landmark paper to use. I am certain it had more coverage, but I haven't been able to access any other papers so far.
            According to the few Landmark paragraphs, feature winners in 1950 included Pop Goodwin, "Bullet" Bullard, Stub Piper [with the first George Barber car 46], Walter Smith, Morgy Boivin, and Harold Mossey. Famed NH driver Harold Hanaford insists he won there, as well. It is said that Rutland, V T driver Al Romano drove here first before his family built Pico Raceway. He, like Hanaford, was greeted with resentment by the locals. RIchford, VT's noted Harold "Cannonball" Baker ended up on his roof trying to race there.

Courtesy of Scott Haskell
Maurice Congdon [12] and Ray Sanborn [outside 3rd
row] are two entrants in this race lineup.

All Photos Courtesy of Sandra Fontana unless otherwise stated Well - known 1950's NH driver Maurice Condon.	Maurice Condon, at speed on the loose, sandy - looking West Leb track.	Maurice Condon, lining up on track.	Maurice Condon, again.	Two cops and another man watching work in the West Leb pits.
Two cops and another man wearing one of those awful '50's gas station hats talk to one of the drivers.	Work goes on with the car #7-11. Note the Hell's Angels reference.	One of the cars bearing an almost - identical #15. This one went off the track [which apparently wasn't too hard to do].	Two men figure out how to extricate #15, "the sedan".	Pushing a car in the pits near the other car #15.
Another view of pushing car #93. The 358, sporting an ad for the Riverside Grill, waits to go by.	Car #34, with the star on the side. The driver is obviously happy to be photographed.	A great shot of Car 34 - one of the more technically - sound cars seen at West Leb.	A crumpled #1.	Big 'ol #37 sedan sits somewhere at West Leb.
My favorite shot of the lot: a good - looking car 60, at speed.	Car 358, going off the track.	Car 13 and another entry had "a awful accident", as Jim Barton would have said.	Another awful accident, this one involving car 6 and 1/8. Another guy using his hat size for a numeral ?	Nice view of car 5 coming out of what must be turn 4.
Car 15 lined up for a race. In the old days, they would do the lineups right on the track and make the crowd wait.	Nice view of car 5 coming out of what must be turn 4. This time, he has company !	George Hodgdon Photo Courtesy of Scott Haskell George Hodgdon, likely raced at West Leb. The car certainly did - then driven by Harold Hanaford.	George Hodgdon Photo Courtesy of Scott Haskell Called "Hot Rod" in those days, Harold Hanaford raced at West Leb. and beat the Goodwins. They didn't like that.	Courtesy of The Davis Family Pop Goodwin, seen here as champion at Claremont Speedway.

Courtesy of S. Fontana
Peanie Goodwin was not only a driver and member of the owning family; but, he was a successful lumberjack and builder.

A feature start at West Leb.	Pit work at West Leb.	Car 13 and another entry had "a awful accident". Does this caption look familiar ? Gould must have attended the same day as whoever took Fontana's shots.	There seemed to be a lot of awful accidents. I wonder how many got hurt at West Leb.	The driver of this car is said to be Billy Byers.
Bringin' 'em in, two at a time.	The West Leb pit area. Mostly different cars than the Fontana shots.	Nice shot. It gives you an idea of what spectators at West Leb saw for a show.	The driver of this car is said to be "Pop" Goodwin, one of the track owners.	Courtesy of Robt. Morrill Ray Sanborn, a driver who raced at many NH tracks.

Courtesy of Bill Baker
Northern Vermont star Harold "Cannonball" Baker had a rough debut at West Leb.

White River Jct. Landmark A May, 1950 result.	River News & Twin State News A June, 1950 result.	White River Jct. Landmark A June, 1950 result.	White River Jct. Landmark An August 1950 result.	White River Jct. Landmark A September, 1950 result.
	White River Jct. Landmark An October, 1950 result.	Bradford United Opinion Another 1951 article about the success of Stub Piper with George Barber's 46.	Bradford United Opinion A 1951 article about the success of Stub Piper with George Barber's 46.

Bradford United Opinion
A homemade sign displayed somewhere in the community.

Courtesy of Historic Aerials
I finally found an aerial view of the track, taken in 1956. By then it wasn't operating.

Coming out of Four side by side. Track looks loose and difficult to run on.	Two men by their car. The shot is very blurry.	Car F7 gets on the gas out of Four. That seemed to be a prominent car there.	Cars get on the gas.	A pickup gets crossed up and pays the price.
Pop Goodwin leads.	Car 15 takes to the inside.	Car is overturned, very common occurrence. I think a lot of them got bogged down by thin tires and loose rutty surface.	Men horse around by a coupe 15. Usually 15 is seen as a sedan.	That same Car 15 in a lineup.
This car may had the audacity to hit the poor, innocent ambulance.	Another car to ambulance view.	Car 18 gets in the ditch, a very common predicament.	Car 202 in action.	This driver named "Bridgie" contemplates his predicament.
Getting Bridgie's car back on the wheels.	Pop Goodwin, in a later car, goes by another rollover.	Pop Goodwin posing by the coupe I believe he later drove at Claremont.	Pop Goodwin's earlier sedan in the track's inconvenient mud pool.	Pop Goodwin going through "the wall of fire", a common stunt at early tracks.

More of the Wall of FIre stunt.	Car F7 with wheel problems.	Cops looking a yet another rollover.	Off the track and bogged down.	This shot shows how bad the loose racing surface was.
Peanie Goodwin [left] possibly with Buster Hadlock.	A car that looks almost street legal passes a car overheating from all that loose dirt in the radiator.	Cars All and 702 wreck. View 1.	Cars All and 702 wreck. View 2.	A pack comes out of 4.
Concession stand said to be run by grandmother Goodwin.	Track surface looks more groomed and firmer here.	Football helmet wearing driver looks to retrieve wheel.	One of the better overall views of the track.	A group of men on the track to roll another car back over.
Said to be Peanie Goodwin, his future wife, and another motorcycle guy.	Maurice Condon, about the closest thing to a pro in those days, in that area.	Rolling another one back over.	Rolling car F7 back over.	Rolling another one back over.

Rollover off the track.	The track public address system mounted on a car. This is not uncommon in this era.	Pop Goodwin getting a trophy. What was with all these motorcycle guys ?	A shaken up Pop Goodwin [white scarf] being nervously looked over by his wife.	Rolling another one back over. Even the cops helped out.
A view across an empy infield.	Two entries take each other out.	Spectators by some sort of panel truck. It looks like a concession or food truck.	Spectators by some sort of panel truck. It looks like a concession or food truck.	A common fate at West Leb.
A two car wreck.	A race lineup ready to go.	A view across to the turns and pit area.	The wreck of the Car in honor of Myrtle.	Stackin' 'em up.