The track owned by Walter Barcomb, located on VT Rte
127 and located right next to
the Malletts Bay Drive - In Theater, is simply called "Malletts Bay" by most
people who recall it or who ever went there. While Colchester had four race
tracks between 1950 and 1960, this one lasted the longest and - therefore - is
best remembered. It was always associated with the nearby drive - in, which
hated the very existence of the track. Seldom did the programs of the two
establishments actually run at the same time. But, when they did, the movie did
not appreciate the noise, the dust, or the occasional wheels flying through the
assembled moviegoers. [Local legend has it that the theater somehow
surreptitioously managed to buy the track property and destroyed it immediately.
The track was
incorporated in November of 1951 - and first built for the 1951 season, running
in direct competition with Ivanhoe Smith's Colchester Raceway. It was then
called Bayview Speedway. After running simultanous shows in 1951, Smith closed
his track and seemed to be in some sort of partnership with Barcomb. The track
would then be called Colchester - Bayview Speedway to incorporate both major
figures' tracks. It remained Colchester - Bayview Speedway through 1953.
The track reverted to
simply Bayview Speedway for 1954 and 1955 - likely because Smith was no longer
with the operation by then. It appears [from the total lack of a single news
item] as the facility was dormant in 1956. By 1957, and through 1958 the track
was known as Malletts Bay Raceway, reprising the name of the first track in the
town from 1950. 1959 is confusing. Some reports call it Malletts Bay Raceway,
while others start calling it Malletts Bay Speedway. This might be partially
because whoever was doing the work at the newspaper may or may not have known
[or they just didn't care].
1960 is the last season.
It was supposedly run by former driver Gordy Owen and was definitely NASCAR
sanctioned by then. As I mentioned, when the drive - in people got ahold of the
property - they tore up the track right away [so they could show their dirty
movies in peace]. Traces of the cinder base of the track remained until a
housing development wiped out both the track and its nemesis, the drive - in.
Only the Barcomb family salvage yard,located to the east of drive - in remains -
and the family no longer owns it.
BAYVIEW SPEEDWAY and COLCHESTER- BAYVIEW SPEEDWAY
It is not clear when some of these photos were taken.
If a date is known, it will be labeled as such.
Source Unknown
Ivanhoe Smith [Colchester Raceway] and Walter
Barcomb [Bayview Speedway] both used this style of ticket in 1951.
 F.E Hart Family Photo via Arnie Hill One of the older shots at the track is this one of Frank Hart's Anchor Light Restaurant sedan, which ran as early as 1950. It must be 1951. You can see the track's ridiculous judges' stand, which I don't think ever got improved. |
 Bob Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson It must be later, judging from the Ernie Barcomb car at lower left.. A better view of the track's ridiculous judges' stand. Photos could get confusing, as the tower at Green Mt. Farms Raceway in Sheldon was very similar, but that was in 1950. Walter Barcomb is far left, with the hat. |
 Trayah Family Photo via Steve Jangraw This photo shows one of the earlier cars to run in the area. It belonged, at one point, to Beansie Dumas. of food truck fame. To the left are the Trayah brothers, flanking Ed Charbonneau. Herb Cobb is seated, looking to the left and well - know Barre driver Norm Chaloux is in the background [with the muscles]. |
 Trayah Family Photo via Steve Jangraw This photo shows another of the earlier cars to run in the area. The FIghtin' Trayahs are at left. At right are the Farnsworth twins - Ira [no helmet] and Ronnie. Ira flagged a lot. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A third, very similar car. It belonged to Ralph Bushey, a potato wholesaler from Burlington. At this point, Gordy Owens was driving the car which was photographed at theGreen Mountain Raceway track - quite near to Malletts Bay. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Norm Chaloux drove one of the three aforementioned cars at Northfield. rolled down a hill, and broke a collar bone. Ralph Bushey walks behind him at right at Malletts Bay. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow One of those cars is pooned by an equally strange car driven by Red Dooley. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow A better look at the Red Dooley V2. Someone in an Ivanhoe Smith - owned car F80 chases him. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson An unidentified fans chats with Ron Farnsworth [ctr] and Ira [F13 shirt] behind the iconic M. Bay judges' stand. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson The already - veteran [and nearly stone deaf] driver Jackie Peterson [holding Pepsi bottle] talks with Bob Bushey after the races at the track. |
 Peterson Photo Collection Jackie "Speed" Peterson begins to catch up with the car in the foreground at then - called Bayview Speedway. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A spinout in turn one.This is an earlier photo based on the inadequate catch fence which was soon replaced with vertical RR ties. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A good view of what the fans in the stands could see. The stands were then protected by two ditches and that fence, which was later upgraded by RR ties. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A good view of the stands, themselves - complete with little kids playing with those plastic '37 Ford coupe toys all the tracks sold. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Bob Bushey leads a field in Ralph Bushey's Spud 19 car. [They weren't related to one another]. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Two cars spin in the turn in 1957 as a Hudson soldiers on. That #128 Hudson is seen in a lot of track photos. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Herb Trayah's car 100 sits in the infield. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Ralph Bushey walks by as a fan watches something on the track. Ira Farnsworth is seen in the background. The 111 is said to Carl Trayah's. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Red Dooley's V2 sedan is in yet another crash. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Red Dooley fusses with a later V2 car as his wife poses. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Red Dooley looks dejectedly at the wreckage of his second car. The drive-in can be seen in the distance. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow A frontstretch lineup with Dooley on the pole. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Dozens of people hang around in front of the stands after the races to watch their favorite team pack up. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A car passes by the spectator area. |
 F.E Hart Family Photo via Arnie Hill 1954. The car of Bob Bushey, on the Lk. Champlain ferry. Malletts Bay cars dominated at AIrborne in the track's first year. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Red Dooley chases Gordy Owens, a leading driver of that era. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow A frontstretch lineup with Dooley on the pole. Similar to one above. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Bob Bushey's dominant Spud 19, in the pits at Malletts Bay. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Bob Bushey's comes down from the judges' stand either before or after the race program. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Bob Bushey's dominant Spud 19, is checked out in the pits at Malletts Bay. |
 Hart Family Photo via Arnie Hill This is one of the most significant photos of drivers ever taken at M. Bay. Left - Frank Hart, flagger Henry LeClaire, Roy Forsyth, Jackie Peterson, and Ernie Barcomb. |
 Courtesy of Cho Lee Forsyth's championship trophy, labeled as Colchester - Bayview when the late historian Cho Lee had acquired it from George Barber, Forsyth's car owner. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A tired Bob Bushey sits in the cab in the pits at Malletts Bay as the team prepares to go home. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Another shot as the team prepares to go home. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Red Dooley watches his crewman do something on the car as they prepare to leave the track. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson Bob Bushey [right] and other M. Bay regulars stand by the Spud 19. |
 LeFrancois Family Photo via Mark LeFrancois Clarence "Cornfield" Rock's Smith - sponsored F30Jr. |
 Bushey Family Photo via Jack Anderson A look at the spectator area. |
 Dooley Family Photo via Steve Blow Red Dooley poses. |
 Photo via Gary Poirier Bud Poirier's Little one 5 - mentioned in an adv. below. |
MALLETTS BAY RACEWAY and MALLETTS BAY SPEEDWAY
I tried to determine which of my photographs were
later. They are below.
Courtesy of Don Richards
SELECTED SPEEDWAY
NEWS CLIPPINGS
I tried to
observe some chronological order.
 Burlington Daily News Late 1950. The new Barcomb track is announced. Unlike the Smith venue, it was not shrouded in secrecy. |
 Burlington Free Press This appeared in May. There was no previous indication of racing and it appears that there was none unitl later June. The venue did stage a boxing program in June. There were very few clippings about the track in 1951. |
 Burlington Free Press June, 1951. |
 Burlington Free Press July 20, 1951. |
 Burlington Free Press July 19, 1951. The track is misnamed in the article. |
 Vermont Sunday News August, 1951. The St. Albans - based paper was very supportive of early Stock car tracks. |
 Burlington Free Press October, 1951. The track is still forging on into the cool days with a track championship. With Smith running a state championship - that's all Barcomb could call his rae. |
 Burlington Free Press April 29, 1952. The track is now parteneed with Ivanhoe Smith, thus now being called Colchester - Bayview Speedway. |
 Burlington Free Press May 2, 1952. Track adv. that shows improvements being made and lists drivers. |
 Burlington Free PressThe photo quality was unfixable, but this is the best I could do. I can't imagine that description made for a track surface that would stay together very well. |
 Burlington Free Press May 19, 1952. Bushey apparently liked asphalt. But he would also set a record for features in a a season at Airborne two years later, and that was dirt at the time. |
 Montpelier Evening Argus June 20, 1952. This seemingly dismissive term for stock car racing comes from a paper that seemed to be quite supportive to stock car racing as a rule. |
 Burlington Free Press August, 1952. 2 day jamboree. |
 Burlington Free Press October 18, 1952. Season finale. Chaloux is shown above with his arm in a sling from that Northfield rollover. |
 Rutland Daily Herald May, 1953. The track is advertising all the way down to Rutland, where there were two operating tracks in the area. |
 Burlington Free Press May, 1953. Good driver list. |
 Burlington Daily News The Bessette death at the Champlain Exposition rears it ugly head as the Besstte family tries to take advantage of the accident. Naturally the Daily News would jump on this while usually ignoring the race tracks. May, 1953. |
 Burlington Daily News The Bessette death at the Champlain Exposition rears it ugly head as the Besstte family tries to take advantage of the accident. October, 1953. There was literally no other mention of the track in any paper in 1953. |
 Burlington Free Press March, 1954. The insertion o Lloyd's of London into the fray actually helped the belegeaured Smith, who had been separated from the track by 1954. The fiorm could see through the bull-sh-- and helped get the case thrown out. While the track is back to calling itself Bayview, there is no mention of any actual racing. |
 Burlington Free Press August, 1953. This is the pnly non - lawsuit news coming from the track in '54. |
 Vermont Sunday News June, 1955. The ONLY news from the track the whole year. 1956 would have none. |
The track seems to have begun 1957 as Malletts Bay Speedway and
switched named names to Malletts Bay Raceway in August. No idea why. Ads
in August seem to indicate that sometime they had removed that half
paved junk from the track and it was back to dirt. There is one solitary
ad in September calling it "Speedway" but that could be a newsroom error. The racing - friendly Sunday News wouldcall it "Speedway" for the whole year. ??? |
 Vermont
Sunday NewsJune 15, 1957. First racing reference since 1953. The Sunday News would use a very similar ad in September, perhaps then overlooking the fact the track was now being called "Raceway". |
 Burlington Free Press June 15, 1957. First racing reference in the Free Press either. Small start with 20 cars. Not sure where the cars had been racing. A low point - not many tracks in the entire state 1955 - 1956. |
 Vermont
Sunday NewsJune 23, 1957. The Only results reference to the track the whole year. |
 Burlington Free Press August 24, 1957. The mention of oil and chloride shows the track was back to dirt. |
 Vermont
Sunday NewsAugust 4, 1955. The Sunday News is still calling it "Speedway" while the Free Press is going with "Raceway". Who knows ? |
 Burlington
Daily NewsSeptember 2, 1957. Theonly time the track bribed the Daily News enough to mention races and the paper couldn't even get the track name right. It had two names to choose from, too. |
 Barre
Daily TimesSeptember 28, 1957. The Barre paper goes with the Raceway name as the track decides to have a state camp race. |
 Burlington Free Press October 12, 1957. Simple ad for the season finale. |
 Vermont
Sunday NewsOctober, 1957. More elaborate "Speedway" ad promises an old Plymouth as a door prize. |
 Burlington
Free PressJune 28, 1957. Simple ad for the season opener. It may be so late because the track was given a legimate paving. There is no mention of the track in July. The cinder bed for that pavement remained until the site was made into a development. |
 Burlington Free Press August 12, 1958. A rare mention of results in the local papers. |
 Burlington Daily News August 19, 1958. Bushey was the hot item with an E.E. Bettis - built car he had bought from Roy Maskell. |
 Burlington Daily News September 8 1958. This could be actually Pat McGrow or, more likely M Bay driver, flagger, and future NASCAR official Pat McGrath. Of course the Daily News would get this one because it was senstionally negative. |
 Burlington Free Press September 29, 1958. There is no farther mention of the track this year - not even their yearly championship race. |
 Burlington Free Press May 18, 1959. Bushey continues to be the hot item. Future 1966 NASCAR National Modified Champion Ernie Gahan was in attendance. |
 Burlington Free Press May 24, 1959. Ad that promises regular shows. |
 Barre Daily Times May 29, 1959. |
 Vermont Sunday News June 5, 1959. Shattuck beats the usual names, with the addition of future Thunder Road star Larry Granger in the Messier 50. |
|
Vermont Sunday News June 16, 1959. Hard to read the names: Bushey, E Barcomb, L Barcomb, Farnsworth, Owens, Shattuck, Ray CSmith, Herb Trayah, Billy Robare, Clarence Rock, Forest Quentin, Billy McDonald, Ken Manning, Glen Chapman, and Wayne Chandler. |
 Vermont Sunday News June 22, 1959. Shattuck now heating up. Maskell back with another Bettis - built rocket. |
 Burlington Daily News June 26, 1959. Barcomb back on top. |
 Burlington Daily News June 1959. Shattuck and Barcomb trading blows. |
 Burlington Daily News June 1959. Shattuck and Barcomb trading blows. Good points rundown. |
 Burlington Daily News July 27 1959. Shattuck clinches. The Daily News finally started come around to supporting racing just a bit before the paper folded. [Sorry about the pun]. The same exact article came out in the Messenger and the Sunday News. NADA from the Free Press. |
 Burlington Free Press August 24, 1959. Bushey beats Shattuck. |
 Burlington Daily News August 28 1959. Ad for their yearly Championship race. This might be the race I got to attend - all the way from near Rutland. |
 Vermont
Sunday NewsJuly 10, 1960. Supposedly, after the track sat there for a while, Gordy Owens opened it with NASCAR sanction. Except for this ad in the Sunday News, there was very little coverage of the track at all. |
 Vermont Sunday News July 10, 1960. Supposedly, after the track sat there for a while, Gordy Owen opened it with NASCAR sanction. This brief writeup suggests [with New Yorkers Nephew and Henry Jarvis] that it was, in fact NASCAR. Clearly, Owens was doing whatever he could to stay afloat. |
 Vermont Sunday News August, 1960. The ads became smaller and simpler as the season wore on. |
 Vermont Sunday News September 4, 1960. The last thing ever heard from the track. The Free Press wrote this as if they had never heard of stock car before. M Bay drivers were active at Airborne and Thunder Road - and would compete at Otter Creek Speedway the next year. SUpposedly this was the year and place that future hall of famer VInce Quenneville, Sr. had his first race. |
Ladabouche Photos
Remnants of the railorad ties Walter Barcomb had
installed in the second year of the track. This is around 1977. Note the cinder
bed from the old pavement.
USGS Terraserver Photo
The old track is still visible next to the drive - in
the 1990's. The Barcomb salvage yard is at right.
Ladabouche Photos
Two shots of the development that was built on the
track site [and the dirty old drive - as well]. That yard is right about on
turns 1 and 2.
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