Thursday, August 16, 2012

Iroquois Speedway aka Thunderbowl Speedway on Nagle Road 1959

Ad in Erie Morning News, June 27, 1959.
Thrills! Chills! Spills! This oval dirt track was located on Iroquois Avenue and Nagle Road, north of the railroad tracks in Harborcreek Township, Erie County, PA. In 1959, it was known as Iroquois Speedway. (The track was north of the present location of Pizza Hut on Buffalo Road.)

"My dad said Richard Petty and his dad Lee both raced at the dirt track behind where the drive-in was on Iroquois Ave. That was in the fifties before Daytona," said Bill Ditch.

Adam Nicholson and Joe Mobilia owned the Thunderbowl Speedway; Adam later bought out Joe's interest in the track.

allendale 101 posted this video of the Thunderbowl Speedway taken from 8mm films by Joe Mobilia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBSZGQWBTLk&feature=relmfu (check out the blue car sponsored by Schaffner's Esso in Wesleyville, PA at 4:12 into the video!)

Here's a link to Sportsman's Field at 26th and Peninsula Drive from 1949: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/08/sportsmens-field-car-races-26th-and.html

1 comment:

  1. When did it close? We moved to Nagle Road in 1964, and no way would my parents have purchased a home that close to an auto race track! ;)

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