- Greetings from Epping, New Hampshire
From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”
Star Speedway – Track #150
Star Speedway is located in Epping, New Hampshire. It hosts a tour-type modified division under the management of the Webber family. The track was closed for most of the 2010 season due to issues between track manager and promoter Robert MacArthur and the town of Epping. Ollie Sliva Ollie Silva During the 2014 racing season the Star Speedway is scheduled to race from May through the end of October. The track appears to be back at full strength. That’s great news. You might have remembrances about the Star Speedway. If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below. If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com. I’ll try to include them here. 
First New Hampshire visit – 1985.
My very first track to see in New Hampshire was back on Saturday night June 29, 1985. This visit was part of a three-track trip that included the Riverside Park Speedway (Agawam, MA) on Saturday night June 22 and Thunder Road Speedbowl (Barre, VT) on Thursday night June 27, 1985. My family and I were out discovering the beauty of New England on this trip for a couple of weeks.
Of course I did not begin writing my famous Trackchaser Reports until about track #430. As you can see the Star Speedway was track #150. As this is written my visit to the Star Speedway was nearly 30 years ago. I don’t have a good deal of personal remembrances from this track visit. I do know that Paul Richardson in the #7 was the feature winner. Star was famous for their super modified class that raced on their asphalt oval.
Because I don’t have a lot of personal memories from Star I checked to see what the internet had to say about the Star Speedway. If it’s on the internet it has to be true right? This came from Wikipedia:
The track has a long-history of legendary drivers, highlighted by Dynamite Ollie Silva, a super-modified and modified standout who won features races from Canada to Florida with less than top equipment. In the 1970s Star hosted the Supermodifieds and Modifieds (called late models) weekly, and Ollie’s weekly battles with “Big Daddy” Don McLaren, Eddie West, Jim Cheney, Dick Batchelder, and Paul Richardson provided fans with great thrills and memories. In the 1970s the track hosted what was then thought to be the heaviest wedding cake in history, tipping the scales at over 700 lbs.
Star hosted celebrity races in the 1970s featuring Boston Bruins players. Often Don Awrey (after being traded) would invade Star and beat the local Bruins.
The track has hosted the International Star Classic in the fall, featuring the ISMASuper Modifieds. Stars such as Chris Perley (the 2005 winner), Russ Wood, Mike Ordway and Indy veteran Bentley Warren have participated in the 200-lap race.
The track has been struggling in recent years, often failing town inspection. It was closed for most of the 2010 season, but was permitted by the town of Epping to be open for three days at the end of October, subject to the completion of required repairs to the facility. In 2008, Bobby MacArthur renamed the speedway “All-STAR” and promoted a very aggressive and diverse program including Supermodifieds, Modifieds and Late Models. Unfortunately, the promotion did not draw enough fans to be successful, leaving the track and promoter seriously in the red.
1 comment
Hey Randy, glad to see that you included two pictures of my favorite driver of all time, Ollie Silva. I saw both of those cars race. It’s not impossible by any means that I was there that same night in 1985. I was at Star last Saturday night, and in many ways the place really hasn’t changed all that much . Maybe I’ll catch you this summer for the Thompson road course.