Bowling Green
and its
Maryland
Connection
I did not have the pleasure of seeing a racing event at
Bowling Green Speedway. I grew
up around
Baltimore
,
Md.
and spent my early years going to the races at Westport Stadium and Dorsey
Speedway with an occasional trip to Marlboro, Langhorne, Williams Grove
and Alcyon.
But in doing research on
Maryland
speedway history, I noticed that the Condon Speedway located in
Eldersburg, Md. and the Taneytown Fairgrounds in Taneytown, Md. had some
connections with Bowling Green Speedway and the B.G.A.R.A.
Condon was a 1/3 mile dirt track located just south of the
intersection of Route 26 (
Liberty
Rd) and
Klee Mill Rd.
It opened on Sunday, October
10, 1953. Races were scheduled
for Oct. 24th, Oct. 31st and Nov. 7th to
close out the year. Final
results have not been found, but from talking to local residents, the
track was in need of good clay as dusty conditions prevailed.
The 1954 season would start on May 7th and switch
to a Friday night schedule with the newspaper ads showing the Bowling
Green Auto Racing Association sanctioning the events.
This would last till July 23, 1954 when a new group took over, the
Independent Stock Car Association (I.S.C.A.).
Many of the drivers were from the local area, but some drivers
familiar to
Bowling Green
raced and won there. Bob Luck,
Ed Ningard, Red Nininger, Ken Mullinex, Tom Gillespie, Leon Laughman, Jack
Lauterbach, Howard Hobbs, John McAmis and Jack Bull are some winners.
Jump forward to 1956 and though still sanctioned by the
I.S.C.A., the roster of drivers and feature winners changed dramatically.
Pennsylvania
's
Mike Wilhelm and Bobby Hersh captured most of the wins.
Also in victory lane were Diz Dean, Charlie Culp, Tom Gillespie and
Jack Lauterbach.
1957 was really Bobby Hersh's
year at Condon winning at least 11 features and the track championship.
Bobby got some strong competition from
Baltimore
area drivers Joe Owens and Ed Ningard.
Condon closed after the 1959 season after running a full
summer under the Free State Stock Car sanction.
Taneytown Speedway was your typical fairgrounds dirt track
located just south of town. In
1955 several businessmen planned to have weekly stock car racing at the
track and set May 15th as the opener.
The track was not ready in time and May 22nd was the new
date. The promoters got a
surprise on that Sunday as
Carroll
County
sheriffs blocked the entrance. As
the article from a 1955
Carroll
County
newspaper wrote, RACES DELAYED BY SUNDAY LAW."
Carroll County Blue Laws halted the first program of the stock car
racing season at this area's
newest track, Taneytown Speedway, Sunday afternoon.
Carroll
County
sheriff Charles Conaway, aided by 2 deputies and 3 Maryland State Troopers
kept spectators away from the Taneytown oval, enforcing the county statute
that prohibits the charging of admission for Sunday sporting events.
Speedway
officials put off the opening of the track, located at the old Carroll
County Fairgrounds until Memorial Day.
"Drivers from the Bowling Green Association will compete at 1
P.M. on May 30, then journey to the
Bowling Green
track for an arc light program there at 8:30 which also features
fireworks.
Memorial Day at Taneytown went off as scheduled with Marlett
Naill taking the opener over Bud Rohrbaugh.
Then racing stopped till August 26th with Dave Leppo
winning. It was advertised
that
Bowling Green
would take over on Wednesday nights for the rest of the year.
In 1956 the Free State Stock Car club took over sanctioning
Taneytown with many
Baltimore
area Sportsman-Modified drivers making the trip north.
Pee Wee Pobletts led the winners list in the S-M class, but the
Class A division races were won by Frankie Thompson and Jerry Banks.
There
does not seem to be any record of racing at Taneytown after 1956.
For a few years the
Bowling Green
organization and its drivers made quite a mark on two
Maryland
speedways.
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