HARRISBURG, N.C. — Even though it only hosted midget racing during the 1938 and ’39 seasons, the Nutley Velodrome has long been a favorite venue among those who study motorsport history.
Utilizing the SPEED SPORT archives, let’s travel back nearly 85 years to April 3, 1938 — opening day for AAA midget racing at the board track located approximately 15 miles west of New York City.
“Paul Russo, sensational Chicago race driver, captured the main event of the initial program of midget car races at the Nutley Velodrome board track Sunday afternoon, April 3. Performing before a capacity crowd, with spectators lining the standing room at the top of the grandstand and sitting in the aisles, he flashed across the finish line to lead six others to Al Stewart’s checkered flag.”
Those words, written by noted racing announcer Nat Kleinfield, appeared in the April 7, 1938, issue of National Auto Racing News and comprised the opening paragraph of a story documenting the milestone event.
The Nutley (N.J.) Velodrome was built as a showplace for bicycle racing. The one-seventh-mile board track featured 45 degrees of banking in the turns and had seating for 12,000 spectators.
It originally opened on June 4, 1933, and attracted top professional cyclists from around the world. But with the popularity of automobiles on the rise, interest in bicycle racing quickly faded and the track closed following the 1937 season.
Auto-racing promoter Jack Kochman convinced track owners Joe and Anthony Miele to replace pedal power with horsepower, and the Nutley Velodrome roared back to life with its first AAA-sanctioned midget race on April 3, 1938.
Russo started from the pole that Sunday afternoon as seven of the scheduled eight starters answered the call for the 35-lap feature. The Chicago racer jumped to an early lead with Bob Sall settling into second while Ernie Gessell charged forward from the fifth starting spot.
Gessell eventually drove around both Sall and Russo, but was slowed by lapped traffic late in the race and Russo roared back by to claim the victory. Russo completed the distance in 4 minutes and 49.58 seconds with Gessell, Sall, Tommy Hinnershitz and Ed Staneck completing the top-five finishers.
Mike Josephs, Russo, Morris Bower and Gessell won the 12-lap heat races with Sall and Russo posting victories in the 15-lap semi-finals. Vern Orenduff was fastest among the 17 cars with a qualifying lap of 8.91 seconds.
The most serious accident occurred in the first semi-final when Ken Fowler hit the first-turn wall and flipped. His midget landed on the cables at the top of the track, “half in and half out of the stands.” The NARN report said Fowler suffered a broken arm, but there were no serious injuries among the spectators.
This was the first of 60 midget events on the legendary Nutley Velodrome boards between April 3, 1938, and Aug. 26, 1939. Three drivers — Charlie Helliker, Henry Guerand and Karl Hattel — were killed and several others were injured during the track’s two seasons of midget racing.
The accidents raised concern among local officials and Nutley residents. Following Hattel’s fatal crash, Essex County commissioners suspended midget racing at the velodrome, and Nutley residents later voted to permanently end auto-racing events within the community.
There were two ill-fated attempts to revive bicycle racing at the Nutley Velodrome before the facility was torn down in 1942. The site eventually became a public park.
■ Musical performances like the one during the mid-race break of NASCAR’s Busch Light Clash at the Coliseum are why they put mute buttons on televisions. Thankfully, mine worked to perfection and I didn’t hear a single note.
■ Disappointed by the news that this will be the final season of racing at legendary Rockford Speedway. The quarter-mile paved oval in Loves Park, Ill., has long been a cornerstone of the short-track industry.
Opened in 1948, Hugh and Jody Deery took full ownership of Rockford Speedway in 1966 and it has it has been a family-run operation ever since. Here’s to a final season of packed grandstands and memorable racing.
This story appeared in the March 1, 2023 edition of the SPEED SPORT Insider.
