In a small blue collar town dominated by the cement goliath Lehigh and local limestone quarries supporting them, there is an abandoned racetrack once known as Nazareth Speedway. Tucked in the armpit of State Roads 248 and 191 lies a sub-1-mile paved racetrack which hadn’t hosted a racing even since 2004.
Well, it just so turns out that I was in Nazareth recently, and the race track was on my mind. You see, I went to the 1999 and 2000 CART race, and then the 2003 race under the IndyCar Racing League (IRL).
Attending the race in my early teens was like snorting Smarties. I was so excited I couldn’t focus on anything. I just wanted to be drowned in the sounds, hit in the face with tire marbles, and overwhelmed with fumes. Therefore, my memories of the race itself are pretty weak. I don’t remember who started on pole, who won, or even if there was a caution.
Instead my memories are of the cars being awash with color, blindingly vivid compared to the television or newspaper pictures. The impossibly high pitched sounds from a 750 hp 2.65L V8 shattering the audible ceiling I arbitrarily created for an internal combustion engine. The sweet aroma of race gas and unburnt hydrocarbons swirling around the track. But strongest and more emotional memory was, spending the whole day with my Dad and beloved Uncle.
So yeah, the track was on my mind.
About the Track
Believe it or not, racing on the property started in 1910 after the local horse racing track (founded in 1850) outgrew its home in the center of town. Construction of a ½ mile track on the property started a few years prior to hosting its event, an automobile polo event (holy shit that’s a thing?).
Two World War’s, a great depression, a moon landing, and a computer made by a fruit company later, the property goes through several iterations of dirt tracks, vacancies, and sales. The most notable event during that time period would arguably be Mario Andretti winning the 1969 (nice) United States Auto Club (USAC) 100 Mile Championship Race.
But in 1986 the sale to Roger Penske would lay the ground work to bring the track to the forefront. Penske laid out a paved track over the existing 1 1/8th mile dirt track featuring 2.7° and 6.0° cambering and an oval-circuit-first warm-up lane to enter and exit the pits.
In 1987 it would host it’s first paved race, a CART series race, on September 20th, which was won by Michael Andretti in a Kreco.
The CART series would return to Nazareth every year for 14 years until the series dissolved. IndyCar would then take the reins and continue to run at Nazareth for the next 3 years until 2004.
In 1988, the track also picked up the NASCAR Busch Series. They raced there up until 2004 as well. Once closed, the series also moved the race weekend to Watkins Glen.
In 2004 the owners, International Speedway Corporation (ISC), closed Nazareth speedway and used the race weekend to move IndyCar to Watkins Glen, which was also owned by ISC. Taking the closing even further, they then moved most of the iconic red and yellow grandstands up to the Watkins Glen track. Eventually some even made it to Michigan Raceway too.
Famous names
Just check out this program picture from the 1999 Bush Series race at Nazareth, the First Union 200.
The racing names! Oh my.
I mean, ignore their first names and holy crap what a stacked field that is.
In all seriousness. Zanardi, Fittipaldi, Castroneves, Mansell, Rahal, Unser, and 4 different Andretti’s (Mario, Michael, Jeff, and John). Some serious talent has turned a wheel here on this little diamond in cement country.
But why does Andretti keep coming up? Oh probably because he lived 1.5 miles away from the track in a house he built in 1968. No, really.
And his parents? A block further.
The Track
The track genuinely had a lot of character. I’ve only seen it mentioned twice in print, but one thing that stood out in my visit was how much elevation change there was on the track, 34’ in total. At one point it looked like there was even a crest in the road. Possibly a result of neglect or nearby sink holes. But it was reported that the from the exit from turn 2 and all the way down the back straight, it was downhill. While the rest of the lap was uphill.
Official turn count is 3, but many drivers described 4 turns, and sometimes even 5. I will say, the sharpness of the turn at the end of the back straight looked terrifying. About 200’ away from it I thought they may have installed another wall across the track. It looked that abrupt. Banking at Turn 1 felt generous considering it was the easiest turn on the track. Turn 2 felt VERY flat for how long it was. And watching replay’s of races there, it certainly looks like the slowest turn. As abrupt as turn 3 walking it, it was very well cambered and looked fast. This was also where most of the passing was happening into. And no diagram or picture portrays how turn 4 raced in real life. The fact was you raced a long turn 3 as if it was a double apex, never increasing the angle of steer once you’ve apexed 3. But the way you approach the wall and then run back to the apex of turn 4, plays as though it is its own turn.
The track was fast. Not 243 mph fast, but race laps were about 20 seconds. Qualifying laps were in the high 18’s. With 30 plus cars on the track during a race, a new car went ripping by almost every half second. It was busy and a full assault of the senses during long green flag runs.
Current Conditions
Remember I mentioned the warm-up lane? It was a paved lane separated by grass, then the racing surface. Entry to the pit was the end of the back straight, and leaving the pits, you entered at the exit of turn 2. What do you think 18 years of neglect did to that patch of grass? Standing on the racing line:
I really like these 2 pictures. Same silo in the background. Same advertisement. Same spot. 18 years apart.
Small sinkholes litter the track. Most likely a product of the limestone geology in the area. The biggest I saw was about 8’ long x 6’ wide x 3’ deep.
Barriers of the concrete and dirt variety all around the track keep the hoonigans in check.
Pit lane entrance and infield care center (red roof square building in the back of the second picture).
Victory Circle. Note about the 2nd picture; remember who owned the track? Yeah, Roger Penske himself. So that’s pretty cool for him to celebrate his 100th victory at his own track.
Infield Building
The front desk at the infield building. "Can I see your credentials please?"
Press room. Just imagine this filled with journalists writing, typing, and calling in the action during race day.
Spotters view
Finish line
Pit lane exit
The catch fence cut off at the base.
Advertisements and concessions. Oddly a lot of these ad’s painted on the walls don’t show up in most of the pictures. Especially the later races.
Realities
Even from when I was a kid, one of the outstanding comments is how narrow the track is and how hard it was to pass. I always found this odd as it was a rather wide track. But as time goes on and I understand racing more, I assume they meant the racing line was so narrow that any 2 wide racing was going to make it impossibly slow. I mean the track was short, but it had a lot of character.
Also, attendance never seemed great. I don’t know if this was a function of the popularity of the racing series that was attending, if it was the area the track was in, or if the number of grandstands was too ambitious. But it never felt full.
Currently the area is a huge warehouse area and growing. The nearby shopping center never really went through the expansion they thought they were going to. And the standard boiler plate answer from the owner when asked about its’ plan for the track is “warehousing and residential development.”
The sad truth is, any hopes of racing returning to Nazareth are ‘the limit approaches zero’. There are some non-compete contracts with the bigger racing leagues and their race at nearby Pocono Raceway (24.5 miles as the crow flies). ISC no longer owns the track, so the conflict with the close Watkins Glen Raceway isn’t as much an issue. Raceway Properties LLC are the current owners, but the non-compete with Pocono is still in effect. Currently, it is zoned as general commercial property with the most recent plans being to convert sections to residential zoning and build a warehouse for local business, C. F. Martin & Company. But that has been since 2018, and I can confirm, no demolition activities have begun as of fall 2022.
I personally think returning the property to a dirt track, its original iteration if you will, would be best solution to bringing racing back into Nazareth. A quick Google search shows nothing within 50 miles that would be competition. But unless some serious nostalgia kicks in and something like what happened at Rockingham or North Wilkesboro happens, racing is likely gone for good.
What about your local abandoned track do you remember?
