CHESHIRE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS

Keene Sentinel Photo Cecil Bosworth, Athol, MA This may have been his first car. He may have run this car in the later years at Cheshire.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Ted Brown, Keene, NH A very young Ted with a car from that era. This one was probably also used at Claremont.	Courtesy of James Howard Buddy Bardwell, Keene, NH Buddy seems to feel this is a car he used at Cheshire.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Frank "Stroker" Smith headed for Cheshire.
Art Cody, Keene, NH Henry Merrow #33	Roger Dutton, Keene, NH	Ernie Gahan, Dover NH Stoney's Diner Team	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Car 964, headed for Cheshire. Courtesy of Dan Ody
Courtesy of Lew Boyd Flash Gordon	Courtesy of Lew Boyd Dick Stone	Courtesy of Lew Boyd Kison The Buddy Bardwell car is visible in the background.
Art Rousseau, Manchester, CT Click Here For Art's Page	Ryan Family Photos Joe Ryan, Northhampton, MA 1955 2007	Courtesy of J. Snarski Walt Brown, Jr Claremont, NH Ladabouche Photo

Courtesy of Dan Ody
Thanks to Ernie Bodreau, we are now sure this is a Cheshire [or Safford Park] lineup. The
car 964, on the pole, was seen in a photo with Stroker Smith, as they were leaving for Keene.

Action in Turn One. Lionel Arel in one version of the DN3 leads a Stroker Smith 111
and two other unidentified cars. [Courtesy of Cho Lee]

Lionel Arel in the DN3 leads an unidentified car through Turn Two. [Courtesy of Cho Lee]

Cheshire_Probable_Frontstretch.JPG (316770 bytes)

Looking down what probably was the front stretch at Cheshire Fairgrounds. It was not paved then.

Going into what was most likely Turn 1.

Courtesy of Lew Boyd

We might be looking at the same spot, in 1950.

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Coming out of Turn 2, onto the backstretch.

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Going down the backstretch, with Route 10 outside the fence.

Going into Turn 3.

Jack Teehan Photo- Keene Sentinel		SAFFORD PARK at CHESHIRE COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS Keene, NH NEW ADDITIONS FROM OCT. 19 -CLICK HERE
Terraserver Aerial Photo of the Cheshire County Fairgrounds track, on Route 12, outside Keene, New Hampshire.	Bardwell Photo Collection Keene's most successful and long-running stars, Buddy Bardwell	One of the most important early racing venues was the old fairgrounds track outside Keene, New Hampshire. The Monadnock Stock Car Racing Association was a fairly organized club for that era. Bardwell, at speed. [Courtesy of Cho Lee] The MSCRA featured some of the sports brightest stars of the time: Roy "Pappy" Forsythe, the club president, Art Rousseau, Cecil Bosworth, Buddy Bardwell, Art Cody, Sonny Rabideau, Rene Charland, George Janoski, Ernie Gahan, and more. Many of these drivers went to prominence on Vermont tracks, and Gahan became NASCAR National Modified Champion in the mid 1960's. Charland became a three-time national champ and earned the nickname "The Champ". A field lines up in front of the stands. 37, Ray Harris; 5 Kenny Briggs; 4, John Bell; and Walt Bourassa [black car]. [Courtesy of Cho Lee] The Cheshire Fairgrounds track had more to do with the beginning of tracks in Claremont and at Winchester [Monadnock Speedway]. Good shot at the announcer's stand. 621, Art Rousseau and George Schnyer in the yellow 33 that Art Cody would make famous later. [Courtesy of Cho Lee] CLICK HERE to go to the New Hampshire Boys Page
	Terraserver Topographical map of the Cheshire County Fairgrounds' location, on Route 12.
MSCRA Monadnock Stock Car Racing Association	Jack Teehan Photo MSCRA President Roy "Pappy" Forsythe

Photo Courtesy of Lew Boyd A field stops during the feature at West Brattleboro Speedway, a sister track to Cheshire. The car at right left is Buddy Bardwell, and the 333 in the middle could possibly be Al Romano, of Rutland, VT- owner of Pico Raceway. X is most likely Hully Bunn.	Photos Courtesy of Lew Boyd A field stops during the feature at West Brattleboro Speedway, a sister track to Cheshire. The 621 is the legend, Art Rousseau. 37 could be Paul Harris, Charlestown, NH. Photo Courtesy of Lew Boyd The crowd mills around an the car DN3 of Sonny Rabideau at Cheshire - probably around 1950. They are probably waiting for a judges' ruling of some sort.
Jack Teehan Photo Future Three - Time NASCAR National Sportsman Champion Rene Charland [right] receives a trophy along with local star Art Rousseau.	This old blurry photo shows Bardwell, at speed, on the Cheshire track. The shot at the top of the page shows Forsythe [80] passing George Schnyer - who would become a track champion later on.	Ryan Family Photo Joe Ryan leads the pack at Cheshire around 1953.