TWIN STATE SPEEDWAY Known to Most of us as Claremont

When I used to go to the races at Fairmont Speedway in the early to mid 1960's, some of the most prominent performers at the Vermont track were New Hampshirites - primarily from the race track at Claremont. Today, the track is thoroughly modern, but - in those days - it resembled a circular path in a sand pit. Many of the local cars were holdovers from Claremont's old Claremont Jalopy Association - and they looked it.

I honestly believe that Claremont's bigger stars in those days had come from the racing at the Cheshire Fairgrounds track in Keene, NH. Also, the old West Brattleboro/Rhythm Inn circuit had contributed better runners, as well. Some of the jalopies would go on to improvement; but that core of stars from the earlier days remained in place into the next decade - at tracks like Claremont and Devil's Bowl, to name two.
When Claremont began to upgrade its divisions and headed towards more modern engines and chassis's, some of the hardline flathead runners were saved by the creation of Bear Ridge, up the interstate, in Bradford, Vt. Claremont went on to feature - at one time - Northern NASCAR Late Model Sportsman shows, as well as state-of-the-art modifieds and pro stocks.

Courtesy of racersbored.com Site
Rocky Cusinelli strikes a typical pose for the Claremont Jalopy Ass'n Era.
Many more such shots were shown in the Cavalcade of Racing.

Photo Source Unknown
Lloyd Severance [711] drives by a fire involving Ernie Hastings of
Massachusetts and a Claremont local car.

Cavalcade of Auto Racing
Keene's Mike Cody was a track champion at Claremont in
the earlier years - when it was dirt.

Cavalcade of Auto Racing
Stroker Smith [Keene, NH] and Sonny Rabideau [Brattleboro, VT] were
the 1963 Champs at Claremont - plus being big stars at Fairmont.

Courtesy of John Snarski Walt Brown, Jr. & Crew	Cavalcade of Racing Butch Watson	Cavalcade of Racing Roger Ranade [Same Car]
Cavalcade of Racing Bill George George raced at a wide variety of NH tracks in the '50's	Cavalcade of Racing Wayne Wheeler	Cavalcade of Racing Roger Hodgman
Cavalcade of Racing Frank Hall	Cavalcade of Racing Dynamite Al Sanville CLICK HERE for more pix	Cavalcade of Racing Roger Day
Cavalcade of Racing Roger Lessard	Cavalcade of Racing Walt Billington	Cavalcade of Racing Frank Blake
Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Shorty Collins	Courtesy of Neal Davis Buster Dyer and Wally Hadlock	Claremont Program Photo Buddy Bardwell
Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Lloyd Severance, Vermont's racing fur trapper.	Cavalcade of Racing Photo Harold Barrows	Courtesy of Marty Harty The legendary George Barber 46 made a visit to Claremont, with questionable success. It is not clear if the driver is Piper or Forsyth.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau
An early field of Claremont jalopies. The sedan was really quite rare at that track.

Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois
The Don LeFrancois family - of Rutland, VT. - took several early - 1950's racing photos.
This pair sure looks like Claremont.

Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois
Neal Davis tells me the #26 here is Pop Brown, father of Walt Brown, Jr..

Courtesy of Neal Davis
A good view of the early speedway, including infield. Contrast this with the similar shot below.
Click here to go there.

Courtesy of Neal Davis
A wreck in the early era of the speedway. A similar view as the photos above.

Courtesy of Marty Harty
An early jalopy lineup awaits the start of what is probably a heat.

Courtesy of Neal Davis Sonny Rabideau, Brattleboro, VT The Stroker Smith 311 out of Keene, NH	Source Unknown Art Cody, Keene, NH The Henry Merrill 33	Cavalcade of Racing Ted Brown, Keene, NH Crew member Richard Castine [center]
Courtesy of James Howard Buddy Bardwell, Keene, NH	Bill Ladabouche Photo Donnie Miller, Windsor, VT Courtesy of Phil Chastenay	Bill Ladabouche Photo Clarence Heath, West Windsor, VT
Boudreau Collection, racersbored.com Mike Cody, Keene, NH	Courtesy of C.J. Richards Howard Stevens, Claremont, NH The Leo Vallaincourt 333 out of Rutland, Vt.	Ladabouche Collection Buddy Wilder, Hancock, NH The former Dutton 657
Bodreau Collection, Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Ernie Bodreau, , NH Courtesy of Neal Davis		Courtesy of Dan Ody 8MM DVD Lloyd Severance, W. Bridgewater, VT
Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Bodreau Collection Ernie B works on one of his cars. Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau An unidentified car. Judging from the win decals, it was really good somewhere.	Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Could this be Paul Harris, Charlestown, NH ? The car below was Paul: Bill Ladabouche Photos The Harris car, before.	Bill Ladabouche Photo Another Walt Brown, Jr. Courtesy of Marty Harty Allen Whipple, in the V-8 era at the track.
Racers Bored Site Photo Punky Caron, Goshen, NH One of his early cars.	Racers Bored Site Photo Danny Ferland	Courtesy of Phil Chastenay A feature win for Buddy Bardwell in the latter part of his career.

Courtesy of Phil Chastenay Courtesy of Darlene Burr Blair
Ted Burr, one of the early officials at Claremont. [Right] As a jalopy era driver.

Courtesy of Marty Harty
A good, clear closeup of an early jalopy lineup. The third car is Maurice Condon.

Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau What's left of the old Butch Watson 444 sits beside the gas fire.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Car 21 barrels into an unidentified car in the early days.
Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau Another early tangle with some of the unnamed cars of the Claremont Jalopy Owners and Drivers Association.	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau A well-appearing car 110 runs into our friend in #21.
Courtesy of John Snarski A 1971 photo of the crowd beginning to file in for another show. The track surface appears to still be dirt.	Courtesy of John Snarski A 1971 photo of the crowd watching warmups or practice.

Courtesy of Neal Davis A James Howard Collection Photo A rarer shot of Cecil Bosworth in the Cashman 37 coupe.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Skip Nielson's 414	Courtesy of Neal Davis A newspaper photo of Ted Brown in one of the earlier 92's.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Ted Brown's 92 sedan, after he wrecked it, the first time out at Fairmont Speedway. It looked worse than it was because the whole body was drilled with holes. The cage was fine.

All the photos in this next table are, most likely Bodreau Collection items - courtesy of Phil Chastenay

Frontstretch pileup from Claremont newspaper	Gary Philbrook, Claremont, NH [Thanks to Ernie and George for info]	Action shot from Claremont newspaper
	Courtesy of Ernie Bodreau A very happy Larry Davis gets attention from Miss Claremont Speedway.