FAIRMONT SPEEDWAY

Art Morgan [43], Steve Danish [white car] and two others compete on
the Pico Raceway. They were all from the Fairmont Motor Park era.

Fairmont Speedway gets its name from the fact it was situated at the old Fair Haven Fairgrounds, just on the New York border, on Route 4 in Fair Haven, Vermont. The track history is actually in two phases. Phase I is in the late 1940's early '50's period. At this time it was apparently named Fairmont Park Motor Speedway. Drivers at the time usually came from New York, as the rival Pico Raceway in Rutland was taking most of the local competitors.

Fairmont Park Motor Speedway operated for a few years and then, as did rival Pico, it closed its gates. I don't have much information on the earlier phase of the Fair Haven track,but C.J. Richards insists it went by Fairmont Raceway, at one point. He is probably closer to right than I, being a Fair Haven resident and all. It would later re-open under the ownership of the Young family and promotership of a young Charles J. Richards - but not until the early 1960's.

Courtesy of John Nelson
1951 Rutland Herald
article about the competition with Pico

In between the two Fairmont eras is one instance where the Vermont State Fair in Rutland, Vermont had stock cars from Lebanon Valley perform. This was no easy feat considering how dangerous the old horse track was. After several serious injuries during various stock car shows, the fair no longer allowed cars to race there. But that visit by the LV cars that year did more to lay promotional groundwork for CJ Richards than anything else could have. CLICK HERE to see a page on that show.

Phase II is the better - known time at Fairmont - the promotorship of Charles "C. J." Richards [and the ownership of Hugh Young of nearby Young's Farm Equipment]. This is the time that the Champlain Valley Race Association [CVRA] was conceived. When Richards had had enough grief from the town of Fair Haven over, dust, noise, and traffic, he moved the operation north, up Route 22A, to West Haven on some land owned by the family. Here he started the present-day and well-known Devil's Bowl Speedway.

Gene Tatro, Manchester Depot, VT Gene started out in the 1950's driving tracks like Fairmont, Pico, and even Stateline. This may have been like his cars of that era.	George Baumgardner, Saratoga, NY	Steve Danish Cropseyville, NY More than likely, New York's legend visited the early Fairmont track, as it was so close to Danish's home base.	Courtesy of C.J. Richards Spence Parkhurst, 36 Saratoga Sprs, NY Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Spence leads a Fairmont heat lineup, with Geo. Pritchard second.	Mike Cody, Keene , NH Older brother of Art Cody, Mike hit most of the tracks in the region at least a few times.
Probably a McDowell Photo Westmere, New York's "Jollie Ollie" Palmer probably hit Fairmont when not racing at Pico.	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois George Pritchard of Castleton ran regularly. This sure looks like him. The car is the rear seems to be associated with the well-known RU21 team out of NY.	Buddy Bardwell Collection Buddy Bardwell, Keene NH. This was his first car. He also won the first feature in the CJ Richards era.	Danish Family Collection This is the full size of this photo. It supposedly shows Steve at Fairmont Park after a race. I don't know much about that tower in the background. Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois	Yves LaDouceur ANCA Site Dick Nephew, Mooers Forks, NY
Vogel Family Collection George Baumgardner, Saratoga, NY Ted Vogel's 95 sedan	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Vic Love, Fair Haven, VT This is associated with the George Rogers team.	Jerry King Collection Jerry King, Rutland, VT King was a regular at Pico, but most probably ran at Fairmont a few times.	Jerry KingCollection George Connors, Danby, Vermont 6 and 7/8	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois George Rogers, Castleton, VT
Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Charlie Morse, N. Adams, MA	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Unknown Car - likely Fairmont or Pico	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Clarence Rock, Burlington, VT Part of Ivanhoe Smith's Enterprise that also owned Colchester Raceway. Willard Rock was co-owner	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois P.38, Nelson Moore Granville, NY Likely, owned by the Loomis Family	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Unknown Car
Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Unknown Car	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Unknown Car	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Dave Brooks, Manchester, VT	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois The old Fairmont with a heat on the track. 36, Spence Parkhurst.37, George Pritchard.	Courtesy of Mark LeFrancois Don LeFrancois, Jerry King's righthand man. [Facing camera]

As if to preview his promotion and to re-acquaint Rutland County folks with stock cars, C.J. Richards helped get the Lebanon Valley cars up to visit the fair in 1960. Johnny Flach [above] was one of those drivers. Click here to go to a page that covers racing at a number of Vermont fair venues.

[above] C.J. Richards, the new promoter of Fairmont, had inked a deal with prominent Lebanon Valley star Johnny Flach, of East Westerlo, NY. to appear at his opening. Flach never showed up, for whatever reason, but the inaugural race was a success anyway. [below] Richards poses proudly with the sign for his new speedway outside of Fair Haven, Vermont.

Courtesy of Norm Vadnais - From Quenneville Tribute Program
The lineup for the first of CVRA's features at Fairmont. I can only make out Joe Spellburg [#7, 4th row]
and Dick Gerard [inside, row #2].

BELOW IS A RARE COPY OF A 1963 FAIRMONT PROGRAM
Another copy of the same program, later in the season, had an updated roster in a separated page, stapled on inside. Sorry, the scanner could not pick up the true green color very well. I have another, 1964 edition, but it is so cut up it isn't worth scanning.

C.J. Richards [2nd from right] with a few of his early officials. Starter Danny Rumpf is at far left. One looks like James Dean.

Butch Jelley, of Pownal, VT, won a heat race on the opening day at Fairmont.	Art Cody, of Keene, NH, was one of the favorites to win the feature race of the CJ Richards era. Here, he has received the checkers from starter Danny Rumpf, a protege of Chet Hames.	Earl Spellburg, of Glens Fall, NY, a competitor from Whites Beach Speedway, was the very first car onto the track for practice that day.	Buddy Bardwell, of Keene, NH, won the first feature race of the CJ Richards era - on opening day.
Lenny Baker, Athol, NY Part of the Warrensburg Gang	Ed Baker, Warrensburg, NY Part of the Warrensburg Gang	Bill Stevens, West Sand Lake, NY	Dick Gerard, Claremont, NH
Dick Pennock, Warrensburg, NY Part of the Warrensburg Gang	George Pritchard, Castleton, VT	Walt Brown, Jr., Claremont, NH He won the first heat race of opening day.	Sonny Rabideau, Brattleboro, VT
Rutland Herald Photo Art Rivers, Glens Falls, NY	Herbie Swan, Middlebury, VT	Bob Hoffer, Argyle, NY	Courtesy of Wes Moody An unidentified Fairmont car winning a heat at the fairgrounds.

[Left] Joe Spellburg's #7 sedan with Dick Gerard's 737. Behind is the 33 1/3 of Len Baker or maybe Red Smith. [Right] Future Vermont State Champion George Rogers.

[Left] The Checkmate - either John Quenneville or Phil Russell, behind #19, which might have been someone named Tom Bennett, from Malletts Bay. [Right] John Ballantine's 61 beside an unidentified car.

Buddy Bardwell of Keene, NH - with his more-familiar bullhorns car [
not the one with which he won the first feature of that year at Fairmont].

Previously unheralded Bill Threw, of West Glens Falls, NY, won the second feature race of the CJ Richards era .	\ Cecil Bosworth of Athol, MA and car owner George Ingalls [right], of Hillsboro,NH, were an almost unbeatable team for the first few years of Fairmont.	Local favorite Charlie LaDuc of Orwell, VT moved up from the hobby division to the sportsman cars by 1964. The car was purchased from former Otter Creek driver Dick Hawkins of Ferrisburg, VT.	Rutland Herald Photo Fairmont's first starter, Danny Rumpf of Saratoga, NY starts a field of Fairmont cars at the Vermont State Fair in 1964. On the pole is the About 5 of Art Rivers, an early regular at Fairmont. Also visible are Ray Richards [RR] and Vic Love. #30 was a driver named Griffin. The day did not go well for Rivers, seen below flipping over a small retaining wall as John Quenneville goes by. Photo from Ed Fabian
Veteran competitor Gene Tatro of Manchester Depot, Vt. started the year driving for Kenny Martin and then brought back his own cars.	Rutland Herald Photo George Rogers, of Castleton, VT, was an eventual Vermont State Champion. Another veteran, he had run against Tatro in the old Fairmont era. Rutland Herald Photo	Dan Goewey Photo Lebanon Valley star George Goewey came to Fairmont occasionally, without much success.	Leo Howland, of Keene, NH, ran consistently in the early years.
Ted Brown of Keene, NH, won a number of features at Fairmont and Otter Creek. He also had a horrendous crash at Fairmont in 1963.	Eventual superstar Vince Quenneville of Whiting, VT.	"Little Joe" D'Avignon, Cornwall, VT.	Mike Cody, of Keene, NH, ran at a number of Vermont tracks, including Fairmont. His brother, Art, was better known at Fairmont while Mike was familiar to Thunder Road fans.
Roger Gauthier, Fort Edward, NY Norm Scarborough Car	George Proctor, Crescent, NY	Art Visconti, Granville, NY	Don Leffler, E.Greenbush, NY
Don Davis, Clarendon, VT	Bob Ridgeway, Schenectady, NY	Red Smith, Athol, NY Part of the Warrensburg Gang	Bob Frazier Photo New Yorker, Ralph "Rufus" Chittenden, Lebanon, NY - a veteran from Lebanon Valley, the Pine Bowl, and other Albany region tracks, ran very well at Fairmont.
Courtesy of Pascal Magnum Website Guy Chartrand made a dramatic guest visit to Fairmont and blew the rear end on lap 98 of a 100 lapper. Steve Danish won one of the last races of his career, as a result.	Otto Graham Website-Russ Bergh Photo Peppy Peppecelli, Schenectady, NY was a surprise visitor from Fonda - and ended up dented ! Photo Courtesy of Ed Fabian	Nelson Moore brought the familiar Allie Swears coupe to Fairmont and promptly wrecked it, ending its long lifetime as a sportsman. The poor quality shot below shows the results.	Photo Courtesy of James Howard Pete Corey made one visit to Fairmont and blew away the field. Photo Courtesy of Ed Fabian
Skip Wilcox, Whitehall, NY and Trenton, NJ	Buddy Bardwell, Keene, NH with the familiar Hudson - powered bullhorns car	Tom Bennett, Malletts Bay, VT Photo Courtesy of LA West	Kent "Dizzy" Davis, Rutland, VT [with his former Ken Delong coupe]
The Loomis Brothers, from Granville, NY. This car may have also run at the old Mettowee Speedway.	Bob Hoffer, Argyle, NY	Photo probably by McDowell Joe Messina, from the Albany, NY area. Shown here at the Pine Bowl, in Snyders Corners, NY. Messina raced this Hudson and another numbered 3 1/7 at Fairmont. Courtesy of Ed Fabian	Mac McDonald, North Adams, MA
This car was variously driven by NY veteran Orlando Pappas; Foster Wendell, Greenfield Ctr., NY; and Ray Harris, Corinth, NY Wendell owned it.	A 1963 Fairmont Program, provided by the first name on the roster - Art Visconti	Two versions of the Famous 6 Pak of Ed Baker, Warrensburg, NY	Lebanon Valley Site Photo Later version of the Butch Jelley Y- out of Pownal, VT. The Riiska's ad on the hood shows the transition he would soon make to Riiska's X team. Click Here for Butch's own page.
Courtesy of 3 Wide Site Color Photo Courtesy of Saratoga Automobile Museum Connecticut superstar George Janowski made a few appearances at Fairmont.	Rosie Rosendahl, Rutland, VT	Ted Brown, Keene, NH	Roger Dutton, Keene, NH
Cho Lee T-Road Collection Bucky Dragon [#6] Ripton, VT The Norm Cyr 6	Val Blicarcz Photo Chet Doaner, Rutland, VT The Al Romano-built #5 Al tunes up the car.	Val Blicarcz Photo Jim Koehler, Coventry, CT Bob Novak Photo	From Conde/Parry Site Bob Frazier Photo Some drivers and race teams from the Mid-State Speedway at Morris, NY fairgrounds would race at Fairmont. One such driver was Ralph Chittenden and a team was the #43 car of Donny Wayman.
Wayne Carter Photo Bud Wilder, Hancock, NH	Photo Courtesy of Neal Davis Ted Brown in Curt Dragon's #31 [Usually driven by Art Johnson]	Photo Courtesy of Neal Davis Donnie "The Golden Jet" Miller Windsor, VT	Lefty Casey, Manchester, VT
Val Blicarcz Photo Vince Quenneville, Whiting, VT Cavalcade Photo The Gael Dundon #3 - one of the first truly state-of-the-art Sportsman class cars at Fairmont As Gael loaded a pounded- up version of the car a year later, he must have been thinking about what had happened to his beautiful car.	Courtesy of Neal Davis Sonny Rabideau, Brattleboro, VT This shot shows flagger Danny Rumpf. Note the people clinging to the roof of the sign-in shack, in the background.	Cavalcade Photo Cecil Bosworth, Athol, MA The sharp-looking Dumas #0, out of Castleton, VT. The picture was of Beany....for Cecil. This was the legend's last ride. Rutland Herald Photo	Courtesy of Neal Davis Ed Foley, Leicester, VT
Photo Courtesy of James Howard Lou Searing, Oak Hill, NY Part of the Fred Searing Ridge Runner Racing Team along with Johnny Flach, Mert Hulbert, and Stan Wetmore. Photo Courtesy of Rick Parry Lou Searing[left[ and Stan Wetmore[right] were Johnny Flach's crew at this stage of their lives.	Bruce Carmen, Shaftsbury, VT Bruce built those well-performing #23's for Mert Hulbert [ One is shown below] Photo from Otto Graham Site	Vic Love, Fair Haven, VT	Al Rodd, Shushan, NY
Jerry King, Rutland, VT	The Checkmate Alternately described as driven by Phil Russell, Salisbury; VT or... John Quenneville, Whiting, VT Photo Courtesy of LA West	Dick Pennock, Warrensburg, NY Later version of the car that appeared on opening day and was wrecked at the first night race C.J. held at Fairmont.	Bob Boyd, Salem, NY Probably meant to be a team car to Al Rodd.
Courtesy of Otto Graham Site Jerry Townley took the feature of one of C.J. Richards' shows at the Vermont State Fairgrounds. This was in the Thomas Chewins #108 out of Catskill, NY, before Jerry took over the Floyd Wilcox #32 at Fonda. Russ Bergh Photo	Cavalcade of Racing Photo Ralph Palmer, Pittsford, VT Bill Ladabouche Photo	Courtesy of Chris Companion Ray Richards, West Haven, VT	Courtesy of Chris Companion George Rogers, Castleton, VT George gets flag from starter and Chet Hames protege Danny Rumpf
Courtesy of Chris Companion Another view of Chet Doaner	Courtesy of Chris Companion Vince Quenneville, Sr. at speed	Ladabouche Photo Russ Blake, Pittsfield, MA Russ tells me that we see Jumbo Williamson [right] loading up after a rainout. The other man is Bo Green, one of the very first black race drivers.	Ladabouche Photo Jim Langenback, Pittsfield, MA A friend of Russ Blake. Russ tells me Jim got badly burned in this car. The owner was Bert Morrissey, & built by Joe Messina. I mistakenly id'd Jim as Ed Zackenback.
Ladabouche Photo Butch Jelley, Pownal, VT

This photo, erroneously thought to be Malletts Bay, is a recently - discovered shot of Danny Rumpf starting a heat at Fairmont. I can recognize the 22 and 1/2 on the outside pole. In the next row is a later version of the About 5, and Art Visconti is furthest to the right.

Courtesy of Ed Fabian
This photo is best shown at full size, so I made it into a thumbnail.

Courtesy of Ed Fabian
Another photo that is best shown at full size, so I made it into a thumbnail, as well. I have found out that this is apparently Loren "Dutch" Reed, with a #14. This may be the same 14 that Earl Maille got hurt in at Warrensburgh. If so, the thing is kind of a jinx.

This 1964 CVRA Calendar cover shows highlights from one of the best years Richards enjoyed at Fairmont. Besides some of the best local cars, he had regular visits from Fonda, Claremont, and Lebanon Valley teams.

Cavalcade of Auto Racing Photo
Chuck Richards and two of his CVRA officials, posing in 1962 - the first
year of Fairmont Speedway.

Chet Doaner's unusual Al Romano - built coupe leads a dusty feature. The legendary Hudson of Buddy Bardwell [13] gives chase. Bardwell still drives this car at vintage meets. See below.

Bob Frazier Photo Courtesy of C.J. Richards
Danny collects the flag from Roger Dutton of Keene, NH.

James Blackmer,
Brandon, VT

Jim is often recognized as the very first Hobby Class competitor.

Hank Schmidt,
Gansevoort, NY

One of the first quality-built late models

Future prominent car builder Dexter Dorr, Manchester, Vt,. built the first high - tech late model in the hobby division.

Trudo_Ford_Verg_Unpainted.JPG (22126 bytes)

Neal Davis Photo [right]

Graham Trudo built the most elaborately - engineered car of the era. It was almost a modified. According to local lore, an old farmer suggested setting the motor back "just like a tractor" - for more stability.

Unbeatable_Lennie_Wood.jpg (116713 bytes)

The Unbeatable Lennie Wood

West Pawlet, VT

The Maguire F30 Chevy

Cavalcade Photo
CVRA Photo

Charlie Towsley,
Dorset, VT

Chuck Ely,
Pownal, VT

An in-law of legendary Butch Jelley, Ely found the most notoriety as a racing photographer.

Cavalcade Photo

BarryPurdy_and_DanRumpf.jpg (258602 bytes)

Rutland Herald Photo
Barry Purdy,
North Bennington, VT

Purdy drove at Fairmont before this shot at Devil's Bowl

Cavalcade Photo

corellis_pinebowl_1966_10.jpg (73260 bytes)

Photographer Unknown

Tommie Correllis

The Mechanicsville, NY driver made rare appearances at Fairmont. This shot is at the Pine Bowl.

Fairmont_Hobby_Class_Turn_One.JPG (195560 bytes)

Cavalcade Photo

Hobby class cars pile up in Turn One. Don Accavello [1], Bob Ames [P59], Rene Rochon [38], Charlie Towsley [white Ford], and Rusty Duell [Studebaker]. Spinning car unknown driver from Warrensburg, NY

Jerry King Collection

Bob Frazier Photo

Ralph Soulia,
Rutland, VT

Neal Davis Photo

Cavalcade Photo

Phil LaDuc
Brandon, VT

ACT Archives

Future legend Beaver Dragon came down from Milton, VT to dislodge the Unbeatable Lennie Wood from victory lane. The hard-driving Dragon finished second in the very time he ever SAW the Fairmont track- with this car.

Cavalcade of Racing Photo

Ray Richards,
West Haven, VT

One of the hobby division's first real stars.

Courtesy of Chris Companion

Charlie LaDuc,
Orwell, VT

LaDuc Family Photo

LaDuc Family Photo

Harry Duffany, Jr.,
Shoreham, VT

Ladabouche Photo

Tim Baker
Dorset, VT

First Car

LaDuc FamilyPhoto

Tim, in a heat lineup,
in front of
Charlie LaDuc

Frazier Photo
Ladabouche Collection

Vern Hall
Bomoseen, VT

Blackmer Brothers Car

LaDuc Family Photo

Ronnie Woods
Ludlow, VT

LaDuc Family Photo

Woods drove the
big white sedan in the
front of the lineup.

Ever since the days of the old Mettawee Speedway in Granville, New York, the Loomis family, known for heir trucking firm, has been active in stock car racing. Someone in the family clearly served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War Two, because most of their race cars bore the numbers of particular WWII fighter planes: P61 and P38.

The Loomises showed up during the first year C.J. Richards had re-opened the old Fairmont Park Motor Speedway as Fairmont Speedway. Since that early participation, their car

Long before very many people were scrubbing labels off cans and agonizing over recycling everything, Vermont race drivers were recycling their race cars. It seems that not everyone either had the resources, the time, or the equipment to build cars from scratch; so, a race car that appeared to be well-made might change hands a number of times. This 1940 Ford - originally from New York - is one of the best examples of this I have ever seen.

When C.J. first re-opened Fairmont, the Hoffer family from Argyle, NY came to the track with a fairly noteworthy-looking '40 Ford, numbered X9, under the banner of the Argyle Racing Team. The following is text from a column I wrote for Otto Graham about this car:

In the Golden Age of stock car racing, some cars barely lasted two weeks before being relegated to the junk pile behind the ol’ gas station - and some just went on and on. One such miracle of longevity was a 1939 or 1940 Ford built out of Argyle, New York by a guy named Bob Hoffer. Hoffer’s outfit went by the moniker of The Argyle Racing Team [not surprisingly] and they showed up at C.J. Richards’ newly-re-opened Fairmont Speedway in 1962 with this snazzy red and white coupe numbered X9. Hoffer 's rig was a little unique, due to the two lengthy exhaust pipes that protruded out the sides of the car, resting up on the top of the rear fenders. Most everyone else’s “headers” were located on the sides, just above ground level. The Argyle racing Team had chosen an effective color scheme and they had some color coordination with uniform and hauler as well. A rare sight in 1962.

I don’t know if this was their first experience or whether they had been racing somewhere over in New York previously - at White’s Beach, the Pine Bowl, Fonda, Richfield Springs, or some other of the myriad of little tracks dotting the landscape in those days. I know this - they didn’t seem to be neophytes. The X9 picture shown with the article shows Bob himself, backing the car into his area in the infield at the Vermont State Fairgrounds in Rutland, Vermont, in the Fall of 1962. The car was belching a goodly amount of oil smoke at the time. The X9 never really had that much success, but they looked good.

The following year, a modestly notorious driver from Whiting, Vermont named Vincent Quenneville showed up at Fairmont with that Ford, now painted an amateurish red with the numerals 00 replacing Hoffer’s X9. The car looked a lot less impressive, but it drove a whole more impressively with the future Hall of famer behind the wheel. Vince was, most likely, already receiving help from the the crusty genius of the local Addison County local racers - Norm Scarborough by that time. While not qualifying for charm school very often, the huge Scarborough could make most any car fly. Quenneville ran the Ford for the 1963 season, and although I have no access to the points of those years, I’ll bet he finished right up there.

Quenneville would then go on to hook up with possibly his most successful car owner, and he sold his Ford to the same guy he had s old his 1962 car to - Art Visconti of Granville, New York. Visconti proceeded to paint the car in the same distinctive butterscotch and white color scheme and number the car his familiar 001 - probably because Quenneville had sold him a 00 the year before - and it was easier not to change the numbers that much. Visconti was never a man to have too much success at Fairmont, although this car probably brought him better finishes than any other he had.

Visconti had bigger and better ideas for 1964 - and Quenneville no longer owned his own cars, so Art built his own. The Ford next [and lastly] showed up at the track with another Granville man, Ed Kelly. Kelly had returned the scheme to some thing more resembling Hoffer’s, and had numbered the thing as XK. I believe Ed may have finally wrecked the car - I don’t really remember; but, that ended the run of Fairmont Speedway’s most long- lived stock car.

Mike Visconti , Art's son, tells me of seeing what appeared to be the old 1940 Ford with the exhaust pipes built off the rear fenders back on the Hoffer Farm in Argyle. If he was correct, it was sitting with a number of other old stock cars in a sort of sand pit on the farm.

By 1965, C. J. Richards was already looking for somewhere else to race. His Fairmont location at the old Fair Haven fairgrounds was running thin on good clay, and the town was giving him major grief about noise and traffic [while enjoying the tax and business revenues the track afforded them]. He had gone to almost exclusive night racing and was running Saturdays, by now.

Vince Quenneville leads Howard Stevens [333], Cecil Bosworth [far right] and George
Rogers out of turn two at Fairmont in 1965.

In this atmosphere of uncertainty came one of the best season he ever enjoyed in his earlier years. The fields of sportsman coupes that attended the races that year were fairly large and of a very high quality - given the fact he was up against Fonda, Claremont, and Lebanon Valley. He drew cars from the areas of all those tracks, as well as more good local drivers.

1965 Fairmont pit lineup before darkness closed in: from left [Art Johnson, Keene, NH; Vince Quenneville, Whiting, VT; and Harry "Boo" Duffany, Shoreham, VT. [Vince's old car]

Charlie McMahan,
Rutland, VT

The potent former Norm Scarborough 107

Mert "Socks" Hulbert,
Oak Hill, NY

Rejean Field. a veteran Quebec driver made the haul every week, along with Frank Hodge.

Bill Ferguson,
Peacedale, Rhode Island

Popular Howard Stevens, from Claremont, NH led the points through much of the season until car owner Leo Vaillancourt unexpectedly sold the car.

Roger Gauthier, from Fort Edward, NY occasionally ran the Charles Habreck NASCAR coupe at Fairmont.

ANCA Photo Courtesy
of Yves LaDouceur

Frank Hodge,
Montreal, QU.

Dutch Reed,
Glens Falls, NY

Dutch started the year with Clayton Ryan's #11 Shelby Cobra Ford car, but ended the year with this unknown car owner. That's Dutch by the car.

Cavalcade Photo

Fairmont Cavalcade Page 1.gif (128550 bytes)

A page from the Cavalcade of Auto Racing book - around the year 1965.

Ted Brown is with the famous 8NH

Rabideau with the 302, the car sold out from under Howard Stevens

Gauthier is with the Norm Scarborough #24 Mustang - maybe Scarborough's best car ever.

Russ Shaw,
Bomoseen, VT

A Norm Scarborough Car [Sedan above; later coupe [below] which was far more successful, leading the way to Scarborough's legendary Mustang.

Cavalcade Photo [left]

Rutland Herald Photos -

Roger Gauthier,
Fort Edward, NY

The A.G. Ryan Hay & Straw #28

Winning Vt. State Championship

Johnny_Richmond_DarkCar_Portrait.JPG (85721 bytes)

Cavalcade Photo

Johnny Richmond
Peacedale, RI

Cavalcade Photo

Bobby Leach
Stafford Springs, CT

Cavalcade Photo

Charlie Draper
Wilmington, NY

Charlie's little #1 alternated with the Curt Dragon #31 playing the role of the rabbit in almost every feature in 1966.

Cavalcade Photo

Dexter Dorr,
Manchester, VT

Vogel Family Photo
Newly - built, arriving at Fairmont in 1965

Ladabouche Photo

Bob Harrison
The old Len Baker Me2

Bob Frazier Photo Courtesy of C.J. Richards

This 1965 heat start shows Danny Rumpf signaling Gene Tetrault, Art
Visconti [001], Louie Searing [27] and Vince Quenneville.

The following shots from his own Devil's Bowl programs show some of the competitors who showed up for the extra money. Some of these races took place at Otter Creek Speedway. I am not sure how they ended up in C.J.'s collection, unless he was already promoting the track by then. Others were clearly at Fairmont.

From a Devil's Bowl Program, Courtesy of Ed Fabian

From left - Jean-Guy Chartrand, Ron Narducci, Ken Shoemaker, and Pete Corey line up in front of the starter's stand at Fairmont.

Ken Shoemaker's car sits in the foreground at Otter Creek as Jack DuBrul [tall man in the center] talks with other drivers, The 14VT in the background is the Tucker car, and the white car at far right is either Harley Chamberlain or Howie Miller.

Will Cagle stands by his 24, behind Frankie Schneider and Buzzie Reutimann.|
This had to be a Fairmont show as Otter Creek had no night races.

Fairmont, as it looked on the Terraserver satellite in the 1990's. Route 4 is above and the old entrance via a street in Fair Haven is seen to the right. Whatever that white object is off Turn Four in the middle of the front stretch is now gone. Only part of the Turn Four wall remains.

ABOVE: East entrance, from a village street. Remains of the rest room building seen.

BELOW: Same view in winter of 2005. Entrance has been blocked by town.

ABOVE: View towards track from spectator area. Fence may have been part of track fencing.

BELOW: Similar shot from Fall, 2004. Fence gone. Track not visible through the crops.

ABOVE: Backstretch view in Fall 2004. Track outline obscured.

BELOW: Same view, Winter 2005. Outline of backstretch clearly seen.

ABOVE: View of Turn One from the South, from inside track grounds- during Fall.

BELOW: Same view from North, outside track grounds in Winter.

Courtesy of Mike Visconti

Art Visconti and Little Joe D'Avignon in Turn One.

Fairmont_Outof_TurnFour.jpg (185374 bytes)

ABOVE: Coming out of Turn Four

BELOW: Cars come out of turn four during the 1964 season. [From left: Lou Searing #27, George Rogers, #UP2, and Howard Stevens, #333] Rogers is keeping an eye on Stevens' progress up beside him.

Cavalcade Photo

ABOVE: Coming out of Turn Four - showing the remains of the retaining wall. This is the only infrastructure left visible on the grounds that I could find.

BELOW: This shot shows that wall in 1964. The old Model A Ford entering the track area behind Dex Dorr has gone through an opening in the wall. That opening was right where the wall above ends.

Courtesy of Saratoga Auto Museum

CJ and his Fairmont sign

Courtesy of James Howard

Another of CJ's Fairmont signs is seen thru window of Searing's car.

Courtesy of Barb LaDuc Charlie LaDuc's 1963 Fairmont membership card.	Courtesy of Barb LaDuc Charlie LaDuc's 1965 Fairmont safety inspection receipt
Courtesy of Barb LaDuc Charlie LaDuc's 1966 Fairmont membership card.	Courtesy of Barb LaDuc One of Barb LaDuc's first Fairmont ticket stubs - Probably for 1963.

Ladabouche Photo The first Loomis entry, at the Rutland fairgrounds, in 1962. A 1938 Chevy, this car looked much like the car they drove ten years beforehand.	Ladabouche Photo The next Loomis entry, P38, tells us by now that someone in that family had flown fighters in WWII.	Ladabouche Photo The same car, a short time later, with the familiar P61 number and paint scheme.	Ladabouche Photo The same car, the following year, having been cut down. Driver at the time, Kenny Loomis.
Ladabouche Photo The last version of the Loomis car was the red 111, driven very competitively by Nelson Moore.	LaDuc Family Photo The Loomis brothers and Nelson Moore with one version of the car.