 Logo used since 2020 | |
 A race on Star Speedway in August 2014 | |
| Location | 176 Exeter Road Epping, New Hampshire |
|---|---|
| Time zone | Eastern: UTC−5 / −4 (DST) |
| Coordinates | 43°01′45″N71°02′26″W / 43.029272°N 71.040665°W |
| Opened | 1966 (58 years ago) |
| Website | www |
| Oval | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1/4 miles (0.4 km) |
| Banking | Semi-banked |
Star Speedway is a short-track oval race track located in Epping, New Hampshire. It hosts a tour-type modified stock car racing division under the management of the Webber family.
Star Speedway opened in 1966, [1] having been primarily built by Charlie Elliot, a contractor, restaurant owner, and car enthusiast from nearby Dover, New Hampshire. [2] The prior year, Elliot had gone into business with Kendall C. Smith and local journalist Russ Conway to build a race track on what had formerly been Star Brick Yard in Epping, New Hampshire. [3] Elliot, Smith, and Conway sold their interests in the track by late 1983, when they purchased Lee Raceway (later known as Lee USA Speedway) in nearby Lee, New Hampshire. [4]
The track has a long history of notable drivers, highlighted by Ollie Silva, a modified and supermodified standout who won features races from Canada to Florida with less-than-top equipment. [5] In the 1970s, Star Speedway hosted modified and supermodified races weekly, and Silva's battles with "Big Daddy" Don McLaren, Eddie West, Jim Cheney, Dick Batchelder, and Paul Richardson provided fans with great thrills and memories.[ citation needed ] The speedway also held promotional races featuring some Boston Bruins players. [6] It even hosted what was then thought to be the heaviest wedding cake in history, tipping the scales at over 700 pounds (320 kg).[ citation needed ]
Star Speedway hosted one NASCAR North Tour race in 1985. [7] The track hosted 20 NASCAR Busch North Series [7] events between 1987 and 2001, and four NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour events between 1985 and 1990. [7]
 | This section needs additional citations for verification .(February 2022) |
The track struggled in the early years of the 21st century, often failing town inspection.
In 2008, Robert MacArthur took over the management, renamed the speedway "All-STAR", and promoted a very aggressive and diverse program including Supermodifieds, Modifieds and Late Models. Unfortunately, the promotion did not draw enough fans to be successful, leaving the track and promoter seriously in debt.
The track was closed for most of the 2010 season due to issues between track manager and promoter MacArthur and the town of Epping. [8] The track was permitted by the town of Epping to be open for three days at the end of October, subject to the completion of required repairs to the facility.
The facility had two ACT Late Model Tour races, one in 2013 and the other in 2019. [7]
The track hosts the Star Classic every fall, featuring the ISMA Super Modifieds. Drivers such as Chris Perley (the 2005 winner), Russ Wood, Mike Ordway and Indianapolis 500 veteran Bentley Warren have participated in the 200-lap race.
Owner Bob Webber has been operating the track since the departure of MacArthur and has made many improvements. Star Speedway currently[ when? ] hosts many popular touring series including PASS, ISMA, Granite State Pro Stock, Tri-Track modified and Northeast Classic Lites to name some. Star Speedway "sold out" an event in 2015, something never seen before in the modern era.[ clarification needed ]
Mansfield Motor Speedway was a 0.440 mi (0.708 km) dirt track located in Mansfield, Ohio, United States.
Richard Ernest Evans, was an American racing driver who won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight in a row from 1978 to 1985. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame lists this achievement as "one of the supreme accomplishments in motorsports". Evans won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, most of them more than once, including winning the Race of Champions three times. Evans was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on June 14, 2011. As one of the Class of 2012, Evans was one of the Hall's first 15 inductees, and was the first Hall of Famer from outside the now NASCAR Cup Series.
Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park (TSMP), formerly Thompson Speedway and Thompson International Speedway, is a motorsports park in Thompson, Connecticut, featuring a 5⁄8-mile (1.0 km) asphalt oval racetrack and a 1.7-mile (2.7 km) road racing course. Once known as the "Indianapolis of the East", it was the first asphalt-paved racing oval track in the United States and is now under the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series banner. Each year Thompson hosts one of the great fall variety events "The World Series of Auto Racing" highlighted by the International Supermodified Association and the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. This event frequently draws over 350 race cars in 16 separate divisions over three days. Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park is the track that had hosted the most ever races in the modern era of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour with 146 races from 1985 to 2019.
Oliver W. Silva was an American auto racing driver. He raced in the Northeastern United States, winning many races, track championships, and touring-series championships. Silva drove in modifieds, supermodifieds, pro stocks, late models and sprint cars. He was the first driver inducted to the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame when it was instituted in 1998.
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Bentley Warren, is an American racecar driver. He is best known for racing in the USAC Championship Car series, and for some New Englanders, even more so for his racing in the Supermodified winged cars, now called ISMA. During the 1970s, he twice raced in the Indianapolis 500.
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Edward MacDonald is an American professional stock car racing driver. He most recently competed part-time in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2018, a series which he competed in for over a decade and a half. In addition, MacDonald raced numerous times in the American Canadian Tour between 2007 and 2018, and in the PASS North. MacDonald has made starts in all three of NASCAR's national touring series, the K&N Pro Series East, and the Whelen Modified Tour.
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