NASCAR History: The Good Old Days, Pennsylvania Style

(NOTE: This is another in a series of posts on the “Good Old Days” of NASCAR, this week's entry centers on the state of Pennsylvania, site of this week's Sprint Cup event at Pocono International Raceway.)

While Pennsylvania has been featured in NASCAR's recent and modern history with events held at Pocono International Raceway since 1974, the state's NASCAR roots go back to the sanctioning body's earliest days.

Heidelberg Raceway in Pittsburgh has the honor of holding the first NASCAR event: a Strictly Stock race in October 1949. Lee Petty recorded his first NASCAR Strictly Stock victory in the 100-mile, 200-lap race. Sara Christian finished fifth, the best finish ever for a female driver in NASCAR's premier stock car racing division.

Christian, an Atlanta housewife, was also among the 33 starters in the inaugural NASCAR Strictly Stock race at Charlotte held earlier that year. Heidelberg held additional events in 1951, 1959 and 1960. Herb Thomas, Jim Reed and Lee Petty respectively, won those events.

The dirt half-mile also held a single Convertible Series event in 1956 that was won by Joe Weatherly.

Langhorne Speedway (Langhorne, Pa.) is perhaps the most famous with arguably the most colorful history of the old NASCAR tracks in the state having run sanctioned events continuously, starting with the Strictly Stock division, then Grand National from 1949 until 1957 with two Convertible events in '56-'57.

The track's unique circular layout earned Langhorne the name "The Big Left Turn" and features a virtual who's who of NASCAR's greatest drivers having won on the 1-mile dirt.

Dick Rathmann led all the way to win the International 200 at Langhorne Speedway in June 1953. It was the first NASCAR event open to both domestic and foreign cars. Lloyd Shaw won the pole in a Jaguar but faded to a 23rd place finish.

The top foreign made entry was a '53 Jaguar driven by Dick Allwine in sixth place with a pair of Porsches finishing eighth and ninth. The most unusual entry was wheeled home by Dick Hagey to 19th after starting his Volkswagen in 32nd.

Another oddity at Langhorne was a win by Tom Cherry in June 1952. Cherry won a 100-mile NASCAR Speedway Division race at Langhorne, the final event staged for the then new open-wheel class. A paralyzing nationwide steel strike and a blisteringly hot summer are factors in the early demise of the once-promising NASCAR series.

The first event of the Speedway Division the preceding month at Darlington was won by Buck Baker in a Cadillac-powered open-wheel car in the 200-mile event.

Dick Rathmann prevailed in the accompanying 100-mile NASCAR Grand National race, which was added to the program to boost attendance. Baker eventually ended the '52 season as the Speedway Division champion.

Lincoln Speedway (New Oxford, Pa.) still operates today with a program that features one classes of Sprint Cars and a 358 Late Model class. Lincoln's NASCAR history dates to June 1955 in a 100-mile event won by Junior Johnson.

The win was his second career win after capturing his first NASCAR Grand National victory at Hickory Speedway in North Carolina the preceding month.

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