Norwood Arena Speedway was a 1/4-mile oval race track in

Norwood, Massachusetts Norwood is a town and census-designated place in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Norwood is part of the Greater Boston area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 31,611. The town was named after Norwood, England. Norwood is ...

that operated between 1948 and 1972.

History

The track was built in 1948 with the intention of dog racing coupled with parimutuel betting. When gambling was not approved for the county, the plans were scrapped. Despite this setback, the track was converted to auto racing which experienced tremendous growth following the end of the

second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The track held one

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

event in 1961. Besides stock car racing, Norwood Arena Speedway featured midget and sports car racing, drag racing, and other sporting events between 1948 and 1972, when Norwood Arena Speedway closed at the end of stock car racing season. The track hosted a variety of racing divisions during its 25-year run. This track was the most prominent in the Northeast circuit, and gave rise to notable drivers such as Bugsy Stevens, Leo Cleary, George Savary,

Don MacTavish Donald Charles MacTavish (August 22, 1940 – February 22, 1969) was an American race car driver. He died in an accident at Daytona International Speedway. Biography MacTavish was born in Dover, Massachusetts, and started his racing career at th ...

, and

Pete Hamilton Peter Goodwill Hamilton (July 20, 1942 – March 21, 2017) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He competed in NASCAR for six years, where he won four times in his career (including the 1970 Daytona 500), three times driving ...

. MacTavish was an early success and poised for a tremendously successful career until he was tragically killed at Daytona in 1969. Hamilton, a peer of MacTavish and from the same racing clique in Needham, won the 1970 Daytona 500 driving the No. 40 Plymouth Superbird for the

Richard Petty Richard Lee Petty (born July 2, 1937), nicknamed "The King", is an American former stock car racing driver who raced from 1958 to 1992 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notabl ...

Enterprises race team. More information can be found on the Norwood Arena Speedway historic web site www.norwoodarena.com.

In popular culture

The history of the track is covered in a book title by former race car driver Lew Boyd, ''Hot Cars Cool Drivers'', and in a 2014 independent documentary film, ''Norwood Arena Movie''.

References

{{Coord, 42.170173, -71.191656, display=title 1948 establishments in Massachusetts 1972 disestablishments in Massachusetts Motorsport venues in Massachusetts NASCAR tracks