Silver Spring Speedway History

It started on a Wednesday night in 1954 ...
and almost ended after just a few weeks.

More than 50 years later, Silver Spring Speedway stood
as one of the most popular destinations in central
Pennsylvania for race enthusiasts.

Ground was broken in the fall of 1953, on the 3/8 mile semi-banked clay
oval after the Penn-Mar Racing Club approached Cumberland County
businessman Ray Garver Sr. about building an auto track for the club.
By the following summer, the new speedway was ready for action.

The club intended to offer a regular schedule of Wednesday night races.
But, that strategy was changed after just one event, with the action
moving to Saturdays. A few shows later, feeling it had a less than
spectacular debut, the club abandoned Silver Spring Speedway.
After the 1954 season Ray Garver, a successful market operator,
hired W.A. Kreitzer Jr. as speedway manager.

Silver Spring’s track off the Carlisle Pike, north of Mechanicsburg,
featured the Super Sportsman division, probably the most loyally
followed class in the mid-state. The jalopies that were raced in the
early days gave way to the stock car in 1962 and evolved into the
Sportsman cars. The Sportsmans were allowed to have overhead
cam engines starting in 1969, and in 1978 saw the introduction
of torsion bar suspensions to the division, the cars of today feature
an open cockpit like the sprinters, but have less power. They use
carburetors, clutches, and starters unlike the sprinters.

The division during their running at track was the most competitive
of any, with an average of 50 cars vying for the 26 spots in a
regular 25-lap feature. The sportsman became so poplar that a
touring division was formed in 1986, giving the teams the chance
to race at other local tracks. Also, in 1962, a new class, the Hobby
Division, was formed. A car could be claimed for $129. The Hobby
cars were renamed Early Modifieds in 1973 and progressed into
the Limited Late Models. 1982 saw the start of the Street Stock
division. The track also would hold other types of racing (Go-Karts,
410/358 Sprints, Midgets, Micro Sprint, 4 cyl. Cars and others).

Many drivers raced at Silver Spring Speedway, with some families
having brothers, cousins, uncles nephews, dads, sons and even
daughters racing over the years. When talking to people that have gone
to the track one thing keeps coming up. They say they remember
this and that. People remember Alan Kreitzer and Howie Locke,
just as kids playing with their little cars in the dirt.

The same story can be said years later about little Jake Jones.
He would be found in the dirt playing with his cars. When he got
older he also raced at Silver Spring Speedway. Almost every Saturday
1 or 2 little kids would be in front of the stands playing with their cars.
As time changed it was not just the boys making small race tracks
in the dirt. The girls had to help. Was this were our drivers came from?
One of the long standing rules at the track was no woman were
allowed in the pits. Well that gave way with time, and you would
see mothers, wives, and sisters working on the race cars.
There were also female drivers that have raced at the spring’s.
It was a family track that always felt like home to a lot of race teams.

From 1954 to 2005 Silver Spring Speedway ran over 2500 feature
events with 120 track champions and 20 sportsman tour
champions crowned. The most feature wins for each division of car are:

Sportsman Gary Wolford 86 wins

Limited Late Models Ed Jones 61 wins

Street Stocks Richie Hughes 36 wins

[1954 Results]

Starting in 1975 the track held the first annual ”Sportsman 100”
And the winner of the race was Fred Putney. At the 31st annual
“Sportsman 100” in 2005, Dave Calaman was the winner.

Then in 1976 we saw the “Late Model 50” begin.
Its first winner was Don Comerer.
Later named the Paul Orendo Memorial Late model 50,
was won by Carl Billet in 2005.

1995 was the start of the “Street Stock 40”. The first winner was
Dan Cline and the winner in 2005 was Wes Alleman.

The track also hosted many special races for other types of
racing over the years. These races varied from the BIG ONE for Go-karts
to one of the yearly shows for the 410 sprints PA SPEEDWEEK.
The BIG ONE was a 1 day event at the end of the season that would
start at 8:00am and run well into the late night with over 500 competitors.

A fan favorite, The PA SPEEDWEEK show featured the very
fast 410 winged Sprint cars on the tight 3/8^th mile track.
The final Speedweek show at the track was won by Lance Dewease on June 29^th 2005.
The first ever sprint car race was won by Lynn Paxton in 1971.
The fastest ever lap was turned by Lucas Wolf in 2005.

For 50+ years from early March to late September on
Saturday nights, Silver Spring Speedway was all about friends,
family and the best auto racing in the area.

The Silver Spring Speedway was also a fan friendly track.
After the races, the pits were opened up for the fans to go
meet the drivers and their race teams. The teams got a big
kick out of the people coming down that it eventually turned
into a big cook-out. This would sometimes go on till the early
morning hours with some of the people waiting for the flea market
to open on Sunday morning. Also one of the race team’s favorite
events was the big wheel/ bike races for the kids. While the kids
raced down the front stretch, the drivers and race teams would
line the inside wall to cheer on the kids. It was a role reversal of
sort for the kids and drivers. From powder puff races, mechanics
races, to the holiday fireworks, the Silver Spring Speedway was
a place for the whole family. In September 2002, Mike and
Theresa Stoner said "I do" at the track in front of a crowd of
15,000, during the Sportsman 100.