The Dark History of NASCAR's Most Dangerous Track - Langhorne Speedway 

I was 15 in 1970. Me and a couple buddies snuck into the track and watched from a tree track side. Mario was there and the Uncer Brothers. Awreck happened right below us.

Dad ran there once in a Modified in 1969. During his qualifying his car bounced so violently in turn 1, when it landed it was pointing towards the outside wall. when he began to correct, it bounced again & was pointing in the opposite direction. He let off, discontinued his qualifying attempt, loaded the car & came home. He didn't ever go back.

With the exception of the Indy 500, early auto racing was rarely reported in the newspapers. On my trips to the grocery store with mom, my first stop was at the magazine stand for ""Speed Age" which I was allowed at 35 cents. (A loaf of bread was 13 cents). I learned the tracks and drivers although race results were six weeks after the fact. My hero driver was Jimmy Bryan, master of the mile dirt tacks. Jimmy would always take the checker with both arms in the air!! He was always pictured with an unlit cigar . After winning Indy in 1958 he retired for a time. He returned for a one race appearance at Langhorne in 1960 where he unfortunately died. Langhorne was fascinating, imagine driving in a continuous broadslide at 100 mph for 100 miles. I would have liked to have seen this track.

Play at minimum speed and at 2:03 you can see the Jaguar XK 120 Coupe that was the only foreign car ( pre modern era) to ever win a NASCAR race. That car won at Linden ,NJ in 1954 with Al Keller driving. Car owner was Paul Whiteman the big band leader.

Around 1956 my folks bought a home in Levittown, Pa. Langhorne speedway was about 4 or 5 blocks from the house and when I heard the engines roaring I would walk over to the fence around the track and watch them race. I've loved cars ever since!

I've honestly been waiting to hear a full story about this track! Thanks for making a video about this infamous track!

One of the most infamous stories involving Langhorne involved two racing giants of the late 1950s, Rodger Ward and Jimmy Bryan. By 1960, Ward was the top driver in USAC's championship car series and was driving for Leader Card Racers, the best team in the sport, a team Bobby Unser (who would win an Indianapolis 500 and a championship with Leader Card Racers himself) would later call the Penske Racing of it's day. But Langhorne was such a dangerous track that Ward had refused to race there for several years leading up to 1960. Meanwhile, Jimmy Bryan, who had stepped from championship racing in 1959, decided to return to the championship trail in 1960 and wanted to run the race at Langhorne a few weeks after the Indianapolis 500, and was entered for the race in which he was to lose his life in the car Ward had run most of the races when he won the championship in 1959. After Bryan lost his life, Ward was so upset that he had A.J. Watson build a new car, because he had grown to hate that car because it was the one in which Bryan, arguably the greatest championship driver of his era, was killed at Langhorne. However, Langhorne is a noteworthy track for another reason. Apparently, it was the inspiration behind the 17 degree tri-oval mini-turn at Daytona where the start-finish line is so more fans could see the start and finish of a race, something that was copied at many tracks that have been built since then, either with the tri-oval concept, the quad-oval first used at Charlotte and copied at places like the Texas Motor Speedway, Rockingham, and the 1997 Atlanta redesign, or just a sweeping turn, such as Michigan, Auto Club Speedway, and the old Texas World Speedway had.

Technically, the first track I ever went to - my Mother and Father went to the Champ car race in June of 1965 while my mom was pregnant with me. She told me that I would move around every lap the cars came by the stands. I've been a race fan before I was born.

nascar has a pretty eerie history and subjects like this is why it tops it off

Being a Trenton boy I never made it to langhorne. I did get to see a race at the Trenton Speedway was one of the first when Jim Clark brought in his Lotus, still remember the high pitch that screaming V8 compared to the rumble those four cylinder Offys. Clark made those front engined cars look like they were just out for it quiet Sunday Cruise.

To clarify, and documented nicely in this video by many pictures, Langhorn was NOT an old NASCAR track. NASCAR started running it long after the decades of open wheel racing was there. The "Coupes" and Late Models did put on great shows but, it was designed as an open wheel track, Championship (Indy) cars, Sprint Cars. Thanks for this historic documentation.

I live off Lincoln highway which is next to the old track. Between that Trenton, Flemington and Nazareth there was so much to watch back in the day.

Slick Davis was the first fatality of a driver in a NASCAR race. July 25, 1948 - Greensboro Fairgrounds. There were actually two races sanctioned by NASCAR that day. Columbus Speedway in GA saw Red Byron lose control of his car, which ran into the crowd in turn 3. Some 16 people were injured in accident. A young boy was taken to the hospital where he later died due to his injuries. Two fatalities in one day, Two different tracks.

So my grandfather raced modifieds in the area, never Langhorne, but his employer sponsored a sprint car at Langhorne and he helped them out. Two stories I was always told: first, the track wasnt your typical clay, it was just plain old dirt, and they couldn't keep the dust down, so they would spray waste motor oil on the track (and knowing that, in some of the videos here the track looks awfully greasy). Also, Mario Andretti was considering driving the sprint car my grandfather helped with, and on the night Mario came to see the car/team in action, the driver of it that night was decapitated in a crash. And Mario Andretti never drove the car.

Thanks for this! I was born, raised and worked at my family shop not 2 miles from the old track. While I was born too late to have ever remembered it, as a young kid I always wondered why there were racing themes in the local small businesses, even plumbing services and electricians had the motif on their business cards, logo, and vehicles. It wasn't until my early teens did I learn about the track and that's when it's notoriety and infamy really piqued my interest. Unfortunately for my parents it was also the same time that I received my learner's permit/driving license!

Terrific story! It isn't the same now but early racing used to advertise the danger, proved by deaths. Even the Coney Island steeplechase ride was noted for injuries and deaths -- different times.

I went to this track every year in October from '64 to '70 for the modified open competition 100 lap race. When it was paved it became D shaped with a long straight backstretch.

I always wondered why there weren't any circular ovals (that I knew of), as it seemed like a good idea to me. But Visibility is a good point

i live just down the street from where it was a total of 5 minutes some walls are still there and some of the stands were moved to another dirt track called bridge port nj

Seeing the picture of the green hornet makes you realize how well Pixar did with docs race ending crash. Almost verbatim

I grew up a few miles away from the track in Levittown. We would ride our bikes to the track and climb the billboard on the eastern side and watch the races.

My father always spoke about going there and seeing a fatality once there, after Langhorn closed, we would see the USAC cars at Trenton speedway

i live in langhorne and always wondered about the track. thanks for the video!

This was cool to watch. I've heard stories from my dad nd uncles about it. I grew up 5 minutes from the track but I've only ever seen a shopping center nd car dealerships there. Track was gone before I was born

A full oval/circle flat track would be awesome these days… but nobody would ever build it!!

You showed Jim Reed in one of the pictures. His shop was in Peekskill NY. A mile from were I lived. Awesome

Along with a couple buddies used to make the pilgrimage from Upstate NY through the late '60s to watch the modifieds mostly following a friend, Pete Corey, one of our local racing heroes. Then kids happened and my wanders to distant race tracks ended. Thanks for the history lesson

Besides the Fatal Crashes😢…good Vid ! Thanks for Posting bud

I live right over the river in NJ and I never knew Langhorne had a track. Granted, I was born in 96 so it was likely way before my time

Thanks for covering Langhorne. While nascar is a traditional southern sport NASCAR had a few stops in PA during the early years.

Awesome stories you got. Best regards from Warsaw, POLAND

Looking at Langhorn's round layout, it reminds me of the oval track from Flatout 1. All curves, no straights. Just near/fully constant turning each lap.

I was 4 in 1969. I can still hear Mario Andretti doing practice laps there.

Slick Davis was actually the first NASCAR driver to die in a crash. But a great video nonetheless. Awesome work NFJJ

Langhorne is what people who don't watch NASCAR think every track looks like

Whether it be NASCAR, USAC, or other forms of racing Drivers feared Langhorne.

Was Doc Hudson based off of a blue version Larry Mann's car? The picture of his crash in the movie is almost exactly like the green hornet shown at 3:44

My pap (Gus Linder) and his brother Dick Linder raced here where they started 150 cars in one race!

It was as popular for AAA open wheel. I lot of great drivers lost their lives there! Mike Nazaruk, Jimmy Bryan, and Bobby Marvin to name a few! Historic track.

I'm wondering if the circle concept was copied from the circle race track that was in Corona, Ca in the 1916 to 1918 time I believe, or it may have been in the 1920s. The circle track in Corona is now Grand Blvd. and the City of Corona in referred to as the Circle City.

Racing was a lot more dangerous back then. The amount of deaths at that track isn't as unusual as one might think for the time period. That is an amazing track. Would like to see it in action again. With safe barriers and modern tech of course.

I was born in 1958 and lived in Levittown, PA which is about 15mins away from the track. I saw quite a few races there with my 'dad. I remember the track well and the fun we had. Thanks for the memories.

This video understates the current concern around the Next Gen car and safety. We've had the largest amount of drivers in modern history either voice concerns or exit their rides for a period of time in modern NASCAR history than ever before. It needs more attention.

Fascinating and terrible part of auto racing history n US. Wasn't aware of this track. Thx for telling us about it.

I despise everything about the last 2 decades of nas-car. And yes I honestly built engines for the series. Thanks for this story, it was truly interesting. 🇺🇸💪🇺🇸

2:57 see a lot of doc hudson inspiration in there. From the crash to the decals on the car that bumps into the rollover vehicle.

Arizona resident Jimmy Bryan who won the 1958 Indy 500 was killed here June 19, 1960 just three weeks after Indy.

My dad used to take me here to watch nascar there .i remember Fireball Robert's racing when I was a kid WOW

Me while listening to the casualty report for Langhorne: "Yeesh, 18 drivers. One Hell of a track." "Five motorcycle riders? Why would you race a motorcycle there? That's vehicle-assisted suicide." "Three spectators... goddamn, I just hope it wasn't as bad as Le Mans in 1955." *"WAIT, THEY EVEN GOT THE FLAGMAN?! SHUT THE DAMN PLACE DOWN, NO ONE IS SAFE!"*

I wonder if anyone would try to build a complete circle track like Langhorn but with modern safety barriers and the like. Would be interesting.

First time viewer here. Nice job. Got a subscriber. Love the vintage pics. My father been to langhorne too

Looks like it'd be a fun track to attend and race on. Thanks for the video.

Strange how Green is a color that's been used by most of the field for the past 30 years now Never knew it was bad luck

The track was about 10mins or so down the road from me, unfortunately the only it has to show for is a little plaque saying it existed (which wasn't even put up until 2006) not many people in locally except for the people who were actually alive when it was around really seem to know it was ever there, it's currently an auto mall/sam's club, there's a little test track in one of the dealers complexes that I always thought would be cool to host autocross or drift events at but it's in pretty bad shape I don't think it's been used for a long time. I like to fantasize that if it was never torn down it would have been renovated and turned into a road course somehow

Early days of NASCAR had little safety at tracks and it was exciting as cars were not "corporate" funded and big money they were shade tree mechanics. Some versions of this ran up to the late 1960's. I raced a a number of small tracks in the Sportsman's class. Today I could care less about the same mobiles that look nothing like the showroom cars.

Very tastefully done. Thanks for NOT including video of any fatalities, or images. Some of them were not pretty.

In regards to the green car superstition, it very much still exists. Some people don't believe it as much as others but it is still a very common thing at the short track scene. My family won't even wear green clothing on race day, and if the wrist bands are green we will tape over it with whatever color tape we can get

very interesting, i would LOVE to have watched a race there, from higher up in the stands.

Was pretty young when i went, but recall a drag strip in the center of the track. Also recall a tunnel. You drve under the track to park in the infield.

Langhorne was also the town that had one of the first multbrand car/truck dealerships but especially Chevorlets, Reedman, now known as Reedman-Toll. I recall ads for then in the 1960's and into the 1970's in the NYC and NJ Sunday newspapers, including ads for used cars for less than $100. Many went in NYC, NJ, all over PA to them due to the large inventory they had. I do remember them racing USAC there around the time of the last races, seeing them on ABC's 'Wide World of Sports'.

Great History of Racing... Thanks for Sharing

Dad Raced Open Cockpit Cars.....several clubs and he Raced NASCAR 56-57 in the #756

We drove down from Scranton to watch races in the late 60's. Reedman's was right across the street (rt 1)

Hard to believe they didn't just reconfigure the track since the attendance was so good. I love dover and Pocono but it would have been great to have a 1/2 mile or 3/4 mile track north of philly back in the 70s, 80s, 90s.

i remember my dad and i driving past on one of the race days in 69 or 70. there's a ford dealership, a big box store and a restaurant supply there now. how about trenton fair grounds/speedway?

At one time the chance of fatality was the latent attraction to some types of motorsports ! Even today people scan through races on dvrs just to see the crashes ! Always the BIG ONE is what they watch for! Personally i do look for the incedents but i enjoy the competetion too! !

thanks for the video. I went to the last race there, and after it closed, I learned how to drive on the track

The last race was held in oct 71 with the modifiers. Won by Roger Treichler

Great video, I attended many events there,me & my father, on dirt & after it got paved , close friend, Nick Duino,'son. From New Brunswick NJ.was killed there in turn One,flipping very violently,after his son'death, they rebuilt it, & went on to race again , & winning, RED # 55driven by. Wally Dallenbach..Gig Stephens.,Tony Romit..

I went to IndyCar races there and Trenton growing up. The Big Left Turn.

And that's exactly why the Isle of Man TT is the pinnacle of motorsports.

Excellent video. Thanks.

Run the outside and be safer and slower or run the inside and get closer to death. Wild track. Cool video.

I started shooting NASCAR in 1989 for UPI, and safety was just beginning to be talked about. As with most things, however, it took the tragedy of Dale Earnhardt's death for racing in general - and NASCAR in particular - to get serious about driver safety. They mandated the HANS device, and began installing SAFER barriers at all the tracks. NASCAR put roof and hood flaps on the cars to lessen the chance of cars getting airborne, ordered restrictor plates be used at Daytona and Talladega, and have moved the driver's position more toward the center of the vehicle. NASCAR is light-years more safe than it was just 20 years ago.

Always considered Langhorn an sprint and indycar track. Never remember Nascar going there much in the '60s because all the races broadcast from Langhorn here on the west coast were Champ cars with Foyt and the Unsers along with the rest of the Indy crowd. I never realized it was a complete circle though. The start finish line straight was lets say less of a turn than the rest of the track so it appeared as a straight.

The crash of 29 had something to do with almost going bankrupt I'm sure

AJ Foyt’s favorite track.

Honestly it seems like the unsafe cars are what killed them the track could have been made safe seems like the first track to get scapegoated and certainly not the last

I believe one of those grandstands is still at Bridgeport, no longer in use. But don’t quote me on that.

😳😳😳 Smooth Pocono

Cool video! There is Ford dealership built on the location of this speedway today

Great content! Thanks for presenting this!

I'm sorry to say I'm old enough to remember the good old days 😊

Wish Langhorne was still around cause I could have worked there and I would only be 15 minutes from a race track instead of an hour and a half-two hours away.

This makes today’s racing seem kind of sterile…maybe it’s nostalgia, but this just felt more real to me…even the accidents seem predictable today

Very interesting history of a track I never knew about.

It would be amazing to see a track like this in NASCAR today!

surprised no one ever mention this at fox when it comes to dangerous tracks for they always hype of the restrictor plate tracks and Darlington as dangerous tracks!

Wow.. great program... never made it to Langhorne. but, I did go to reading fairgrounds.

when they are referring to career ending injuries they actually are saying amputated limbs

Great video thanks for sharing !!

solid work, informative, loved it. Opt-for a better mic? suggestion, SM58, Another suggestion, mic shield to fix reverb.

I Remember Racing with my Father At This Track......I was just a child but my Father Lost one of his friends here.

its interesting that from an early time there seemed to be concern in some quarters about fatalities in American racing. It seemed to be quite the opposite in European racing as when you read reports from the time death seemed to be embraced as part of the sport. Motorsport magazines report of the 1957 Mille Miglia doesn't even mention the death of spectators, and the readers letter in the following months edition actually blames the spectators for their own deaths for not having the sense to stand in a safe place.

My Dad always told me that it was bad luck to own a green car. He said they always got hit because other drivers have a hard time seeing them, especially in wooded or tree-lined areas. They blend in with the background.

Hey bro, you definitely have the voice and the delivery. You have alot of potential .

I live in langhourne these stories are legends around here

I went to numerous races (is was in walking distance to Levittown), but it was the introduction of Demolition Derby(!) that drew me and my buddies to the track.... we had a ball at those events at the track.

I didn't expect to get Cars lore in this video

And then there's bubba trying to put someone in the hospital and then trying to play it off like the punk he really is...