By Diane Stulga. Photography courtesy of Nancy Hall
In the 1950s everybody in the area, especially at Barnegat High School, was talking about The Manahawkin Speedway — “The Track”. If they weren’t duck hunting, clamming, or on the water they were somewhere working on a hot rod or trying to soup-up the family car. Car racing had come to Manahawkin. The races were loud, dusty, and exciting. Fans didn’t mind the lack of seating; they probably wouldn’t have sat down anyway. They eagerly stood to watch drivers with names like Boots, Bud, Myrtle, and Peanut scream around the track in hand-built hot rods and stock cars. And for a brief moment in time, Manahawkin felt like the center of the car racing universe.
The first Manahawkin Speedway built by Bud Hayes, John Erlin, and other local men was a half-mile oval dirt track built in a gravel pit at a quarry formerly owned by Manahawkin Sand and Gravel. It opened on April 23, 1950. Located across from the Manahawkin Lake on Rt. 72 where the Holiday Inn stands today, it was also known as the Lakeside Speedway, Manahawkin Racetrack, and sometimes called Cox’s Pit, the name of gravel quarry’s former owner.
In 1952, Manahawkin Speedway opened a second racetrack not far from the original gravel track near the area occupied today by Doc Cramer Boulevard shopping plaza. Planned and built by the same group of men, the new track was a one-third mile asphalt paved oval with high banking which allowed the cars to maintain higher speeds around curves without skidding off the track. Lou Macaluso, the founder of The Hot Rod Club, obtained the permits and had the land graded. Once built, the new racetrack was promoted by John Erlin.
John “Bud” Hayes had only recently returned home after World War II where he served in the 4th Armored Division of the United States Army spearheading General Patton’s Third Army in Europe where he’d landed in the second wave at Utah Beach and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and received eight Bronze Stars when he asked his wife, AnnaMae, if he could turn the family car into a stock car for racing. Given the great condition of the vehicle, her response was a resounding no. But Bud was born to build, restore, and race stock cars and hot rods. So, he took that car into the woods for some reconditioning. Afterwards, he repaired all the damage he had done to it, and with that, their family car became his first stock car.
Next Bud bought a car from a friend. In the slang of the day — it was a dog — a slow car. Bud changed out the engine. The car was fast, but the name stuck. Hence the name — The K9. Bud went on to build car number 468, which was driven by local driver Franny Steinmetz, followed by car number 469. Of the cars that Bud built, 469 was the first that he drove.
Over the next ten years, Bud owned, built, and restored approximately thirty cars and raced at numerous tracks. When his son, John Jr., came along he seemed to have inherited his father’s love of racing and talent for building race cars. Always in the garage with Bud, John Jr. could take a motor apart by the time he was five years old. He quickly became a builder of stock cars and hot rods as well as an avid driver, racing at various tracks for around twenty years. Each year he built a new car and restored cars for other drivers. Together, every Sunday Bud and John Jr. had two cars on the track.
On October 29, 1950, Michael “Boots” Zimmerman was a twenty-four-year from Ship Bottom driving a 1934 Ford Coupe, car number 1. That day, at the Manahawkin Speedway, he won five out of nine races including a fifteen-lap main event. Zimmerman was a star at the Manahawkin Speedway. He also drove a car owned by Firman Cummings of Ship Bottom, the grandfather of Dave Michel.
Tom Michel was a veteran of the track. His first car was a 1937 Ford Sedan and his last was a was a Ford Pinto. Tom and his son, Dave Michel, drove race cars for years. Dave drove stock cars at Wall Stadium Speedway.
Other drivers that frequented the tracks at Manahawkin Speedway were Danny DeCamp in car number 104, Jim Mochera in car number105, Al “Peanut” Wardell, Everett Cranmer, John Earlin, Sam Sprague, Myrtle Falkinburg, and Louie Macaluso. These drivers raced at other local tracks throughout the years as well. Some of these were Wall Stadium Speedway, Mt. Holly, Pleasantville, and New Egypt.
In addition to mechanical modifications for speed, the cars were physically altered for safety. Roll bars were installed, windows were removed and replaced with wire. Doors and trunks were welded shut. Drivers had to climb through the side window to enter and exit the cars. The drivers wore helmets and safety belts. During every race, the cars experienced mechanical problems and sustained physical damage from crashes. And people like Bud spent hours in their garages fixing them for the coming week’s races.
Everett “Bub” Gilberson of Cedar Run was a frequent spectator at the tracks. “I was around ten or eleven years old,” recalled Bub. “We stood on the banks and watched the races. The cars were really loud.” Bub’s father, Everett Giberson, owned Giberson Saw Mill in Cedar Run from 1965 to 1995. Sonny Rostein, the son of Giberson’s business partner, Roy Rostein, was a race car driver for years.
Races were held on Sunday afternoons. Usually, there were eight races with six or seven cars in each race. The average speed was 55 to 65 mph. The final race was called the feature race and there was a $25.00 dollar purse for the winner. The feature race consisted of all the qualified winners from each of the races held that day.
During the races Tom Michel’s sister, Lucille Michel Bates-Wickward, currently of of Lucille’s Luncheonette in Warren Grove, and their father sold soda from his truck. The members of the Manahawkin Speedway Girl’s Fan Club attended all the races and cheered on the drivers.
Powder Puff Derbies, featuring only female drivers, came to Manahawkin Speedway when it was operated by John Earlin. Local driver Myrtle Falkinburg was one of the best. After driving car number 67/8 and John Erlin’s car number 7/11 without a win Falkinburg drove Louis Macaluso car number 7 to success twice.
Car racing had come to Manahawkin. And then — almost as quickly as it had arrived — it was gone. Drivers moved on to larger tracks. The first track closed after just two seasons. The second track closed in 1954, two years after it opened. The final races on the high-banked asphalt track were go-cart races in the 1960’s.
Bud Hayes worked as a mechanic in Mt. Holly, New Jersey for many years. In 1965, he moved his family to West Creek. His children, Nancy and John Jr. still live there. In 1974, Bud built a car for Nancy’s husband, Glenn Hall who raced for several years.
Today, it’s difficult to find any physical evidence of the Manahawkin Speedway. The racetracks are gone but the memories of when Manahawkin seemed like the center of the car racing universe remain.
The author wishes to thank Nancy Hall without whom this story would not have been possible for sharing her memories and family history with Echoes. She called it the Manahawkin Racetrack
