Langhorne Speedway: the fearsome track that spooked Mario Andretti

Langhorne, a one-mile dirt track speedway in Pennsylvania, was a place that drivers both feared and respected, the ultimate challenge for the bravest of the brave.

“No circuit scared me,” said Mario Andretti, “but Langhorne was a spooky place. I saw so many drivers killed there. Even now I get goosebumps when I think about racing there.”

Langhorne Speedway

First car race 1926
Last car race 1971
Lap record 28.067sec, Mario Andretti, STP Brawner, 1969

The track opened in 1926, built on marshland about 15 miles north of Philadelphia by a band of racing enthusiasts known as the National Motor Racing Association. Unlike most speedways it was not an oval but almost a circle of left-hand turns, the track becoming known as the ‘Big Left Turn’.

From 1956-70 USAC brought open-wheel races to Langhorne and this was the track’s finest era with all the big-name drivers like AJ Foyt, Andretti, Al Unser and Parnelli Jones establishing their reputations on this demanding speedway.

In 1965 it was re-shaped into a ‘D’ configuration with a straight and the original dirt track was paved, eliminating the notorious ‘Puke Hollow’ at Turn 2, so named because of the deep ruts that would form in the dirt surface causing the cars to jump clear of the track. It was now a safer and faster place.

“They ruined it when they paved the track,” was Foyt’s reaction to the changes. By the time Langhorne was closed 18 drivers and five motorcycle riders had died at the circuit and USAC racers were refusing to compete there, considering the track too dangerous. In 1971 the drivers voted to boycott Langhorne and the USAC races were cancelled.

There is no trace now of this legendary old-school track, the land covered by a shopping mall. Only the memories keep the Langhorne story alive. Ask any of the old boys in Gasoline Alley.

Visit Motor Sport’s online database to see details on racing circuits past and present.

My top 3 tracks

Derek Bell

• ELKHART LAKE is the most unforgiving high-speed track in the US, to be respected with its long straights and fast, bumpy corners. Not a place to go off the road. I won the 500 there in 1979, in a BMW 320i with David Hobbs and with Holbert’s Porsche 962 in 1984.
• SPA – the original track required some courage, especially on my first time in a sports car there, in 1970, in Jacques Swaters’ Ferrari 512 S. In 1971 I put the Porsche 917 on pole at Spa, at 161mph over the lap. I must have been crazy. What a track it was and still is.
• NÜRBURGRING – a demanding and dramatic track, so many corners. I don’t think I ever drove the perfect lap there. In F2 I was leading when the engine blew; then in the 1000Kms I was leading in a Mirage on the last lap when the engine blew so I never won at the ’Ring.