The Catskill Chronicle

Legends are an increasingly popular form of motor racing.

Story and photos by Ted Waddell

KAUNEONGA LAKE – It’s all over for 2009, but Dave and Joanne Rocket, promoters of oval track racing events at Bethel Motor Speedway, are already fueling up for next season.

The ¼ mile oval track was constructed in 1959 and opened up for racing as a dirt track on May 31, 1960 until it was paved in asphalt in 1962.

A pit crew prepares a street stocker by fine-tuning the thundering V-8.

Over the years, the track operated under several names: Sullivan County Speedway, Kauneonga Speedway (until 2004), Catskill Mountain Speedway 2005-06 (under Michelle Gannon), White Lake Speedway until the end of the ’06 season, and starting in 2008 Bethel Motor Speedway.

The local track was dark in 2007 until it was acquired by Fred Graf Racing, LLC and reopened under its new owners as the Bethel Motor Speedway on August 9, 2008. The Rockets, who promoted races at the semi-banked oval track speedway from 1998 – 2004, returned as promoters.

In 2007, new promoters, planning to run the track as Bethel Motorsports Park, hit a speed bump when they failed to get a green light from the town to hold races on Sunday afternoons.

In a sense, Bethel Motor Speedway is racing throwback, as it’s one of the few remaining oval tracks in a land that once hosted hundreds of similar speedways, but the Rockets, drivers and motor racing fans refuse to let
up on the gas.

During the racing season, the weekly racing schedule at Bethel Motor Speedway includes several divisions: Sportsman, BMS modified, Pro Stock, Street Stock and 4-Cylinder (junior and senior).

A few last minute suspension adjustments on a modified.

INEX-sanctioned Legends and Bandoleros make frequent appearances, and in addition the speedway hosts a limited number of racing events for vintage dirt modifieds, AllStar race trucks, and American Three Quarter Midget Racing Association (ATQMRA) midgets.

INEX is the international sanctioning body of the Legends, Bandolero and Thunder Roadster Cars. Formed in 1995, INEX was developed to promote, organize and sanction Legends Car, Bandolero and Thunder Roadster racing across the United States, Canada and Europe.

The real heart of any race track is down in the pits, as a lot of races are won or lost by how well a car is prepared.

Pro stockers in the staging lane before going out on the fast track.

Bethel Motor Speedway is right on track, as hours before the first fast lap and subsequent series of races on the asphalt, crews work to get their driver’s rides geared up for the wheel-to-wheel competition, from fine-tuning the big V-8’s, checking tire pressures and tweaking suspensions.

For information about BMS call 845-778-3839, www.bethelmotorspeedway.com, or email bethelmotorspeed@cs.com .

*This is the first story in a series on the Bethel Motor Speedway. Be sure to check back for future stories, both here, on our main page, and in the Chronicle’s Sullivan Sports Snapshots. 

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