'The most treacherous track ever': The 20th century legacy of the Langhorne Speedway

I’ve written four books about American submarine captains who pushed the limits. Prior to that, I pushed a few limits myself making 54 dives into subterranean springs of Florida and Georgia to test cutting-edge equipment, develop new techniques and map the unknown to depths of 200 feet. I was very safety conscious and aware of my limits in an exceedingly dangerous avocation.

Because of all this, I’m attracted to stories like that of Bucks County’s “Puke Hollow”. There at the legendary Langhorne Speedway, pushing the limits was expected. The dirt track personified the ultimate danger in pursuit of speed records for much of the 20th century.

Bobby Unser, who won the Indianapolis 500 three times, shuddered recalling his experience. “Langhorne was the kind of place where, the bigger your huevos, the faster you went. I raced all over the world, and that was the most dangerous, most treacherous, most murderous track there ever was. Nobody liked it, and the ones who said they did were lying.”  Nearly two dozen racecar drivers perished. Many others were maimed or burned in fiery crashes. A dozen motorcycle riders, flaggers and spectators died.

Racecar aficionados from Philadelphia built the track in 1926 down the hill from Langhorne near the intersection of Lincoln Highway and Woodbourne Road in Middletown. A state historical marker fronting a Fred Beans Ford dealership at the intersection memorializes the track.

Langhorne Speedway was a mile-long, perfect circle that drivers called “The Big Left Turn”. It also was called “Puke Hollow”, a moniker that stuck when a driver was overcome by heat, humidity, dust, bumps, and fumes. A grandstand spectator shouted, “He’s throwing up there in Puke Hollow!”

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The track revolutionized racing with its Champ racecars, distinguished by wheels that extended outside the body of the single-seat machines. Today they’re known as Formula 1 racecars. In the 1930s, Champ Cars could achieve more than 100 mph which was astonishing on a dirt track. Great speed, oily spray, “washboard” bumps and ruts that could snag wheels caused aerial wrecks and barrel rolls. Dust draped the cars and obscured vision. “When the race was over,” said Johnny Rutherford, “you just threw your uniform away.”

Negotiating typical 50-lap races without a straight section was extraordinarily difficult. Famed driver Mario Andretti said this about his Langhorne debut in 1964: “I hardly slept the night before. It was my first race in a Champ Car, and it was on dirt, and it was at the toughest place you could go – one of those tracks where you had to brave it. I felt like I was going into battle. We put electric tape on my steering wheel so I could grip it better. My right hand was like hamburger when I got finished. I was wearing thin leather gloves, and I had blisters out the wazoo.” He finished 9^th.

As a safety move in the 1960s, track owners Irv Fried and Al Berber paved the track with asphalt and installed a small straight section, giving the course a “D” shape. Horrific accidents still occurred but no deaths. Fans continued to pack the grandstands. The deafening roar of the racecars filled the air over Levittown’s Elmwood Terrace and Highland Park neighborhoods crowding the backside of the track.  More than 26,000 fans in 1970 witnessed Unser setting a speed record of 129.483 mph.

The asphalt became a detriment to modern racecars with rear-mounted engines. G-forces caused frequent crashes into barrier walls. Racing ended in 1971 when the track was sold for a K-mart shopping center. Only memories survive. As A.J. Foyt put it, “That was a track that separated the men from the boys. On the list of toughest tracks to run, you’d have to put it at Number 1.”

Sources include “The Legend of Puke Hollow: Remembering Langhorne Speedway” by Preston Lerner published on Apr. 22, 2014 in Motor Trend magazine, and “Langhorne! No Man’s Land” by L. Spencer Riggs published in 2008.

Carl LaVO can be reached at carllavo0@gmail.com. Carl is the author of “Back from the Deep”, “Slade Cutter: Submarine Warrior”, “The Galloping Ghost” and “Pushing the Limits” published by the Naval Institute Press. In his college years, he attended NHRA Gatornational dragstrip races in Gainesville.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: The legacy of the Langhorne Speedway, 'the most treacherous track ever'