Original Board of Directors

The Speedbowl was originally built, owned & operated by a group of six local businessmen: Anthony Albino, Conrad Nassetta, Lawrence Peters, Bill Hoffner (not to be confused with early track announcer Bill Hoffman) and brothers Fred & Frank Benvenuti. It was the Benvenuti’s construction company who excavated the land in the summer of 1950 and built the facility over the next 9 months.

Peters was the first President of New London-Waterford Speedbowl, Inc and like a true Board of Directors, they voted for their positions every year. Conrad Nassetta was the President for 1952, then Fred Benvenuti in 1953. Hoffner and Peters would sell their shares back to the others after the 1953 season, leaving Albino, Nassetta and the Benvenuti brothers as 4 equal partners in the track.

The Speedbowl started out racing under the sanction of the United Stock Car Racing Club, which at the time was the prominent auto racing sanctioning body in southern New England. John Whitehouse was the Race Director in the first season, followed by Rex Records in 1952. In 1955, Records left United to start his own American Auto Racing Club with Speedbowl following under that sanction, but it only lasted for a year. United returned for 2 seasons (1956-1957) with Lou Guiliano as the Race Director, before Whitehouse returned in 1958 as the Race Director under his own Independent Racing Club banner. Dick Jensen was the original flagman, with Loren Card having a long tenure (1955-1971) as the Speedbowl’s flagman. Back then, the flagman waved the initial green flag from the apron of the frontstretch before running across the track and jumping up to the flag stand as the cars went down the backstretch.

They originally opened the track with a crushed blue stone surface, but soon realized it was not a good fan experience with all the dust that kicked up into the grandstand area. After 3 weeks of declining attendance, they closed the track for 2 weeks in order to pave the racing surface with asphalt, leaving the outer strip unpaved as a way to slow cars down before they hit the outside wall (which was built with wooden railroad ties).

The headline division was the Modifieds (original called Sportsman Stocks) and Non-Fords were the supporting class. The Non-Fords actually started as a Claiming Car division from 1951-1952. They also started a 3rd division called Bombers, which was originally treated as a entry-level novice division when it began in 1958.

In the early days, the track supplied their own ambulances and a track doctor was a paid position that was required to be present in order for the race events to be held. The Department of Motor Vehicles also had jurisdiction over auto racing events in Connecticut at the time. This meant that when there were multiple cars in a wreck, it could cause a long delays as DMV officials would have to report the incident by State of Connecticut law before racing could continue.

From 1951-1961, the Speedbowl ran two nights a week. Saturday nights were considered the big money events, while Wednesday night events were largely considered trophy events. Their two weekly divisions ran on both nights, with points accumulated to determine a champion at the end of the year. Many seasons the track would open on Easter Sunday and most holiday weekends during the season they would hold races on both Saturday & Sunday.

The original owners put a lot of effort into attracting fans to their facility, often going to trade shows in New York or Chicago in the off-season to book acts to appear. During this era, in addition to the racing, the Speedbowl held wrestling matches, thrill show events and celebrity appearances by the likes of blindfold magician Kuda Box and actor Clayton Moore, who appeared in character as “The Lone Ranger” whom he played on TV.

Fred Benvenuti and Conrad Nassetta would sell their shares back to the others after the 1960 season, ending the first era of the original New London-Waterford Speedbowl Inc ownership.

OPERATIONAL TENURE AT A GLANCE

OPERATIONAL TENURE	1951-1960
SANCTIONING BODY	1951-1954, 1956-1957 United Stock Car Racing Club
	1955 American Auto Racing Club
	1958-1960 Independent Racing Club
DIVISIONS INTRODUCED	1951 Sportsman Stocks (evolved to Modifieds by 1956)
	1951 Claiming Cars (evolved to Non-Fords in 1953)
REGIONAL SERIES INTRODUCED	1951 AAA Midgets
	1951 ARDC Midgets
	1953 Northeast Midget Association
OTHER NOTABLE CONTRIBUTIONS	Paved the track for the first time in May of 1951