Riverhead Raceway

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Riverhead Raceway is a race track built in 1949, opened on May 30, 1952, and located in Riverhead, New York. According to Marty Himes, auto racing historian and founder of the Himes Museum of Motor Racing Nostalgia in Bay Shore, John Evers and Harry Rambo purchased the land, which was originally swampland. With the help of Harold G. Seaman of Riverhead and others, they cleared it of trees and filled in the swamp. The Riverhead Raceway opened as a 1/5 of a mile, high bank clay track, made with clay trucked in from Greenport. A local driver, Ronnie Matson, won the new raceway’s first event. It is the only raceway remaining in Long Island since Islip Speedway closed down in 1984. The track is a high-banked, asphalt oval a quarter mile around. It also features a Figure 8 course. The Modified division of Riverhead Raceway is part of the Dodge Weekly Series and the Whelen Modified Tour, which features racer Bill Park (from Manorville),^[1] whose nephew is Steve Park. Steve, an East Northport native, also used to race at Riverhead Raceway in is younger years. Another notable drivers that raced at Riverhead Raceway include Charlie Jarzombek and Brett Bodine.