Norwood Arena Reunion
June 4, 2006
The weather may have been gray and cool but nothing dampened the spirits of the drivers, fans, owners, mechanics and officials that attended the Norwood Arena Reunion held at Bezema's Buick - Pontiac - GMC in Norwood. Once again, the famous Route Dealership was the perfect location to fire up some old modifieds and visit with old friends. A few of the drivers that I spotted this year included Dave Dion, Pete Hamilton, Marty Bezema, Don McCullough, Leo Cleary, Bill Slater, Lew Boyd, Bob Sprague, Pete DesJardins, Bill Harmon, Jerry Capozzoli, Doug McCarthy, Rick Ribeiro, George Summers, Jim Darlington, George Savary and Bugs Stevens to name a few. The word on the street is that the 2007 Reunion is penciled in at Bezema's for next June. Thanks to J.C. Crossley for staffing the Norwood Arena.Com table so I could take the following photos. Photos By: Norwood Arena.Com
The Norwood Arena.Com table was a popular gathering place all day as Norwood race videos (1967 > 1972) played on one screen while the web site and photo library was viewed on the other. In the back of this pack are Marty and Eric Bezema (black T-shirts) talking with Dave Dion. Marty and Dave raced each other in the Late Model Sportsman Division at Norwood Arena. Toward the front in the blue shirt is the son of driver Mike Terrio. He shared his dad's scrap book with a group of interested folks. Mike passed away a few years ago. Many scrap books and stories were shared on this day.
The Norwood Arena race videos attracted a crowd all day. One comment heard was "I never thought I would see cars turning laps at Norwood Arena again!" Driver Jerry Capozzoli (ESPN shirt) watches the videos. Jerry's #41 VW Mini Stock is in a few clips. Jerry won the 1972 Mini Stock Track Championship.
The Norwood Arena web site was also a popular gathering place to look through the different driver pages and photos.
The #69 Worcester Sand & Gravel NEAR clone of the car that Fats Caruso and Pete Hamilton made famous. When this car fired up the motor the sounds and smell brought many back to the good old days when 24 of these cars started the feature event.
You expected to see Ed Flemke step out of Charlie Lima's 2x. The 2x and Flemke were feared all along the east coast along with the other bandits.
Skip Stearns 7x coupe stands ready to turn a few laps.
Lew Boyd and the Coastal 181 staff do business at the Reunion. They have some great books on New England racing. There are books on Norwood Arena and many of the drivers that raced there. Lew also knows racing from the driver's point of view having turned laps himself at Norwood Arena and other area tracks. Check out Coastal 181 at http://www.coastal181.com
Pete Hamilton is interviewed by Bob MacKinnon for Weekend Thunder on sports radio 1510. Pete started out at Norwood Arena (see his CARS & DRIVERS web page) and went on to win the Daytona 500 and several other big Grand National (now Nextel Cup) races.
LEFT > RIGHT - Don McCullough, Leo Cleary and Bill Harmon catch up on things. Leo is sporting the blue and yellow jacket from the #41 car that he drove.
The future of racing has a very different face. She is Emily Santor and she gets around the track very well. With the right training, skill and equipment we could be looking at the start of another long career in New England motorsports. Perhaps even a future Daytona 500 winner!
Former Norwood Arena Late Model Sportsman champ Dave Dion (center) chats with the team from the Weekend Thunder radio program. If you have not read the book on the Dion brothers you are missing perhaps the most honest book ever written on a driver, his family and his friends. It's available from Coastal 181.
The Rene Charland # 3 (owned by Rich Cail) is parked next to the # 21 Vega wagon of George Savary (owned by Mark Alden). Charland turned many laps at Norwood Arena over the years. The # 21 Vega is from the era just after Norwood Arena closed.