HOLYOKE, Mass. — The landmark 25th New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame class was announced on July 23.
Inductees will formally join the NEAR Hall of Fame on Sunday, Nov. 5, at the Log Cabin-Delaney House in Holyoke, Mass. A wide-ranging group of drivers and car owners will join the NEAR Hall of Fame, raising the total to over 275 members enshrined.
Brad Leighton, Ted Marsh, Mike Ordway Sr., Andy Santerre, John Stygar and Mike Weeden will be joined in the Hall of Fame, along with Veterans Committee inductees Al Hammond and Joe Howard.
Leighton was quick from the start, winning in his second start at the Nor-Way Pines (now Legion) Speedway at age 18.
The Center Harbor, N.H., native won often at Lee USA Speedway, Oxford Plains Speedway and Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, where he was the 1990 Limited Sportsman champion. He graduated to the American-Canadian Tour, taking the 1995 championship, and was later the NASCAR Busch North Series champion in 1999 and 2000.
He mastered the “Magic Mile” at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, winning at the facility eight times.
Old Lyme, Conn.’s Marsh spent a half-century as a prominent team owner in a variety of motorsport disciplines including local stock cars and internationally famous sports car road racers. His roster of drivers included Boris Said, Billy Harman, Ted Christopher, Rick Fuller, Sonny Whelen, Ken Bouchard, Steve Park, Andy Santerre and Ryan Preece, among others.
His teams won an SK Modified championship at the New London-Waterford Speedbowl, SCCA World Challenge Series championships and high-profile NASCAR Busch North Series races.
Ordway Sr. made a name for himself in open-wheel supermodifieds, running from his Fremont, N.H., home to victory lanes from Florida to the Canadian Maritimes. Ordway started at Star Speedway, winning the 1984 track championship before heading 400 miles west to became an elite driver at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway.
There, he won the 1991 track championship, the 2003 International Classic and racked up 30 wins. He was also a star on the International Supermodified Association (ISMA) tour, winning 36 races and championships in 1995 and ’98 during the tour’s most competitive era.
Santerre came from his “Downeast Maine” hometown of Cherryfield to produce a great stock car career.
He started at Speedway 95 and grabbed the 1990 Super Street championship before winning eight open-competition Pro Stock races around the state in 1992. He won NASCAR Busch North Series Rookie of the Year honors in 1993 and was later hired to move south to race in the NASCAR Busch (Xfinity) Series.
After a devastating leg injury at Daytona in 1999, he rebounded to win at Pikes Peak International Raceway. He returned to Busch North in 2002, winning a record four consecutive championships before becoming a successful car owner and team manager.
Manchester, Conn.’s Stygar was instrumental in the growth of NASCAR’s Modified division in the early 1960s.
Fielding a popular coupe-bodied car with a dollar sign on the doors instead of a traditional number, Stygar and his driver, Ed Flemke, were a force everywhere they went — especially in the south.
Along with fellow New Englanders Denny Zimmerman, Rene Charland, and Red Foote, the “Eastern Bandits” dominated at tracks in New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas for three seasons in 1961-63, while also moonlighting occasionally in New England and New York.
After a few years of limited activity, Stygar returned full-bore in the 1970s to win more up north with Flemke, Ron Bouchard and Bugs Stevens in his cars.
Weeden began to open eyes in racing in 1977.
The Haverhill, Mass., native built his own engine, chassis, and suspension and he drove it to the modified track championship at Westboro Speedway. After battling competitively with the likes of NASCAR Hall of Famers Richie Evans and Jerry Cook, he moved to full-fender pro stocks and late models.
He won races on the NASCAR North Tour, NASCAR Busch North Series and the American-Canadian Tour, while also winning championships at Star, Lee USA, Oxford Plains and Thompson Speedways. In 1995 alone, he won titles at Star, Lee and Thompson — all with the same car and engine.
South Paris, Maine’s Hammond became legendary at the nearby Oxford Plains Speedway, racing there for nearly a half-century in the black-and-gold No. 1 cars. Hammond’s longevity was as much his trademark as his ability; his first win came in 1965, and his final win was some 41 years later in 2006.
He won championships in the track’s top-level sportsman division in 1970, ’73 and ’74, as well as the prestigious Triple Crown title in 1968, ’70 and ’75. Hammond passed away in 2014.
Howard won a championship in his first season of racing, taking the Novice title in 1970 at Westboro Speedway with a homebuilt Ford engine racing against mostly Chevrolets.
The Worcester, Mass., racer then moved to Riverside Park Speedway, winning a pair of crowns in the Grand American class. In 1979, he was the small block modified champion at Thompson Speedway, beating NEAR Hall of Famers George Savary and Ron Bouchard. His career was cut short by a bad crash in 1982, but not before more than 50 feature wins in just a dozen years of racing.
The New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame held its first induction ceremony in 1998.