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Track opens on May 23, 1954 under promotion of Curvin "Bud" Bricker. The opener was one week late as it was rained out on the first try. Buzzy Wilson wins the feature that was for the Flathead Stocks that were popular in the area at the time.
It appears the rules opened up sometime in the 1960 season to allow more modified cars to compete at Port Royal and elsewhere. In the early 1960's a second class, the Class A Sportsman cars, were ran at Susquehanna. They were very similar to what was racing at Silver Spring at the time. Around 1963, these cars were dropped in favor of the late models.
In 1966 "Hilly" Rife promoted Susquehanna as a part of his three track circuit. Dorsey MD on Friday, Lincoln on Saturday, and Susquehanna on Sunday.
The main class of cars began getting smaller and smaller in the early 1960's, and eventually Bricker allowed Sprint Cars in 1968.
Will Kreitzer bought the speedway for the 1970 racing season. Will hosted the Silver Spring show of Sportsman and Hobby Stock racing every Sunday with and occasional Sprint Car show.
In 1971, Kreitzer moved the Sprints and Sportsman to Sunday shows. In July of 1971, the Sportsman teams boycotted at Silver Springs which carried over to Susquehanna. After having one week off, Kreitzer brought in the Late Models to replace the Sportsman for the remainder of the season.
Kreitzer sold Susquehanna to Ted Ruth in 1972. Ruth started the season with Sprints and Sportsman, but switched to Late Models as the second class at mid-season.
After the May 13th show in 1973, Ruth closed the track due to an illness within his family. The Speedway sat dormant until 1975 when Ruth tried to race the Sportsman and Hobby Stocks (Limited Late Models), and changed the name to Midway Speedway. It didn't work too well, and Ruth switched to motorcycles for the remainder of the season.
In 1976, Ruth cut back on the motorcycles, and began racing Saturday nights again with the Hobby Stocks as headliners.
Halfway through the 1977 season, Ruth sold the Speedway to Dick Liddick, who continued the same show, but ran four Sprint Car specials on Sunday nights. Liddick also changed the name back to Susquehanna Speedway.
Liddick began the regular Sunday Sprint Car racing in 1978 and continued it until late August of 1981. Liddick dropped the Sprints and went to a program of small block Modifieds. He closed the Speedway after one race of the 1983 season.
Jeff Hartlaub then purchased the Speedway for the 1984 season and started the year off with a Friday program of Sportsman and Limited Late Models. Once again, it didn't work. By midsummer, Hartlaub was racing Sprints again on Sunday evenings with the Sportsman and Limited Late Models alternating as the second class. In 1984, Hartlaub raced the Sprints and Limited Late Models as the regular program with occasional Super Sportsman shows.
In the late 1980's, Alan Kreitzer purchased the Speedway and continued Hartlaub's program until selling the speedway to Big Sprints Promotions for the 1993 season.
Todd Fisher bought the Speedway for the 2004 season, changing the name to Susquehanna Speedway Park. He raced Thursday Sprint Car shows for three years before switching to Saturday Limited Late Model shows.
Scott Gobrecht takes over ownership of Susquehanna Speedway and names Kolten Gouse as General Manager.
Susquehanna Speedway inks landmark five-year naming rights deal with BAPS Auto Paints, changing the track's name to BAPS Motor Speedway.
BAPS Motor Speedway