Jerry Fried
A dapper promoter and showman, Jerry Fried (1916-1989) of Easton, Pennsylvania, came from a world far removed from dirt-track automobile racing. But the Bronx, New York-born Fried knew the importance of operating a popular entertainment business and he took the lessons that he learned as a ballroom-dancing impresario and for 35 years (1952-1987) made the old half-mile dirt Nazareth (Pa.) Raceway a major attraction for Modified stock-car racing.
Fried loved the color, music and excitement of the ballroom-dancing business. Prior to World War II he ran the Bronx’s Cylvanties Ballroom and after he returned from military service he managed New York’s Park Terrace Ballroom and added catering services there, as well.
This, though, was a far cry from what Fried – who had never seen an auto race – had on his plate when he took over the management of the Nazareth Fairgrounds in 1952. But he liked what he got involved with so much that when the group that bought the facility went into bankruptcy at the end of the year, he made a successful effort to rent the place.
Fried – who would eventually own the property – constructed a concrete wall all around the track and added new clay to the well-worn surface. He also installed new lights and began a publicity program that let everyone know what was taking place at his refurbished race track.
As things progressed, Fried saw his crowds get bigger and more and more racers coming to his events. When he began “open-competition” racing in 1956 his pits were flooded with the region’s best Modified and Sportsman racers, in large part due to having a guaranteed purse each week instead of the racers competing for a percentage of the gate.
The “open competition” format, however, caused some of the cars to really stretch the limits and in 1959 Fried went back to stricter guidelines for his Modified and Sportsman racers.
It can safely be said that virtually every major Modified racer who was competing at the time that Nazareth Raceway was in business made at least one trip on Sunday night to see how he could do against the strong field of cars that were regularly in competition there. But Nazareth Raceway – which closed after being promoted in 1988 by EMPA Hall of Fame member Dick Cozze and his family – was not Fried’s only operation.
In 1962, Fried took over a long-term lease to promote the Saturday night races at the one-fifth-mile asphalt track inside Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He continued Modified and Late Model races in the center of the amusement park until 1986 when racing was halted there and the site eventually became the home of Dorney Park’s Wild Water Kingdom.
Fried also put a lot of effort into his dream: the 1-1/8-mile dirt Nazareth National Speedway that he built in 1966 on 98 acres just south of his half-mile dirt track.
Created to be a major racing facility for United States Auto Club Championship Dirt Cars, Modified stock cars, Sprint Cars and Midgets, it operated as such from April 15, 1966, when EMPA Hall of Famer Frankie Schneider (who won 11 of the 36 Modified races there) won a 50-mile Modified race until November 7, 1971, when EMPA Hall of Famer Emil “Buzzie” Reutimann won a 150-mile Modified race. In all, some 50 races were held at NNS under Jerry Fried’s direction until financial problems caused him to close his “big track” down.
Nazareth National sat idle for nearly 10 years before EMPA Hall of Fame members Lindy Vicari (one-mile dirt Nazareth National Motor Speedway from 1981-1986) and Roger Penske (one-mile paved oval Pennsylvania International Raceway/Nazareth Speedway from 1986) tried – with varying degrees of success – to make a major speedway at that location work.
Eventually, however, International Speedway Corporation bought the upgraded facility and after promoting some NASCAR and CART Indy car races there ISC closed it in 2004.
A dapper promoter and showman, Jerry Fried (1916-1989) of Easton, Pennsylvania, came from a world far removed from dirt-track automobile racing. But the Bronx, New York-born Fried knew the importance of operating a popular entertainment business and he took the lessons that he learned as a ballroom-dancing impresario and for 35 years (1952-1987) made the old half-mile dirt Nazareth (Pa.) Raceway a major attraction for Modified stock-car racing.
Fried loved the color, music and excitement of the ballroom-dancing business. Prior to World War II he ran the Bronx’s Cylvanties Ballroom and after he returned from military service he managed New York’s Park Terrace Ballroom and added catering services there, as well.
This, though, was a far cry from what Fried – who had never seen an auto race – had on his plate when he took over the management of the Nazareth Fairgrounds in 1952. But he liked what he got involved with so much that when the group that bought the facility went into bankruptcy at the end of the year, he made a successful effort to rent the place.
Fried – who would eventually own the property – constructed a concrete wall all around the track and added new clay to the well-worn surface. He also installed new lights and began a publicity program that let everyone know what was taking place at his refurbished race track.
As things progressed, Fried saw his crowds get bigger and more and more racers coming to his events. When he began “open-competition” racing in 1956 his pits were flooded with the region’s best Modified and Sportsman racers, in large part due to having a guaranteed purse each week instead of the racers competing for a percentage of the gate.
The “open competition” format, however, caused some of the cars to really stretch the limits and in 1959 Fried went back to stricter guidelines for his Modified and Sportsman racers.
It can safely be said that virtually every major Modified racer who was competing at the time that Nazareth Raceway was in business made at least one trip on Sunday night to see how he could do against the strong field of cars that were regularly in competition there. But Nazareth Raceway – which closed after being promoted in 1988 by EMPA Hall of Fame member Dick Cozze and his family – was not Fried’s only operation.
In 1962, Fried took over a long-term lease to promote the Saturday night races at the one-fifth-mile asphalt track inside Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He continued Modified and Late Model races in the center of the amusement park until 1986 when racing was halted there and the site eventually became the home of Dorney Park’s Wild Water Kingdom.
Fried also put a lot of effort into his dream: the 1-1/8-mile dirt Nazareth National Speedway that he built in 1966 on 98 acres just south of his half-mile dirt track.
Created to be a major racing facility for United States Auto Club Championship Dirt Cars, Modified stock cars, Sprint Cars and Midgets, it operated as such from April 15, 1966, when EMPA Hall of Famer Frankie Schneider (who won 11 of the 36 Modified races there) won a 50-mile Modified race until November 7, 1971, when EMPA Hall of Famer Emil “Buzzie” Reutimann won a 150-mile Modified race. In all, some 50 races were held at NNS under Jerry Fried’s direction until financial problems caused him to close his “big track” down.
Nazareth National sat idle for nearly 10 years before EMPA Hall of Fame members Lindy Vicari (one-mile dirt Nazareth National Motor Speedway from 1981-1986) and Roger Penske (one-mile paved oval Pennsylvania International Raceway/Nazareth Speedway from 1986) tried – with varying degrees of success – to make a major speedway at that location work.
Eventually, however, International Speedway Corporation bought the upgraded facility and after promoting some NASCAR and CART Indy car races there ISC closed it in 2004.