News

In a moment of New England racing history, it’s 1939 and a standing-room crowd has come to watch the Big Cars on the dirt track in Newmarket, NH. The pits were directly beside the racing area. What could be more dangerous? The primitive fence protecting the spectators would never keep a car out of the grandstand or the cars without roll-over bars or seat belts.

At the New England Racing Museum, we believe racing is baked into the DNA of the automobile, and nowhere is that spirit more alive than at the legendary Wilbraham Hill Climb. First run in 1908, this iconic event predates many of America’s most famous motorsports traditions and remains a thrilling nod to racing’s earliest days.

What happens when cutting-edge engineering meets racing innovation? You get the Formula Hybrid+Electric (FH+E) Competition, a unique event that challenges the brightest collegiate minds to design, build, and race hybrid and electric vehicles. And we’re proud to say that the New England Racing Museum (NERM) is part of it.

We fondly remember Bob Bahre. The founder of the New Hampshire Motor Speedway also saved Oxford Plains Speedway and contributed to auto racing in so many ways.

The New England Racing Museum’s annual Racers’ Reunion took place on May 3, 2025 on a dreary day with rain in the forecast. The show beat the rain and ran start to finish without a drop.

We are saddened by the passing of Mabel Doyle, a member of the museum’s Board of Directors and wife of one of the most important New England Dragway founders, Jack Doyle.

As we reflect on 2024, the museum featured an exhibit of exceptional road racing cars. A record crowd welcomed the Great Race to the museum and the largest and most diverse display of race cars attended our annual race car show. As we further review how we fulfilled our mission, please consider donating to help us continue to honor our regional racing heroes and preserve regional racing past for the future. Donor support is vital in ensuring our ability to continue our mission of discovery, preservation and

We thank Randy Broadbent and the Broadbent family for loaning us Steve Broadbent’s drag racing station wagon for the 2024 season at the museum. The car is a 1982 Chevrolet Malibu Station Wagon that was the parts car for his sons Randy’s first street car at age 16.

The 7th annual Legends Day on November 17 shone its spotlight on road racers who had major success across New England. A full house was delighted by conversation among race winning drivers led by well-known road race announcer Greg Rickes.

Two New England race car drivers have won major 2024 national championships, David Gravel in the top American sprint car series, the World of Outlaws, and Joey Logano in NASCAR’s top stock car series.

Starting November 2nd our public hours of operation move to Saturday only, 10am to 4pm. The museum will be closed December 21st and December 28th in observation of the Christmas and New Year’s Holiday. Expanded public hours of operation will resume in June of 2025. Thank you for joining us for the 2024 summer season at the museum!

R.A. is pictured with a poster he recently donated to the New England Racing Museum and is now proudly displayed in the museums library. The poster is from Northampton Speedway a fairgrounds track located in Northampton, MA. The half mile dirt oval held sprint car races in 1933 and then again from 1936 until 1941.