Charlie Elliott

Track Owner, Promoter
CLASS OF 2000

Charlie Elliott’s racing career began in 1938, where he raced a home built “mud buggy” in the middle of a field in Farmington, NH. He competed on and off until 1941, when he left to serve his country in World War II.

When the war was ended, Charlie returned to racing, driving a 60 horsepower midget for the next four to five years. Elliott is believed to have built the first rear-engine race car ever to compete on an oval track

It was during this time that the Dover Speedway in New Hampshire tried running the midgets. When the division didn’t catch on, Dover officials decided to close the track. Charlie leased the track from it’s owner, and set about fixing up the speedway.

Elliott was in charge in the 1950s when a rise in the cost of living combined with an increase in the cost of racing coupled to shut down many tracks. Charlie realized something had to be done so he established a bomber division where a guy could get started in racing with junk yard cars. By promoting at this scale, Charlie was able to ride out this period that put some tracks out of business.

In 1965, Elliott built the Star Speedway with Kenny Smith & Russ Conway, which they made the home of their upstart New England Super Modified Racing Association and their marquee event “The Star Classic“. Both Star Speedway and NESMRA flourished under the trios leadership. They eventually bought Hudson Speedway as a sister track for their operation

They sold Star Speedway to Bob Webber in 1980, then purchased Lee Raceway two years later and reopened it as Lee USA Speedway. They sold Hudson Speedway, again to Bob Webber, in 1989.

Charlie relocated to Florida in his later years. He passed away on March 20, 2013 at the age of 96. He was posthumously awarded the Frank Maratta Award for outstanding contribution to auto racing in 2019 along with Kenny Smith & Russ Conway.