Bill Eldridge

Competitor
CLASS OF 2013

Bill Eldridge was born in Needham, MA in March of 1926. A Navy veteran and truck driver by trade, he got bit by the racing bug after a trip to Thompson Speedway with his brother Bob to watch a Bay State Midget Association race. Soon after he enrolled at a driving school at the Medford Bowl.

His performance is the driving school led to an opportunity to race for car owner Ed Stone. They finished 10th in the Bay State Midget Association‘s final point standings in 1948. In the following years, as stock car racing began to boom, midget racing went into a slump. Bill followed the trend but it wasn’t long before he returned to the open-cockpit midgets.

When the Northeastern Midget Association (NEMA) formed in 1953, Bill won its second race (at the Waterford Speedbowl) and was crowned the inaugural NEMA Champion by season’s end. He followed up with championships again in 1954, 1957 and 1958. He won 20 of the 84 races NEMA sanctioned in the 1950’s. In addition to Waterford, he visited victory lane at Dracut Speedway, Manchester Motordrome, Seekonk Speedway, Lonsdale Sports Arena, Medford Speedway, Norwood Arena, The Pines Speedway, Westboro Speedway, Brookline Speedway, West Peabody and Pines Bowl in Troy, NY.

In the 1960’s, he raced on both the NEMA and ARDC midget circuits, scoring wins at Thompson Speedway, Norwood Arena, Plainville Stadium, Oxford Plains Speedway, Thunder Road Speedbowl and Westboro Speedway.

After tragically losing his wife in 1968, he left racing to raise their 6 children. He returned briefly in the early 1970’s, winning at Star Speedway, Unity Raceway and Westboro Speedway during the 1973-1974 seasons. Soon after, he suffered a neck injury at Stafford that forced him to retire from racing for good.

He was inducted into the NEMA Hall of Fame in 1988 and the National Midget Auto Racing HOF in 2017. Bill passed way on October 22, 2018 at the age of 92.