Bill Slater

Competitor, Promoter
CLASS OF 1998

Bill Slater first drove a racecar at Lonsdale Speedway (RI) in 1949. It sparked a 20 year career behind the wheel that saw him win races from Oxford Plains Speedway in Maine to Trenton Speedway in New Jersey.

He scored 8 career wins at Stafford Speedway, all when it was a dirt track. He earned Sportsman Championships at Thompson Speedway and the 1956 Modified Championship at Waterford. He teamed up with Bob Vitari & Vic Bombaci to drive their #V-8 car late in the 1958 season at the Speedbowl. The combination won 4 of the last 9 races. They returned to Waterford the following year to win 15 races and the Modified track title. They moved to Norwood Arena in 1960 and won another Modified title, then an amazing 5 straight Sportsman Modified titles at Norwood from 1962-1966, at one point winning 8 straight races. He was also the 1967 Sportsman Champion at Stafford.

Slater won the 400 mile race at Trenton Speedway (NJ) four times, and is a two-time winner of the Utica-Rome 400 in New York. He drove in The Daytona Permatex 300 four times from 1963 to ’66. His biggest career victory was in his win at the Langhorne (PA) Race of Champions in 1965, the first year it was paved.

He drove his last race at Stafford in 1969 and then began a second career involved in track operations at Stafford, where he famously convinced Jack Arute to buy the facility in 1970. He later operated Thompson Speedway as well. Slater was also instrumental in incorporating the modifieds into New Smyrna (FL) Speedway’s World Series event before the Daytona 500 each year. To this day, the week-long event attracts some of the best Modified drivers from New England down south every February.

Bill Slater was awarded the Frank Maratta Award for outstanding contribution to auto racing in 1990. Hepassed away on July 15, 2012 a few weeks after his 84th birthday.