Chick Stockwell

Competitor
CLASS OF 2001

Charles “Chick” Stockwell began racing in 1949, driving his own cars throughout the northeast. Although Chick considers the Danbury Arena to be his home track, he was a regular competitor at Waterford, Thompson, Plainville, West Haven, Stafford, Riverside Park, Westboro and the road course at Lime Rock Park.

Venturing outside New England, he has driven at Albany-Saratoga, Orange County, JFK Stadium, Langhorne Speedway and Lebanon Valley Speedway.

Stockwell showed his versatility as a race driver by competing on both dirt and asphalt, often 3 to 4 times in the same week. He won the 1957 Rhinebeck Track Championship, racing on dirt. He took down the United Grand American Late Model Sportsman Circuit Crown in 1963 and 1964.

He won the Most Popular Driver award at Danbury Arena for six consecutive years, (1976-1981). The award was sponsored by the Racearena Revue magazine, and over 17,000 fans cast votes for Chick, who says that the Most Popular Driver awards meant even more to him than his many feature wins.

Stockwell is in the record book as the all-time total race winner at the arena, with 51 feature wins, 51 semi features, 77 heats, 26 consi victories, and 2 “B” wins, for a total of 207 Danbury Arena victories. He also earned a record 9 championships (1954-1955, 1960-1963, 1968, 1970-1971).

Chick retired from racing in 1981, when they closed down the Danbury Arena. Looking back, he remembers his career as a satisfying time. “It was fun back then”, Chick says. “Everything was right out of the junkyard, where nowadays everything is bought. We got a junk, gutted it out, and went after it.”

Chick Stockwell passed away on July 29, 2013.