Hank Stevens

Competitor
CLASS OF 2012 | Pioneers
Veterans Committee Selection

Donald “Hank” Stevens of Rocky Hill, CT spent his life around the race tracks. After serving in WWII, he got he start as a 22 year old at Plainville Stadium in CT. He arguably had his greatest successes at the Waterford Speedbowl but not before a fiery wreck at Waterford in 1954 that nearly ended his racing career. He spent over 8 months in the hospital recovering, but eventually made it back to the race track.

He would go on to win back-to-back Sportsman Modified championships in 1962-1963 driving Billy Simons‘ #9 “Excavator Special”. Stevens won 17 races at the shoreline oval, including 11 in the headlining modified division.

Stevens won a midget race in 1970 at the track in Nova Scotia, Canada. Never fully retiring from racing, Stevens won a race in the upstart Legend Cars at Riverside Park Speedway (MA) in 1995.

Hank Stevens passed away on December 6, 1999 at the age of 72. He had last competed in a “Heroes of the Bowl” Street Stock exhibition at the Waterford Speedbowl just 4 months earlier.