Sparky Belmont

Competitor
CLASS OF 2012 | Pioneers
Veterans Committee Selection

Michael “Sparky” Belmont started racing midgets in the 1940’s, but it was in stock cars that he had most of his success. He won his first race at Riverside Park Speedway during the 1949 season, his first of 3 career wins at the 1/4 mile bullring.

Belmont scored 15 wins at Joe Tinty‘s Plainville Stadium. He also won the 1964 Modified Championship there driving Ron Berndt‘s North End Auto Parts #54 coupe.

Years later in 1969, after scoring a win in a 100 lap at Plainville, Belmont suffered a fatal heart attack in the Plainville pit area after the race. He was inducted into the NEAR Hall of Fame in a special Pioneers induction ceremony in 2012.