Langley Speedway Historical Society Track History


HOMEABOUT USHISTORYLINKSCONTACT US

The original owner/builder was Craig Frazer, a Surrey Pharmacist turned motorsports enthusiast.

There has been a recent discussion concerning the date the track first opened. While most records list 1965 as the year of official opening, officiated by Noel Booth, a local politician of reknown, it is generally agreed that 1963 is the year that racing began on the track. Construction began in 1962.


In 1969, Craig Frazer sold the track to the Greater Vancouver Regional District (now, Metro Vancouver) and obtained a 10 year lease with an option to renew for another 10 years.

Craig Frazer sold the last 3 years of the original lease to Gordon Hemrich, local stock car driving phenom, in the late 1970s. Hemrich did the promotions during his time as lease holder.

After the initial 10 year lease ended, the option to renew the lease for an additional 10 years was cancelled and the lease was limited to a year-to-year basis, on a competitive bid process, a very difficult environment to work under, considering the competition to obtain the lease by several groups.


When Hemrich no longer held the lease to the track, the name was changed to Action Raceway, due to a legal ownership of the Langley Speedway brand. 
The track was run by the Lower Mainland Oval Racing Association (LMORA) the last few years.


Reg Royle was the first promoter until the sale of the lease in 1975.

Bill Fisher was the promoter in 1983.

Stan Schmidt was the promoter in 1984.


Langley Speedway hosted NASCAR Winston West races in 1971, 1972 and 1978. This makes it one of only three sites in BC that had hosted NASCAR races. The others being Western Speedway in Victoria and Westwood in Coquitlam. (In these modern times, NASCAR owns the former CASCAR brand and runs at tracks across the country.)

They ran Late Models, Super Stocks, Street Stocks and Bombers in the final years, but everything from Super Modified to crash-to-pass and mini-stock cars were run at the track.

The track was closed to racing at the end of the 1984 season. There is some disagreement on whether there was a lease for the 1985 season or not. It has been said that there was, but it was cancelled before the season began.

The property is still part of the Campbell Valley Regional Park, owned by Metro Vancouver taxpayers.

The park staff removed all the buildings, the hillside seats and any other structures such as the fencing and the starters tower. Vandalism became a problem after the track was closed.

As of 2008, the track surface is intact, with some minor damage due to parties with bonfires and a couple of trees that layed roots under the surface. These trees have been removed.

The concrete walls are still in place. Some appear to be falling apart, but in fact are showing the damage caused by race cars smashing into them.

On Sept 3rd 2006, The Langley Speedway Historical Society had a clean-up at the track, exposing the walls and clearing the track surface. There will be more work parties of this nature in the future, as Metro Vancouver has accepted the proposal of the Langley Speedway Historical Society. 

If you are interested in helping preserve the history of this track, contributing articles or photos, or helping in the restoration of the site, please contact the Langley Speedway Historical Society and put yourself on our list.


Recent measurements of the track surface have proven beneficial in settling a long discussed issue of the track's size. It has been advertised as both a 1/4 mile track and later as a 3/8 mile. The track is exactly 1/4 mile in the racing groove. It was measure both by a vehicle odometer and a measuring wheel. They both agree.

On Sept 25th, 2006, the Township of Langley voted to include the Speedway on its official list of Heritage Resources, effectively declaring it a heritage site.