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In 1962, Victory Speedway (as Orange County Fair Speedway was then known) promoter Eno Van
Dam announced the track would host an October 100-lap championship race for Modified stock cars.
The race, paying the winner $1,000 from a total $4,000 purse, would be open to all drivers and cars
that met the track’s rules. The inaugural event drew 90 entries, was won by Frankie Schneider, and
deemed so successful that before it concluded, Van Dam announced its return the next year. Thus
was born the Eastern States 100. Now in 2025, the 64th Annual United Rentals Eastern States
Weekend and headline race, the Will Cagle Memorial Eastern States 200 presented by Hauser Bros.,
Inc., continues that tradition, concluding the 106th year of motorsports at the historic Middletown, New
York.
The original announcement opened the event to “…all cars and drivers that meet the track rules.”
This, in 1962 and for several more years, produced a most interesting mix of dirt and asphalt track
drivers and their race cars from across the Northeast racing circuits. Race track rules and car
specifications during this era were simpler and, most certainly, often vague. And archaic: “All doors
must be fastened in an approved manner with either weld, clamp, or metal strap.”
An early printed set of rules for both Orange County and Nazareth Speedways is all of four pages in a
shirt pocket-size booklet. The 1962 NASCAR Rule Book, also in booklet form, is 64 pages long, but
only half devoted to car specifications for the sanctioning body’s six divisions—Grand National (Cup
Series), Midget, Modified, Sportsman, Modified Special, and Hobby. There’s a significant amount of
redundancy within each section. The Modified rules fill four and one-half pages, with such items as
“Gas tank must be moved into rear deck space and must be securely fastened in a safe manner on
top of fame.”
In the early years of the Eastern States race, one could easily see differences between cars from
NASCAR-sanctioned tracks, or New Jersey which had similar state-enforced rules, and those of more
open independent speedways, Orange County included. The NASCAR/NJ cars had front fenders,
more body work, long exhaust pipes extending past the driver, and 20 gallon—more or less—fuel
tanks. The “Open” cars had mostly discarded front fenders, had less body work, stub exhausts, gas
tanks of varying sizes. But for both, if they made weight and height requirements, all were eligible.
In 1968, the Eastern States race was lengthened to 200 laps and the purse doubled to in excess of
$10,000. Will Cagle, who had previously won at the shorter distance in 1966, won the first Eastern
States 200 when, with three laps remaining, leader Frankie Schneider tangled with a lapped car.
Cagle, half a lap back, charged by to the checkered flag.
At the shorter distance, cars, even fuel-injected ones running alcohol, could make the full 100 laps
without having to pit for fuel. Not so 200 laps, unless there were no restrictions on fuel tank sizes.
The extreme was a 55-gallon drum of alcohol crammed into the rear deck of the car. Cagle often told the story of such a setup. “When the tank was full, the front wheels hardly touched. Steering the
turns was an adventure,” he’d say, laughing at having survived racing with a fuel bomb in the car.
In 1977, Gary Balough won the 200 by leading every lap, no doubt aided from a fuel tank of
undetermined size. It was Eastern States race procedure that awarded the pole position to the
winner of the first qualifying heat, with subsequent heat winners lining up in order. Buzzie Reutimann
won the first heat and, of course, the pole slot. Balough took the second heat, and outside front row.
Taking the green flag, Balough was leading before he reached the backstretch.
For the first time, there were 18 guaranteed starters for the 200. Those slots were earned by winning
designated races at tracks across the Northeast. Guaranteed drivers took time trials, lining up in
order by speed behind the heat race winners. Balough and Bobby Bottcher gave up their guaranteed
status to run in a heat race. That worked for Balough, but not Bottcher, who had to win a consolation
race to make the 57-car starting field.
And also for the first time, a preliminary Sportsman 50-lap Sportsman Championship race was held
on Saturday. Certainly as a sign pointing to the future, teenage Brett Hearn—who had won the first
heat but was penalized two sports for supposedly jumping the start, putting Anthony Ferraiuolo IV on
the pole—took the lead on lap seven and led the remaining 43 laps. It was Hearn’s first of 17 Eastern
States Sportsman/Small-Block Modified Championship victories in a race contested at 50, 75, and
150 laps before settling in at 100 laps.
Full fender divisions, Pro Stock, Street Stock (in various iterations), and Pure Stock, races were
added to Eastern States Weekend beginning in 1981. Keith Majka won the first two Street Stock
Eastern States races. The reconstituted, more restrictive Sportsman division made its Eastern States
debut in 1988, with Steve Dodd the initial victor.
Glenn Donnelly took over Orange County racing in 1983, bring in the era of DIRT Motorsports and the
basic Eastern States Weekend format that’s still being followed. Qualifying procedures for the
Eastern States 200 were similar to those Donnelly established for Super DIRT Week at the New York
State Fairgrounds in Syracuse. Time trials determined the first rows of the 200 as well as the lineups
for the qualifying heat races. At first the fastest 12 started the first six rows in order. Later, that
number was cut to the six fastest, and is the format currently in effect. The DIRT Motorsports
rule book provided the example for the division at tracks across the Northeast and the Canadian
Provinces of Ontario and Quebec whether they were aligned with DIRT Motorsports, or operated
independently.
This year’s Eastern States Will Cagle Memorial 200 winner will net a base purse of $24,000, not
including heat race, bonuses, contingencies, and lap leader prizes. The total prize money for the
entire Eastern States Weekend, including the Short Track Super Series Hard Clay Finale and North
East Wingless Sprints tops $230,000.
Brett Hearn is the all-time Eastern States 200 winner, with 12 trips to Victory Lane. He also posted
11 additional top-five finishes for a 23 “in the money” record. Hearn competed in 43 Eastern States
200 races, 42 consecutively from 1978 through 2019, and final event in 2022. Arch rival Danny
Johnson is second in the winners category, with six victories; Will Cagle, for whom this year’s race is
named, and Stewart Friesen are each four-time winners.
