0
0
By Adam Fenwick NASCAR.com
Published: March 17, 2026
Commuters who travel down Highway 34 in Wall Township, New Jersey are used to seeing the sign for historic Wall Stadium.
That sign, tired and weathered, stood the test of time until recently when new Wall Stadium co-promoter Pete Maletto decided the fixture was due for a much-needed refresh. An updated sign was completed March 10 and features three words prominently near the top: “Welcome back NASCAR.”
The track, which opened for business in 1950 and first became NASCAR sanctioned in 1951, will be part of the NASCAR Local Racing Series Powered by O’Reilly Auto Parts this year.
It’s the first time since 2007 the third-mile high banked oval will be a part of NASCAR’s local racing program.
“We just wanted to change the culture,” said Maletto, a life-long race fan who grew up attending events at Wall Stadium. “When you’ve got a NASCAR track, for a lot of people who don’t know Wall Stadium, they may go, ‘Hey, let’s go to the NASCAR track.’ I feel like that helps.”
Maletto and Fred Archer, a co-owner of Wall Stadium who is also co-promoting the venue this season with Maletto, are the latest in a line of promoters who have worked tirelessly to keep New Jersey’s racing tradition alive in Monmouth County.
That tradition started in 1950 when, according to Wall Stadium announcer and local racing historian Earl Krause, local race fans Tom and Jennie Nicol saw an opportunity to create something new.
“They were race fans in the late 1940s when stock-car racing was just really getting started in the Jersey Shore area,” said Krause, who attended his first event at Wall Stadium in 1960 before joining the track as an announcer for the first time in 1980. “Stock-car races were held in what was literally a gravel pit, an oval cutout of a sand pit right near where the present Wall Stadium is.
“They would have stock-car racing, very rudimentary stock cars, on a Sunday afternoon. People would come and sit on the hill and watch the racing.”
As racing became more popular, purpose-built motorsports facilities began to pop up in the region. One such facility was Long Branch Stadium, which was in nearby Long Branch, New Jersey.
“(The Nicols) went as fans (to Long Branch), and they thought there was a future in this,” Krause said. “The Nicols, through Tom’s connection as a contractor, purchased the land which became Wall Stadium.”
Utilizing his contracting connections, Tom spent the winter of 1949 and the spring of 1950 building Wall Stadium. The track opened for business on Memorial Day weekend in 1950, and the first race held at the track was won by Frankie Schneider, a future NASCAR Cup Series race winner and the 1952 NASCAR National Modified champion.
While Tom was the one who built the facility, it was Jennie who ran it. Krause explained Jennie acted as promoter at Wall Stadium for decades and was well respected within the racing community for her years of work and dedication to the sport.
“Jennie was always the promoter,” Krause said. “She made history as being really one of the first women racing promoters in the country. She was very well recognized and very much appreciated for her efforts. She was involved with the local township, and Tom was very well known as a businessman.”
Local legends and NASCAR stars have cut their teeth racing at Wall Stadium through the years. Perhaps the two most familiar are 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion crew chief Ray Evernham.
They both earned their stripes racing at Wall Stadium. Evernham, in a story that appeared on NASCAR.com in 2024, described Wall Stadium as a smaller version of Bristol Motor Speedway.
“Take Bristol, right, and take it from a half mile to a third of a mile and put faster cars on the track. It’s crazy,” Evernham said. “Like I said, it’s a smaller Bristol. It’s paved, but not concrete, and the modifieds are just wicked fast. … It was like bumper to bumper at 120 miles an hour, all around this little bullring.
“You had to be sharp, and you raced against a lot of tough guys — tough guys that had lots of experience, and guys that knew how to operate around that race track, and if you messed with them, you ended up in the infield.”
After Tom and Jennie passed away, the Nicol family in 2002 sold the track to a new ownership group. Various promoters came and went through the years that followed, and the track was briefly closed in 2008 before returning for a full season of racing in 2009.
The most recent lease holders operated the track from 2011-2025 but opted not to return in 2026, opening the door for Maletto and Archer to team up and take over the historic speedway after signing a multi-year lease.
“Over the years, Wall Stadium has been getting more and more run down, and it was having an effect on me,” said Maletto, who competed in the 602 Modified class at Wall Stadium last year with help from Jimmy Blewett and a few friends. “I said, ‘I’ll sign the lease, and I’ll take it over and we’ll go for it.’
“Fred was just retiring from the steel business. He had a huge steel company and did very well for himself. He said, ‘I’m retiring. I’ve got nothing to do next year anyway.’ I asked him if he wanted to do the track with me so I didn’t have to take all the risk, and he was like, ‘I would love to do that.’”
Under Maletto and Archer’s leadership, changes are already being made at the historic track. In addition to the new signage on Highway 34, everything at the track is getting a new coat of paint, the pit area is getting a face lift, and the concession stand is getting refreshed.
Fans will even be able to order their food and drinks via an app and pick it up at the concession stand.
“I’m trying to lean into the history of the race track and bring it into the future,” Maletto said.
Wall Stadium will host practice days on April 18-19, with opening day scheduled for April 25. The event will be headlined by the popular Wall Modified division, with additional features for the Sportsman, Factory Stock, 4 Cylinders, Legend cars and TQ Midgets also on the schedule.
Popular events throughout the season include the 66th Garden State Classic on June 13, the John Blewett III Memorial 176 on July 18 and the Hall of Fame 150 on Aug. 15.
The season will conclude Nov. 27-29 with the traditional Turkey Derby, which is headlined by a 150-lap Tour Type Modified race.
Wall Stadium holds a special place in Maletto’s heart. He grew up watching races there, and, now as co-promoter of the track, he gets to help decides its future. His goal is simple: Preserve as much history as possible while bringing the track into the 21st century.
“I’m a big Wall Stadium fan, so now you’ve got a fan taking over the race track. I’m also a fan of its history, which goes back to the 1950s,” Maletto said. “There is just so much there with that place. There is so much depth there. There is so much history. It’s a wonderful race track.”
