9-26-2022 4:32am

Grandview Speedway Leaves 60 Years of Memories for Fans

Lesley Misko Editor

By Jane Stahl

Fans of dirt track racing learned recently of the proposed sale of Grandview Speedway to Copart, Inc., an automotive auction and resale company, with plenty of mixed emotions. They’re happy for Theresa Rogers, 80, who took full ownership of the track after her husband, the late Bruce Rogers, died in 2017. It was Bruce’s father Forrest who built and opened Grandview in 1963. But, of course, while happy for Theresa, fans are sad to lose their Saturday night entertainment venue.

For fans like Vicki Gehris of Boyertown, the emotions are especially strong. The racetrack for Vicki holds a lifetime of Saturday night memories spent with her mother Irene, of moments of generosity and kindness offered by the Rogers’ family, of friendships and a support system from her favorite drivers, and of a piece of her career with the newspaper business when she wrote weekly news articles about the outcome of the races from the time she was 10 years old.

Vicki recalls that as a young 4th grader, she and her mother would walk to Grandview every Saturday night from March to the end of September along the old railroad track from her home in Boyertown to the Washington Township track to watch their favorite driver, the recently deceased Warren Mutter.

When the Auto Area Racing News neglected to acknowledge Mutter’s win, she complained and was challenged—as a 4thgrader—to write the story herself. And so, she did, writing articles for the Auto Area Racing News, NJ; the Boyertown Times, Boyertown; and the now-defunct Keystone Auto News every week from 1965 until 2011. Vicki’s articles, written at first on a manual typewriter, offered news to the race fans about the outcome of the races at Grandview.

Superfans of dirt track racing, Vicki and Irene spent their weekends at the tracks. Every Friday and Sunday for 20 years they attended races at the Reading Fairgrounds racetrack. Saturday night was always reserved for Grandview where they were often treated like family.

Vicki has memories of Theresa and Bruce Rogers who generously offered to pick up her mother in Philadelphia after Irene had donated a kidney to her sister. She recalls the television Theresa provided so that Irene, no longer able to climb into the stands, could watch the weekly race, and, years later, the new trailer she provided to make Vicki’s job collecting NASCAR license money easier when her mother was no longer comfortable climbing the stands.

Vicki’s memories include Ernie Saxton, the announcer she spent her Saturday nights with in the press box, and some of her favorite drivers. She recalls the parents of one of the drivers who brought her and Irene home from the races—often at 1:00 a.m. She remains grateful to BJ Joly who re-did her kitchen and offered help “anytime” she needed anything. She remembers Brian Shuey, Smokey Warren, and Chip Slocum who were always personable with their fans and who defended her when other drivers complained if she wrote about their bad manners on the track.

With mixed emotions, fans like Vicki celebrated the final races in the Speedway’s 2022 schedule, knowing that in all likelihood there might not be another season. Still, the sale is pending—Washington Township must approve the proposal for the transaction to move to settlement. And there are fans who are holding onto hope that the sale will not go through.

And should the sale not be finalized by an undisclosed date, Theresa will run a full slate of races next season, insisting she will only settle during a time when Grandview is not in season. Chances are Vicki will happily continue her weekly trip up the hill to follow the roar of the engines as long as they run.