WALL TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Wall Township Speedway General Partners Managing Member Timothy H. Shinn announced March 14 that the 57-year-old oval has closed.
“It is with an extremely heavy heart that I must, at this time, formally announce the closing of our beloved Wall Township Speedway, formerly known to the vast majority of us as Wall Stadium,” said Shinn in a letter posted on wallspeedway.com Friday night. “Unfortunately, we find ourselves joining the long, ever-growing list of short tracks across the country which have been forced to close.”
Shinn, in his two-page letter, said that he and his three co-owners “did everything in our power since 2002 to provide top quality short-track racing and keep the Speedway open.
“We’ve made numerous attempts to create a scenario which would enable us to continue with the Speedway operation,” said Shinn, “all to no avail. Please also know that this decision was made on March 14, 2008, as we were still exploring certain options available to us in an attempt to remain open for the 2008 season, again, to no avail.”
Shinn made his announcement before the Garden State Quarter Racing Club was to hold an annual swap meet March 15 and a novice racing school March 16. Although the swap was cancelled due to forecasted bad weather, GSQMRC President Wayne Wilson said the March 16 classes and its remaining season on “Little Wall” were to continue as scheduled.
How long the GSQMRC will run at “Little Wall,” however, depends on the 48.46-acre industrial-zoned property’s fate. There is no word about the land’s future use.
There may be movements of vehicles and equipment owned by the managing partners’ companies for now.
A date has not been set for the Garden State Vintage Stock Car Club to remove its “Racing Through Time” museum.
The banked, paved one-third-mile oval will miss its first season since builder Tom Nicol opened it on Memorial Day 1950.
Wall pioneered the nationally known post-Thanksgiving Turkey Derby annual in 1974.
Second-generation owner Tucker Nicol of Brielle sold Wall Stadium to Shinn, Dale and Glenn Creamer, Joseph Sanzari and Tom Mauser in 2002. Fred Archer succeeded Mauser as a General Partner.