Hundreds Visit Racearena Reunion

Hundreds of racing fans visited PAL Sunday to see vintage racing cars from the old Danbury Racearena.

Chick Stockwell and his famous race car, 151, attended the reunion. People grew up with the name Chick Stockwell if they grew up in Connecticut in the 1950s and 1960s.

Paul Baker, a radio announcer and personality who is sometimes called 'Mr. Danbury' stopped by Number 151 to talk to Stockwell.

"One day he borrowed a car, he finised second-to-last in the qualifier, and then he would have won the main event if it went another two laps. That car never did anything before or after that night," said Baker, who announced the Racearena events for 24 years. "He finished second. That was the kind of driver he was."

Baker, now well into retirement, said announcing the races was the best job he ever had.

Stockwell, now 83, was known as the Woodbury Farmer. Stockwell was a six-time winner at the Danbury Racearena, and he had 207 lifetime racing wins. He was the nine-time champion of the Southern New York Racing Association.

In car 151, Stockwell drove to victory in Danbury in 1968, 1970 and 1971. He retired the car in 1976, and when the Racearena closed for good in 1983, STockwell never drove again.

"That was it," Stockwell said.

"He was always my favoite guy," said Dan Gotthardt, who lived on Williams Street in Danbury when he was growing up. "I could hear the announcer and I could hear the cars from my home. I knew who won even if I didn't go to the races."

But Gotthardt went to the races.

"I miss it. It was the best," Gotthardt said. He got Chick Stockwell's autograph Sunday.