When talking about stock car racing, few people these days think of Brookline, but for about 10 years, beginning in 1957, the Brookline Speedway was one of the more popular places to go. The raceway drew more than 2,500 people on a typical Sunday afternoon. No sign of the speedway remains, and Bingham Lumber Company has occupied the site on Route 13 for many years.

The Brookline Historical Society held an Open House on March 30 and the Speedway was one of the topics discussed. The Society owns very little speedway memorabilia, but there were a number of people around who remember it.

Much of the Society’s information is included in an article in a 1977 issue of “The Spile,” the publication of the Hollis Area High School. Students Gordon Baker, Mike Glover and Bill Kinny interviewed several residents.

The raceway opened April 23, 1957. The owners were Lawrence Cory and Nason Fessenden.

Fessenden’s nephew, David Fessenden was on hand at the Society’s events.

“My uncle attended races in Westboro, Mass.,” he said, “and decided to build his own track. It was built on the same scale as Westboro.”

The track was operated by The Atlantic Racing Association.

Former Road Agent Del Porter also recalled the track.

“I was a member of the Fire Department,” he said, “and drove the ambulance there sometimes.”

The track was built by Betters Construction Company, he said.

He recalled that the track had no electric service. Power was supplied “by a big generator.”

The “Spile” article describes the track as a quarter-mile paved oval. The bleachers were 400 feet long, 32 feet wide and held 3.500 people. There was parking for 600 cars, much of it across the road.

Others recalled that the track was enclosed by a chain-link fence.

Racing events included stunt cars, stock cars, midget racers and demolition derbies.

The “Spile” article notes that the Speedway was also used for town events such as field days and fairs, and fireworks on the Fourth of July. At one point, it was leased to Fort Devans to use as a practice place for landing helicopters.

But it was “Butch” Wheeler who really remembered the track. He has lived in Brookline all of his 60-plus years, he said, and “never moved more than 400 yards” from where he began.

“I was driving cars there when I was 13,” he said. “I raced there until 1964.”

His father had owned a salvage yard, Wheeler said.

“We got the old cars for the demolition derby. We supplied cars for Joey Chitwood and his Hell Drivers. We had an old 1941 Chevy wrecker that we used for towing wrecks and the demolition cars,” Wheeler said.

On Sunday, “the place was mobbed,” he said. “People came from everywhere, all over Massachusetts.”

Owner Lawrence Corey also owned the nearby Railroad Snack Bar and the Brookline Ski Area across the street, later known as Big Bear.

Demolition derbies were a special attraction, Wheeler said. The derby consists of “25 to 30 cars that smash the living heck out of each other until one guy is left. The last one running wins. It’s pretty wild. Used to be a big thing, the biggest draw.”

He recalled one incident.

“My cousin won a race on the car’s roof. He got flipped over near the finish line and slid across on his roof. A lot of my cousins had cars.”

The “Spile” article calls Brookline “the fastest track in New England,” but Wheeler disputed that.

“It was pretty fast, but Lee (Raceway) was considered the fastest,” he said.

Corey remebered the speedway’s closing.

“It was just like everything else, it goes good for a certain length of time and then dies out. People lost interest after awhile. And when we couldn’t make a buck, we closed down,” Corey said.

Wheeler was more specific.

“Star Speedway (in Epping) came in and did a job on Brookline The guys needed a faster track.”

Star is a half-mile track and can handle the bigger, faster cars.

“Guys were getting better cars,” he said.

Several people recalled a large “Oilzum” sign on Route 13. Oilzum Racing Oil was one of the track sponsors.

“That sign just rusted away,” resident Buddy Dougherty said.

According to several websites, stock car racing began in the 1920s in the south where it is still the most popular. At first, young men simply challenged each other. The sport became more organized in the 1930s, setting rules and standards for tracks and cars.

NASCAR was founded by Bill France in 1948.

Now, Wheeler said, “everybody goes to Loudon for NASCAR.”