Partington Pasture Speedway

Info Updates:

2/4/2014 - Jack Meirow

Shane, You say you lived at 15 Mile & Mound Rd. Our family owned the Meirow's' Texaco gas station there on the SE corner. Changed over to Sinclair Gas in later years. Howdy neighbor! By the time I was old enough to go racing, it was at Motor City Speedway on 8 Mile Rd and Schoenherr.

3/11/2013 - June Miller

do any of you remember drivers Ralph Huff, James Miller, Tom Jackson. that drove at Partington's Pastures????. Ralph drove Bug 13. dont remember the name or number James or Tom drove. They also had power puffs racing. Tom's sister Tinny drove his car.

11/11/2011 - eugene conforti

When i was young(10 years old 1974) i grew up on Marlbourough street on Detroits east side, between forest and canfield, my neighbor was Mr. Partington. Everyone in the neighborhood knew Mr. Partington as Sam the junk manbecause his two homes and garages(side by side) were filled with anything you could think of. When sam passed away and his homes were cleaned out ,us kids picked through the piles in the alley and found many pictures and books of the highlights from back in the days when he owned the track, i wish i still had them now.

12/8/2010 - Gary Laster

The track site is now St Rene Parish Church. Ryan Rd @ Stephanie Dr. verified via historic aerials, track was still visible in 1964 USGS aerial.

8/31/2009 - Rich Laney

My dad raced a car at Partington Pasture in the early 50''s. We have a handful of old pictures at home. His name was Dick Laney and his car number was 1X. It was a Ford with a modified flathead.
Very rarely do you talk to anyone who has ever even heard of this track.

7/30/2009 - Shane Pennington

Just to clarify, 15 mile and Ryan Rd were not part of the city of Warren. The land is currently Sterling Heights, and prior to that was called Sterling Township.

7/21/2009 - Neil D. Hammack

Update Re: picture of car in mid air that I submitted.
Received further info from the gentleman who took the picture in the summer of 1950. His name is: George DeCramer.
It was earley on a Sunday afternoon and the stands were still empty and only a few cars in the pit when picture was taken with his old 6-20 box camera. He had installed a stronger, faster shutter spring which made it possible to take such photos.
The driver name is Moe Joseph. He had a gas station in Grosse Pointe. Thirty years later around 1980 George made up his mind to try to locate Moe. One phone call later Moe was located. He had relocated to 8 mile & Kelly in East Detroit.
When George walked into the station and handed Moe the picture from 30 yrs. ago,he wished everyone could have seen the look on Moes face. It was shock, amazement and puzzlement. He looked at it, then turned it upside down. He then called all of his mechanics to look at the picture.
The picture enlarged by Albert Bizer who had made movies at Motor City Speedway and used to show them to the Boy Scout troop we belonged to so many years ago. Albert passed away about 3 yrs. ago.
It gave George a good feeling as he had made Moes day.
George also said one driver had died from burns suffered in a terrible accident at the track on another race in 1948 or 1949. His name was Dean Streeter, 21 yrs. of age from Port Huron.
And that folks "is the rest of the story.
Thanks George for the info.

7/3/2009 - Chellyn

Attn Shane: My father (George DeCraemer) took quite a few pictures at Partingtons and still has some great ones. I don''t have time to learn how to scan them, but would like to eventually get them posted here. In the meantime, he has copies he has made and would like to share them with you (he only lives 4 miles from you). Contact me at chellelle@sbcglobal.net

6/4/2009 - Shane Pennington

Wow what an extraordinary read! I live at 15 and mound grew up around 15 and ryan in the area. Went to Grissom Middle School. Annoyed the people at St. Renee''s. Wow... would definitely love to learn more about this place! awesome can''t wait to tell my friends! I am only 21, so the track was long gone before I came along. Would like to se more pics if anyone has them. And, yes, I am related to Ed Pennington. He is my uncle. Greg is my dad.

9/12/2007 - Sean Fitzgerald

Great ideas Randy, I wonder what the community leaders would think. Wonder idf there is a neighborhood association. Also driving around the park and seeing the banking from the outside was cool.

9/12/2007 - Sean Fitzgerald

I drove by the other day, hood looks bad one block, nice the next. I''m from the hood originally and my sixth sense told me better to not park and go for a walk on my own. I was at the Dalley in The Alley street fair on Saturday night and spoke with the fella that operates the collective bike shop in the Cass Corridor called back Alley Bikes. He said they still ride there around the top of the track and that he and his friends actually cleaned out the weeds. the bottom of the track is not passable he said. Go Carts, 4 cylinders and Bike races. That would rock. Who owns it???

9/11/2007 - Randy

Heck, I see this as regular weekely racing there...go-karts and 4 cylinder races. Mufflers manditory, race on Saturday afternoons. Racing could start at 1:00 (or 2:00) and be over by 5 or 6. This could be cheap easy racing and could get kids interested in something else NEW!!!

With a little work and backing...who knows, even incorperate that old Family go-kart est into a scantioned "kart road coarse"...I see this as a real thing IF the right people were involved and the surrounding community could get behind it...or, it could just be another strip mall for cell phone, pizza and furniture stores.

9/6/2007 - Sean Fitzgerald

The go cart idea is great. who says we need permission. all the cops can do is make us leave, right? where do we get some carts???

9/6/2007 - Sean Fitzgerald

Thanks randy. I say we race geo prizms and ford escorts on it.Lol. Ya know something like that in an abandoned parking lot would be really fun. I''m gonna take a drive over there this weekend, as I''m only a couple miles west on 8 mile. I''ll try and take pictures.

9/6/2007 - Randy

After looking more closely at that Dorais Bike track, with a little work, it could be an awesome go cart track (I mean for sanctioned racing), but again, the noise I am sure would be an issue...hmmm, unless they ran them on Saturday afternoon.

Well, just me thinkin outside the box!

9/5/2007 - Randy

The Dorais Velodrome (what it was named) here is a blurb from the site: Built in 1969, abandoned by the metro area''s fledgling bike-racing scene in the 80s, reclaimed first as a car-racing hangout, now as a MADMAX-appropriate bike-racing track in 2005. But it is not apparently open or should I say operated by any owner or company from what I can tell.

9/4/2007 - Sean Fitzgerald

Were there any other speedways right there. I just had a very interesting goole earth moment. I saw what I assumed was an old high school track at outer drive and mound but on closer inspection it looks absolutely paved and like the used to be a grandstand there. Also sone very interesting over heads of the old go cart tracks on 8 mile near there. Check it out at google earth and type in eight mile and mound Detroit. be very interesting to check the sanborn maps to see what this was.

9/4/2007 - Randy

Neil...for that shot being 57 yrs old, it is awesome...what a great action shot!!!

8/8/2007 - Neil Hammack

Wish I could tell you. Sean. That picture is 57 years old. I went to the track a couple of times with a friend who has a car. Didn"t have my license yet Neil

8/8/2007 - Sean Fitzgerald

Who was driving,..er flying?

8/8/2007 - Neil Hammack

Just a short note regarding picture added 08-08-07. I took this photo in the summer of 1950. My camera was an old Brownie box camera. I was just plane lucky to get this shot.

11/10/2006 - Sean Fitzgerald

Just came from the Hudson Museum in Ypsilanti. They have trophies from the 50's for Sunset, Partington's and Motorcity. Plus gentleman who runs it says they used to have a small track on a farm in Ypsi off Huron Road which only ran a couple of summers.

8/17/2006 - Larry Bukowski

To answer Gene Macavey: Partington Speedway was on the west side of Ryan Road. The site is now occupied by St. Renes church and Grissom Jr. High School. The two pictures on this page had this written on the back. I had an early 50s topographic map that showed a race track on this site. Also, the city of Sterling Heights has a book on the history of the area, and this book has a plat map that shows a Partington as the owner of this plot of land.

4/24/2006 - Gene Macavey

Was Partingtons Pasture Speedway on the east side or west side of Ryan road?

2/4/2006 - Craig Williamson

My father Jack Williamson raced at pattington pasture for awhile before moving on to motor city speedway. He passed away a few years ago but would have loved this site.

7/18/2005 - Larry Preston

My father "Hod" Preston began his racing career here in the late 1930s. They raced Jalopies then. Fellows like Orrie Fuller, Claire Fuller were the cars builders. Others who had raced there were Glenn Rockie, Vern Ottmer. I think I have pictures my father gave me covering his career. I do remember sitting around the track which was at that time like a bowl. You looked down on racers.

6/16/2005 - Art Maki

I remember a drainage ditch across the track, we raced there 1 time and it was really rough, i cannot remember who owned the place, was it Partington ???. I remember a very small section of stands and Joy Fair raced there if I recall correctly. We were there in 1950 and it beleive it was only opened for 2 years. Tom Turkett drove the car for us at that time and the car number was 010.

12/12/2004 - Walter Hermance

Partingtons Pasture Speedway was located on Ryan Rd just north of 15 Mile Rd. It was a quarter mile track built in an old cow pasture, hence its name. I think it closed in the mid 50s. I Heard a driver was killed there. Some drivers who lived near the track would drive their stock cars to the track and race. I Wonder if anyone out there remembers the place. Merry Christmas to all on your site.

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Partington Pasture Speedway