Ken MacIsaac's Tribute to Stub Fadden
Posted March 13, 2009; Source - Ken MacIsaac

New England motorsports lost one its founding fathers this week with the passing of the legendary Stub Fadden - a veteran of six decades of racing and 2003 inductee in the New England Antique Racers Hall of Fame (NEAR). Fadden hailed from North Haverill, NH. He was 75 at the time of his passing.

Fadden was a favourite and a friend of Maritime motorsports archivist and CTW.com contributor Ken MacIsaac - who has put together this great photo tribute to Fadden's racing career - which extended as far east as Riverside Speedway near Antigonish (NS). Following Ken's photos is Fadden's biography as posted on the NEAR website...


1979 at the Oxford 250 in Maine...


1981 NASCAR North 200 at Riverside Speedway near Antigonish - ahead of Beaver Dragon (7)...


1981 at Riverside - the Fadden hauler - waiting in lineup at the pit entrance...


1981 Oxford 250...


1982 Oxford 250 - leading Dave Dion (29)...


1983 Oxford 250...


1984 Silver 125 NASCAR North race at Riverglade Speedway, near Moncton...


1985 at the NASCAR North event at Riverside..


1985 at the Oxford Twin 100s...


A 1988 ACT race at Beech Ridge Motor Speedway, near Portland, Maine...


1988 at a NASCAR Busch Grand National North race at Oxford Plains Speedway...


1989 at Oxford Plains Speedway...


1990 at Oxford Plains Speedway...


1991 Oxford 250...


1992 Oxford 250...


Fadden (right) in 1992 at New Hampshire Int'l Speedway (aka Loudon) with Robbie Crouch (left) and Marvin Galarneau...


1996 at Stafford Springs Speedway in Connecticut...


1997 at Lee USA Speedway in New Hampshire..

Stanley “Stub “ Fadden became involved in racing as a welder for Leland Ingerson in the late 1950’s. It wasn’t until 1960 that Stub took to the track. Stub’s resume is an impressive one. He has taken down multiple track championships at Thunder Road in Barre, Vermont, and also at the Catamount Stadium, the former 1/3 mile track in Milton, Vermont. In 1980, he took down the track championship at Mount Laurier, Quebec. Stub is a two time winner of Thunder Road’s prestigious Milk Bowl, as well as the first ever Molson Bash. He also has won both the New England 200 and the New England 300 at Catamount Stadium, and is the Triple Crown Winner of the NASCAR NORTH 250 at the Cayuga Speedway in Nelles Corner, Ontario.

He later went on to race in the Busch North Series, competing against drivers like Bobby and Beaver Dragon, John Paul Cabana, and fellow Hall of Famer Dick McCabe. According to Bobby Dragon, “Stub and I go way back. He‘s very highly regarded around here. I guess Stub Fadden is as close a friend as anyone I’ve had the honor of running against. He was aggressive and competitive. He’d get the job done without banging his way to the front. You could run side by side, lap after lap with Stub without worrying.”

In 1980, Fadden was the recipient of the Don MacTavish Award, given by the Vermont Sports Writers for lifelong service to stock car racing. He received the Nascar North Tour Sportsman Award in three different decades, being honored in 1968, 1981, and 1990.

For the last several years before his retirement, Stub was a member of the only active grandfather/grandson team of competitors in Nascar history, racing with his grandson Mike Olsen, who went on to win the Nascar Busch North Series Championship in 2001. The Fadden family continues to make its mark in racing. Today, we honor Stub Fadden for his six decades of contributions to the sport of auto racing.

To learn more about the New England Antique Racing Hall of Fame - click here - you will be redirected to their website...