Tony
Bonadies was better known as a successful New England midget car
driver from the Bronx, NY area, running in over a thousand races. He
competed in NASCAR in only two Grand National Series events.
when Bill France, Sr. selected the unlovely Nash as the
first official car of NASCAR. 
DIED: 05 Jul 1964 Williams Grove Motor Speedway, Pennsylvania
Very successful and experienced midget driver, killed at age 47 in
an ARDC series midget crash.
Tony
Bonadies drove his first race at the
Castle Hill Stadium in 1940. A very
popular midget car driver, Bonadies'
career spanned over twenty-four
years during which he competed in
more than one thousand races.
Although he never won the ARDC
Midget Championship, he was
runner-up twice and ranked amongst
the top six in seven out of his last
eight seasons in the series' final
classification table, and he was
twice the title runner-up. He
entered the Indy 500 three times,
but failed to qualify in all
attempts: in 1955 and the following
year his times aboard a Kurtis 3000D
- Offenhauser were simply not quick
enough, and in 1957 he wrecked his
Kurtis 500C - Offenhauser at the
Turn 4 at the northwest end of the
track during practice and had to
withdraw from the race.
Bonadies was taking place in an ARDC
midget race at the 1/2 mile dirt
oval at Williams Grove Speedway on
05 July 1964 when, as he pitched his
Frankenfield - Offenhauser into a
slide at the entrance to Turn 1, the
right rear axle of the car snapped.
The vehicle barrel rolled several
times and then got airborne. Tony
was thrown to the ground and died
instantly. He was survived by his
wife Frances and two young children.
Bonadies's memory was honored by the
ARDC - American Racing Drivers Club
in a special event with three
separate races of fifty, thirty and
fifty laps held at the Freeport
Stadium 0.2-mile paved oval in
Freeport, Long Island, NY, on 12
August 1964.
Burial::
Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Hawthorne, Westchester County,
New York, USA
