Speedway directory publisher dies at 75
Allan Brown, one of short track’s racing all-time ambassadors whose “National Speedway Directory” was the virtual bible for highway-traveling auto racing spectators everywhere, died Thursday after a lengthy battle with cancer. The Comstock Park, Mich., resident was 75.
Brown, whose red hair was forever topped by a cap touting his go-to guide that provided locations, sizes and divisions of every racetrack in the country, was a 2014 inductee into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.
Unassuming and modest in his visits to more than 2,300 tracks throughout his career, he also published other books including “The History of America’s Speedways” and “The National Late Model Annual.”
“I’m just a race fan who happened to turn my love of racing into a profession,” Brown said upon his induction into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
Brown and partners Ross and Nanette Ferguson bought the track directory from Larry Yard in 1980 and Brown bought out the Fergusons in 1989. He went on to publish the reference guide for North American tracks until 2009, when he sold out to Frost Motorsports.
Survivors include his wife Nancy and two sisters. Visitation is 2-4 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Monday, April 17, at Beuschel Funeral Home in Comstock Park. The funeral is 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 18 at Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Belmont. Interment is at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Wright Township.
