[5] According to Larry Mendelsohn, he originated the idea after realizing that spectators enjoyed watching the cars crash more than the races.

[8] The ABC television show Wide World of Sports broadcast demolition derbies at Islip Speedway beginning in the early 1960s.

The popular Figure 8 class became a regularly featured division from the time of its inception until the track's final date of operation September 8, 1984.

In 1964, track promoter Larry Mendelsohn conceived the idea of hosting the first "Figure 8 World Championship" event and sold his idea to ABC-TV, who would film the daytime event for broadcast at a later date on their popular Saturday afternoon television show, ABC's Wide World of Sports.

[1] NASCAR stopped coming to Islip Speedway when the organization axed all races shorter than 250 miles (400 km) from its schedule.