What track did you grow up going to?
 

We started to have a side convo in another thread about Butler Motor Speedway in Michigan. I grew up going to this track as a child. My parents took me to my first race before I was a month old. I remember bugging them every weekend when I was maybe 5 or younger to go. (mid 80s) I loved watching the mods back then and the winged sprint cars. I remember when they started their first pure stock class, they called them Detroit Irons back then. They were a blast to watch. I still try to make a trip back to the track that started this addiction for me whenever I can get a chance. Even though I know its going to be a very late night.

What is the track you grew up going to and what are some of your memories from it?

Re: What track did you grow up going too?
 

Belle Clair Speedway, 3 classes of cars pitted in the infield, standing starts 3 wide, the huge wreck in turn 1, Don Klein, welding on cars all night long, AARA racing 3 nights every week.

Re: What track did you grow up going too?
 

Mainly Lawrenceburg (IN) Speedway....my dad raced there every Saturday during the 50's and after he gave it up, we still went down and watched almost every week. Other tracks he raced at frequently during my early youth were: Hilltop (KY) Speedway, Carrollton (KY) Speedway, Paris (KY) Speedway, Eldora (1/4 mile back then), Glen Este Speedway & the Cincinnati Race Bowl

Broadway Speedway,Illiana Speedway,Rennsellear speedway

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Tri County Speedway in West Chester Ohio (Cincinnati) when it was dirt of course.

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Butler was the first time I saw sprint cars. Now, they're a huge part of my life. I went to Eldora next and have been a Steve Kinser fan ever since.
I really wish we had the passion for sprint cars here in Michigan that they do in Indiana...
A couple of the names I remember from 30 years ago are the Slades & Charlie Heath with that 6 cylinder that beat most of the 8 cylinders.

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New Paris speedway, new Paris Indiana lived about 10 miles away, used to get 200 cars a night and run until 3 or 4 am every Saturday. When we started racing up in Kalamazoo Michigan, we could go up there for the full program go to the shop unload and drive to new Paris and still catch 3 a mains plus all the b's c's and usually 2 d features. The hour time difference helped before Indiana started changing the clocks twice a year too.

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Sheboygan County Fairgrounds in Plymouth, Wisconsin. They still hold successful 4 class Saturday show. Including winged 360s and late models. To this day I still think they have the best "track food" of any track I've ever gone to. (and I've been to a lot). I remember going with my brothers and dad most every week. They ran winged modifieds, and my dad was involved with one of the cars in that division. We uses to go up to the track on our bikes super early and watch all the cars come into the pits. (back then, most cars were on open trailers)
The WoO and Hales Corners in West Allis, Wisconsin started my sprint car addiction.

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Warsaw speedway. It was beautiful overlooking the lake. Sprints late models street stocks. It was great
Better get there early if you want a seat. Sure do miss it.

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Re: What track did you grow up going too?
 

A few different tracks I grew up around. In the mid 60's Terre Haute Action Track. Raceway Park, watched the twin USAC races, Indy Cars an Stock Cars. Winchester, Anderson, Lincoln Park Speedway, and of course Indy. Use to be a dirt track right off 74 by Danville, Illinois known as Cornells. Dad raced late models in the early 70's at Henry's Speedway (Boswell). Had a chance to race midgets for Bob Higman, but at the time Dad was raising us 4 kids on his own. He later raced hobby stocks back in early 80's at Vermilion County Speedway. Lots of good memories. Thank You Dad for getting me hooked

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In Massachusetts, Norwood Arena, Modifieds(coupes and coaches). Sprint cars, Reading.

Once we moved to Indiana it was IRP, then the USAC trail. Didn't really have a weekly track once we started running sprint cars. As it was called back then, It was the USAC traveling circus. Great times for a teenager though.A lifetime of memories.

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Originally Posted by tntbusco:
Warsaw speedway. It was beautiful overlooking the lake. Sprints late models street stocks. It was great
Better get there early if you want a seat. Sure do miss it.

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Same for me. Also, add Avilla Speedway. Sadly, that one's gone too.

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I grew up about 15 miles north of Paragon. As a youngster my parents and grandparents would take me to Paragon and Bloomington on a regular basis. That was nearly 50 years ago, hard to believe but true. If my memory serves correctly we would watch guys like Gaines (rooted against him because he won all the time), Beavers, Gilstrap, Rose, Bob Kinser, and many others whose names escape me right now. Got my love of racing from those days.

Re: What track did you grow up going too?
 

What a great question. I learned what racing was at O'Hare Stadium in Chicago. I remember a hard-nosed promoter/operator whose nickname was "Ham", and a clown named "T-Bone" I think. Also went to a number of races at Waukegan Speedway. Whitey Gerkin is a racer I remember - not many others. My parents were originally from Milwaukee and I'm told I saw my first race at the Milwaukee Mile when I was 1-year old. That's still my "home" track. As a teenager my Dad started taking me to midget races at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie. Still go there a lot too; in fact was just there on Sunday. When I was dating my wife, many times we went to the stock car races at Hales Corners Speedway. Romantic, hey? Went to all of the open-wheel (mostly WoO and Badger Midgets) shows there up until they closed. Good memories.

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Danville Il for me also. Growing up in far western Indiana, it was our usual Saturday night destination. It's my first track i remember attending, but have been told i was at the first Hoosier 100 in Sept. 1953, a babe in arms. It was always, and still is, my favorite race of the year because of my dads love for it. Great thread for us oldies but goodies, bob.

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My Uncle would always take me to Paragon with him and sometimes sneak me in the pits hiding in the back seat of his Duster opps did I say that!! He was the Mechanic for Leon Thickstun back in those days! We would also go to races at the Old Laweranceburg Speedway alot. I remember going to Bloomington back then and Haubstadt and sometimes Salem! Those were the days!! Some of the greatest drivers of all time raced back then when I was just a young pup in the late 60's and 70's! Some people on here still think I'm just a pup and that's ok! Makes ya feel alive!!

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Cincinnati Race Bowl, the ORIGINAL 16th Street Speedway (across from IMS), Dayton Speedway, Winchester Speedway, New Bremen Speedway, Salem Speedway. We are talking mid 50's here, AAA and USAC racing. Now they are all gone :7:except for two of them.

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Raceway Park, Blue Island, Illinois.

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I was born in April of 1968, and by June I was a regular at the old San Jose Speedway where they ran super modifieds (called them hardtops) on asphalt. They shut that track down when I was in elementary school, so we started going to the dirt track at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds in San Jose. Sometime in high school I started going to Baylands raceway in Fremont CA.

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Hagerstown Raceway in Hagerstown, MD. was were my Dad took me to that first race. I was hooked instantly! Sunday evenings in the summer were mostly spent at this track. When I first started going in the mid sixties they ran super modifieds and semi lates. I got to see the likes of Mitch Smith, Bobby Abel, Dick Tobias, Jan Opperman and Kenny Weld race there on a regular basis as a kid.

Little Springfield, or as we called it, Shaheen's. Sunday nights. Shows on the mile were always a highlight for me as a kid, too. Later on Dad and I started branching out to Granite City, Godfrey, and Terre Haute and DuQuoin later still. What great times.

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Dad used to take me to,haubstadt on Sundays several times a season. It was a lonely drive back to Floyd county. Like a good kid, I would sleep all the way home. We used always eat at Lakeview truck stop. They had good cheeseburgers and plate lunches.

We would also hit other tracks too. I remember trips to Knoxville and Eldora. The best was a two week run. Eldora for 2-3 days, back home for fresh clothes and on to Knoxville. Fun times.

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Port Royal, PA. Went there as a kid with my parents and grandparents every saterday. My father being a dairy farmer, it was well know I had better be in the barn early on saterday. Cause if we were late to the races you just knew "hell" was going break out. Not that I wanted to be late either.

I can remember 1 saterday night sitting in the driveway waiting on my sisters date to show up, my Dad getting madder by the second. Finally he just left with my sister screaming in the back seat, me laughing, and mom yelling what are you doing! Dad said "It's time to leave and I'm waiting not 1 more second for that guy." Turns out we found out 1 year later when the guy called my sister up again, and asked her if she wanted to go out on a date? She told him you never showwed up last time and just called a year later, and now you want to go out again? His reply I got arested and just got out of jail!
Priceless,....

Still go to the Port all these years later, even met my wife at the track while poking around looking for a job on a sprint team. Also Haggerstown was a track my wife and I used to go to for awhile to the Hub city 150 till they stopped running the race. :13:

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Manzanita Speedway, Phoenix, Az. I always had dreams of someday racing there. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity. A couple of my brothers got some races in though. Lots of good memories about that place.

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back in the 50s (oh my) my dad took me every week to a track east of Columbus he called" the hill" and some call it the hole on the banks of clifty creek. WE ALSO road an Indian scooter there and to Paragon ,I think, know it was a long trip on scooter around Martinsville. But the greatest time we had was those days at the hill watching chop top flat head fords go at it. My favorite driver was a guy named old smoky because his car always ran great but smoked, loose rings I now guess. Sometimes when he hit the track the pa played "on top of old smoky", ha. great memories. :8:

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Jalopies at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl and Gardena Stadium. CRA "Big Cars" at "the New" Ascot Park right after they renamed it from it's original name, Los Angeles Speedway, then Midgets on the new infield 1/4 mile at Ascot and Super Mods on the Quarter and the 1/2 mile after Gardena closed. Early-model Stocks at Saugus. Mostly my childhood addiction was fueled on Sundays when Dick "Leatherbritches" Lane called the action from Gardena, then Ascot on KTLA, Channel 5; the in-person trips were special occasions that I lost sleep anticipating, like the night before Christmas.

Originally Posted by SpfldMile:
Little Springfield, or as we called it, Shaheen's. Sunday nights. Shows on the mile were always a highlight for me as a kid, too.

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Me too. Every Sunday night. My dad started racing there in 69, myself in 76.
Champaign County Fairgrounds in the 60's and 70's was our Friday night track.

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Re: What track did you grow up going to?
 

I grew up going to Anderson Speedway on Saturday Night, every week. I was a fan of the figure-8 racing, but really loved the weekly late model series. My favorite driver was #31 Bob Fields, who would do battle with #51 Vic Hellis, #15 Rick Rhonemus (sp) among many others. It was always great racing, plus the cars always looked perfect. They were always squeaky clean and just beautiful.

We would then head to Mt. Lawn Speedway on Sunday and watch the same drivers to battle there. Usually we'd have a picnic, or some sort of meal on the way to Mt. Lawn. As a side note, I really think this is something that HAS to happen with Anderson and Mt. Lawn. They need to have the same rules and race on different nights. Plus, enforce and stick to the rules...for everyone.

We also followed the special shows at Winchester, Salem, etc. We were into the asphalt late models, which included ARTGO andASA. So, I remember going to Nashville Fairgrounds Raceway, Queen City Speedway, Baer Field, etc.. I was fortunate to see drivers like Butch Miller, Johnny Benson, Dick Trickle, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and others that moved onto bigger things. There were also the drivers that I enjoyed watching, like Bob Senneker (sp), Mike Eddy, Jay Sauter, Jim Sauter and many others. My Dad was one of the first members of the Mark Martin Fan Club. So, we traveled a lot helping them with the picnics, or whatever. What a great time!

My dad and I were talking on our way back from the USAC Midget Week show at Kokomo. We sure missed a lot of great racing on the dirt during that time. We both really wish we would have been turned onto the dirt racing scene a lot sooner, but I wouldn't trade the time at the race tracks while growing up for anything. It was time with family, every weekend. It was also creating memories with them. It was also what ignited my passion for racing. That's something that will last forever.

Kt have to agree with you about Avilla. Raced at both Warsaw and Avilla. Warsaw was a great place but Avilla was a track that was more fun to race on. Grew up 5 miles from Avilla but Warsaw was dirt so that's where we went

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Started at Mt. Lawn speedway where my Grandpa took tickets at the gate for many years and my grandma worked the concession stand. Grandpa used to let me run around the track in his pickup and I was hooked on racing. When I wasn't visiting grandparents I was going to action track with my family. Picking up a bucket of chicken and meeting other families in the infield. Great memories of throwing the football with my brother and watching the races. I can only hope I'm having the same effect on my own son right now.

By the way Shawn I was not a Fields fan. I was a Steve Ellis fan and they had some great battles. Also was a fan of LJ Lines. Mostly because my dad helped him when he was a kid. Bet we crossed paths many times.

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Re: What track did you grow up going to?
 

Originally Posted by Shawn:
I grew up going to Anderson Speedway on Saturday Night, every week. I was a fan of the figure-8 racing, but really loved the weekly late model series. My favorite driver was #31 Bob Fields, who would do battle with #51 Vic Hellis, #15 Rick Rhonemus (sp) among many others. It was always great racing, plus the cars always looked perfect. They were always squeaky clean and just beautiful.

We would then head to Mt. Lawn Speedway on Sunday and watch the same drivers to battle there. Usually we'd have a picnic, or some sort of meal on the way to Mt. Lawn. As a side note, I really think this is something that HAS to happen with Anderson and Mt. Lawn. They need to have the same rules and race on different nights. Plus, enforce and stick to the rules...for everyone.

We also followed the special shows at Winchester, Salem, etc. We were into the asphalt late models, which included ARTGO andASA. So, I remember going to Nashville Fairgrounds Raceway, Queen City Speedway, Baer Field, etc.. I was fortunate to see drivers like Butch Miller, Johnny Benson, Dick Trickle, Darrell Waltrip, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin and others that moved onto bigger things. There were also the drivers that I enjoyed watching, like Bob Senneker (sp), Mike Eddy, Jay Sauter, Jim Sauter and many others. My Dad was one of the first members of the Mark Martin Fan Club. So, we traveled a lot helping them with the picnics, or whatever. What a great time!

My dad and I were talking on our way back from the USAC Midget Week show at Kokomo. We sure missed a lot of great racing on the dirt during that time. We both really wish we would have been turned onto the dirt racing scene a lot sooner, but I wouldn't trade the time at the race tracks while growing up for anything. It was time with family, every weekend. It was also creating memories with them. It was also what ignited my passion for racing. That's something that will last forever.

Started going to Anderson just after high school, absolutely loathed Bob Fields, I cheered for Vic Hellis who graduated HS one year in front of me. Was a big Darwin Blankenship fan too.

Originally Posted by Tumey's 55:
I grew up about 15 miles north of Paragon. As a youngster my parents and grandparents would take me to Paragon and Bloomington on a regular basis. That was nearly 50 years ago, hard to believe but true. If my memory serves correctly we would watch guys like Gaines (rooted against him because he won all the time), Beavers, Gilstrap, Rose, Bob Kinser, and many others whose names escape me right now. Got my love of racing from those days.

One addendum, the trip to Bloomington was made sweeter by a stop at a relatively new hamburger joint on the north side, McDonalds. This was one of the few Greasy Mc's around and at this time was a carry out only. We would grab a cheeseburger and I got to listen to my dad and granddad relive the race on the way north on 2 lane 37.

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Re: What track did you grow up going too?
 

Originally Posted by hoosierhillbilly:
Dad used to take me to,haubstadt on Sundays several times a season. It was a lonely drive back to Floyd county. Like a good kid, I would sleep all the way home. We used always eat at Lakeview truck stop. They had good cheeseburgers and plate lunches.

We would also hit other tracks too. I remember trips to Knoxville and Eldora. The best was a two week run. Eldora for 2-3 days, back home for fresh clothes and on to Knoxville. Fun times.

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Sure do miss Lakeview truck stop!

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well i didn't have a chance in hell to do anything but racing as i was a kid. the family was involved in it before i was born. dad had coupes that jim bob luebbers and ross smith drove around the cincy area. then my granny bought a sprintcar. it was all over from there. i was never home and didn't care much for stick and ball sports. we all know it takes two ball's to play our sport. lawrenceburg was our home track but didn't run there regular till 1975 when we won the championship. sure do miss the old times drivers, tracks and traveling...

this past sunday it would be 35 years since granny smith fielded a sprintcar...damn

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Kokomo Speedway! We used to sit on the top row with our legs dangling off the back! There was a fence but a big gap on the bottom of it!
And Figure 8s!
Ray Kenens, Don Walker, Louie Mann, Mark Caldwell, Ron Fisher and more!!!
I remember when we were little going around and getting all the drivers' autographs! How I would love to see those autograph books now!

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I grew up at Shangri-la Speedway in Owego NY, a half mile paved track in the Southern Tier of NY state near the PA border. Geoff Bodine started his career there. Went to my first race at three months old. My dad crewed/built engines for the Northeast pavement modifieds that raced there in the 60’s and 70’s with drivers such as Mike Zopp, Don Diffendorf, Graeme Bolia, Don Yeingst, Larry Groover, and Brett Bodine.

When I got older, I helped sell welding insurance at the track. For those who have no idea what “welding insurance” is: if you paid two bucks for the insurance and needed the welder to help with repairs on your race car you were covered. If you didn’t have the insurance, you had to pay the track welder’s hourly rate which was something like 10 bucks. That was back in the days before store bought parts. If you broke it-you fixed it, most times at the track in between races. A track welder was pretty popular back in those days.

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Armscamp in Alexandria and the original 16th Street Speedway, in Indianapolis for midgets, Sun Valley in Anderson for the roaring roadsters and Winchester and Dayton for the 'big cars' and thanks 'Pop' (gone now for 30 years)for being a racing fan and not a golfer.

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Pittsfield Illinois Speedway. Jerry Blundy, the Uppinghouse brothers, an occasional visit by Wib Spaulding, Eddie Freese, Ralph Vortman with his beautiful blue GMC (I think) fuel injected inline 6 supermodified, Dick Vance, Wild Man Kelly with his grey #77 34 Ford flathead stocker, the Weld Brothers, Larry "Boom Boom" Cannon, Chuck Amati, and many more. The track had real promotions: a corset race where the supermodified drivers ran half of the feature and pitted, put on a corset, jumped back into the car and went back out for the other half. A greased pig race where catching a greased pig took the place of putting the corset on. A 500 lap partnership race, with management turning off the lights a couple of hours after the race ended with 13 teams still arguing they won. Seeing drivers burn tires in the pits in October to keep warm. A visit from some guy from Kentucky we had never heard of driving a winged super who went off turn 1, down the steep bank into the bean field and came up the road back of the back stretch more than once during the feature and still won. We had never seen him or heard of him, but that changed after Roy Robbins won the first Knoxville Nationals the next week. Another special promotion which featured 100 lap features four Saturdays in a row. $1,000 to win (this was in the early '60s) with the winner starting in last place the next week. A $1,000 bonus if anyone could win all four weeks. Although Dick Vance was strong in the #401 Buick-powered super, he wasn't that strong, so they got a substitute driver; Gordon Wooley, who did win the bonus. The thrill of squinting into the sun and trying to figure who the strange car might bring to the track. Especially memorable was the Saturday night of the dirt champ races at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The excitement as the shiny red and white #55 (I think) super rolled into the pits. No one paid any attention to the shabby-looking #401 towing in with it with the driver whose name the announcer butchered. Bill Putter... who? That lasted until Bill Puterbaugh took time trials. He easily swept that night, as he did the next year after the State Fair dirt champ race.

My first visits to Granite City and Little Springfield and the Springfield Mile were thrills, but my heart will always be with Pittsfield, the track of my youth. It is now a Wal-Mart.

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Originally Posted by illinisprintfan:
I was born in April of 1968, and by June I was a regular at the old San Jose Speedway where they ran super modifieds (called them hardtops) on asphalt. They shut that track down when I was in elementary school, so we started going to the dirt track at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds in San Jose. Sometime in high school I started going to Baylands raceway in Fremont CA.

I started out at Oahe speedway in Pierre, SD which was a Sunday night show. We had relatives in Miller so got to see their Sat. show often, and always went to the State Fair in Huron for the races.

Moved to California to go to college and hung out at San Jose Speedway, then the Fairgrounds, Baylands, back to the Fairgrounds. Ended up in Southern California at Perris before moving to Indiana.:22:

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My family didn't attend races on a regular basis, as my dad owned a service station and he worked long hours. I also worked there, so between work, school and sleep, little time was left for anything else.
I remember quite a few drivers coming into our station to buy gas for their race cars, so I began to notice racing a little bit. We sold DX, and that was the highest octane gas available at the time. The cars they raced were based on coupes from the thirties, and powered by a variety of engines; Chrysler flathead six, Ford flatheads and Oldsmobiles.
The DX distributor from Morganfield, KY would stop in our station on his way to and from the Indy 500, so I developed an interest in the 500 by talking to him. And, of course, Sid Collins radio broadcast really got me thinking how I must see that race one day. I finally did in 1965, and have been to everyone since.
As far as tracks I attended as a kid, I do remember my parents taking me to the Boonville fair. This would have been sometime in the late forties. It must have been a major event, as I do recall Troy Ruttman being there.
I began attending races on my own in 1955 at the Sturgis, KY drag strip located at the airport.
As far as oval tracks, I first attended TSS (Haubstadt) when it opened in 1957. That got me really interested in cars going in circles. In the late, sixties I attended races at Ellis Speedway at Reed, KY and Kentucky Motor Speedway (Whitesville), both asphalt tracks, where some guy named Darrel Waltrip was making a name for himself.
In the early seventies, I began attending the newly opened oval at Chandler, as well as going to Windy Hollow Kentucky. Princeton, IN fairgrounds had a scary fast half-mile for a while in the seventies.
But, Haubstadt probably planted the seed that started my love for dirt tracks.