[SDHill89]

Dad started taking me to the races in Jacksonville as soon as I was potty trained. We spent many Friday nights there. He started taking me around to other races a couple years after that. I remember my first WoO race in Pevely when I was real young. It rained and we almost left but I begged to stay and they got the race in but by the time we got home from the race it was getting light. I was hooked on sprint cars from a young age and I was able to spend a lot of time with my dad going to races and still do. I think sprint cars are a big reason why I am close with my dad.

[JCC]

Mt. Lawn speedway weekly . Some a Indianapolis raceway park and Winchester Thursday night thunder shows. When I was growing up. Then a good friend of mine took me to a dirt sprint car race at gas city then the next night at Lawrenceburg. After those two nights of racing I figured out that asphalt was to drive to the track on and dirt was to race on! Thanks for getting me hooked Bob!

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[mc/rider]

Attn.Nathan 1012 Broadway Speedway early Sixtys I remember Bob Hollifields 47 Packard&62 Pontiac conv Larry Copes blue 80 Whitey Exs 3 also the Hatches orange and black Fords

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[nathans1012]

Originally Posted by mc/rider Attn.Nathan 1012 Broadway Speedway early Sixtys I remember Bob Hollifields 47 Packard&62 Pontiac conv Larry Copes blue 80 Whitey Exs 3 also the Hatches orange and black Fords Posted via Mobile Device

Seen a lot of pictures of the track before Paul Shafer bought it in 1980. According to Paul that's when the name change happened. Still miss the place. Seen some d@mn good racing there over the year. Broadway / Southlake / Crown Point where all the same track. Live a couple of miles from where the track was located. I remember watching many races there and every now an then you'd see some name drop in on the nights races.

[Al Consoli]

[Indy1808]

Very nice thread.
Great to read the stories.
Really good educational reading especially for someone who promotes, owns, sanctions, to really understand how to continue to keep the fans coming & gain the new ones. All the more reason to let the under 12 in free.

Anyway, since a babe in arms,
I, like a few others here, actually had 3 tracks that I grew up going to.
The Champaign County Fairgrounds (1/2 & 1/4 mile tracks) was on Friday nite.
Saturday was Macon Speedway.
And then Sunday was lil Springfield (Shaheens).
Also recall going to (special event races?) at the old Danville Speedbowl? speedway(extinct) & Fairbury's Am. Legion Speedway.

Sprints were always my favorite from the beginning. Watching drivers like Johnny Meyers, gentleman Jim Moughan, Gene Henson, Chuck Weyant, Olie Runion, Hershel Jenkins, Wib Spaulding, Ross Sowers, Chuck Amati, Wink Bridges, Ronnie Milton, Dean Shirley, Chuck Lynch, Larry Cannon, Bobby Carrigan, all the Stanridge & Camfield (drivers & families) Don Branson, Bubby Jones & all the Bettenhausen brothers and so many more.

The Champaign County Fairgrounds had the 1/2 mile with the 1/4 mile track inside of it.(the 1/2 is still there but 1/4 is gone.) The 1/4 is the track that was used for the every Friday night events but the 1/2 was utilized for the fair weekend events. For those of you that have been to Jacksonville Illinois Speedway it was very similar with the exception of larger covered grandstands.

My father was an official & a flagman. He later became secretary/manager of the Champaign County fairgrounds from the mid 1950's until he passed away in 1963 (at age 42). He and several others were a very influential on bringing automotive related events to the fair & fairgrounds, much to the chagrin of the many Horse owners there. Looking back he really had to be diplomatic with them since they were mostly the controlling shareholders of the Fair and made up most of its board members. Let alone their dislike of the noise & effect it might have on the animals.

When he passed away, I was only just starting grade school. Still in my early years, he had instilled in me & showed me the love he had for this sport of ours. I owe this allegiance to him as well as my patriotism to this great country and the freedom it stands for.

Reminiscing of those years before he passed, I spent many hours & long days, with him at the fairgrounds & track. I have vivid memories of riding the water truck many times with the track workers.
Even after his passing, our neighbor, (He was the official timer that was with the circuit) allowed me to continue going with them and their son, well into my late teens. Thank you George but even more so,
THANKS TO MY DAD.
Here is some video of them racing on the 1/2 mile in the 1970's.

YouTube Short

[Scott Daloisio]

Flat Rock Speedway south of Detroit with my parents every Saturday night and then onto Toledo Speedway every Sunday. Fond memories that I would not trade for anything in the world.

[Roy Bleckert]

Riverside Intr. Raceway , Ascot , Orange Show Speedway , 605, Ontario Motor Speedway Got to grow up around bout every form of racing, paved short to super speedways, dirt tracks , road courses & witnessed everything from Bombers to Sprints to NastyCar to Indy Car to F1 before I went to kindergarten, Thanks Pops for showing me a very diverse racing background !

[Dick Monahan]

Unlike most of the above, my parents had no interest in cars or racing. When I was 14, there was a loud engine running in the field behind our house. It was three local lads, about 5-6 years older with what I soon learned was a dirt modified. I started "helping" them. I soon talked my father into taking me to the closest local track, the Dracut (MA) Speedway. They ran "cut-downs" (early supermodifieds made by chopping, channeling and narrowing early coupes), but the first night turned out to have an added attraction ... the 3rd race of the newly-formed Northeastern Midget Assn!

About midseason, the dirt modified owner asked if I wanted to go with them to the Cheshire Fairgrounds, outside of Keene, NH. Of course, I went. For the next 6 years, it was Keene on Thursdays, the Rhythm Inn Speedway in Miller's Falls, MA on Fridays, and occasionally Claremont (NH) Speedway on Saturday. In '59 we ran Stafford Springs, CT (then dirt). That winter, we built a sprint car (from scratch) with which we ran URC for the next 3-4 years.

As with my parents, our kids have little interest in racing. My wife thinks I killed it by taking them to too many races while I was president of NEMA. Unlike the parents you see streaming out of the track when it goes too late, I always had to stay to the end, and they grew to dislike it. Oh, well, that's how it goes.

[BrentTFunk]

I grew up at Kokomo Speedway. Bill Lipkey promoted the place and they ran a cross between sprints and super mods when I first remember going. I can remember a few seasons when they ran wings in the early 70's. Big heavy plywood wings. Then sprint cars took over for good. I remember watching USAC midgets when about half the cars had roll cages. I had seen weekly cars flip and I remember that being pretty scary. When I was in first grade they had a 2 day ASA sprint show, and I remember 2 things about it. One was it was the first and last time I saw a rear engine sprint car race. The other was my student teacher from school was the trophy girl. Later on in the 70's before the world of outlaws, Bob Deshamps one of the founders of ASA would rent the track for a sprint only show on a Wednesday night. I remember seeing Sammy and Steve for the first time at those shows. I asked Bob Kinser several years ago about Steve flipping out of the park that night, and he told me it was his third or fourth race. All the old people said Steve was just racing because of his Dad's name and would never amount to anything. Guess they missed that one. Later on saw a couple of wingless World of Outlaw races, and the first USAC sprint race ever on a track smaller than a half mile. Once the track went to pure sprint cars, I was lucky as weekly shows were always wingless. I worked for Kent Evans when he had the track.It was quite a thrill the first time circling the track in the water truck, or taking the fast qualifier around the track in the pace truck.Looking back I saw some cool things and some great drivers, and happy to say things are probably even better now.