but will they still run pavement races? i can't bring myself to even think of it going away. I love the dirt }love it!{ but they just can't take the asphault away. Is there an article saying its possible that it's going? Please no!

[ClaytonYeley]

From http://www.salemspeedway.com/ (sorry if this is a repeat post).

JAMES/O'CONNOR HIGHLIGHTS
First 49 Races Have Seen Both Triumph And Tragedy

The 50th annual Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial is set for Saturday, August 15th
at Salem Speedway. Following are highlights from past James/O’Connor races:

1953: Larry Crockett of Columbus, Ind., wins the inaugural Joe James Memorial after posting the day’s fastest qualification lap of 20.30 seconds - over five seconds and 30 mph slower than today’s sprint car averages at Salem. Pat O’Connor finished second in the 50-lap event and Mike Nazaruk was third.

1955: Bob Sweikert, who four months earlier had won the Indianapolis 500, clinched the 1955 AAA Midwest Sprint Car Championship with his victory in the 50-lap Joe James Memorial at Salem.

1957: Pat O’Connor becomes the first two-time winner of the memorial race by a huge margin as he was more than a lap ahead of the second place car of Elmer George at the end of the 50-lap event. O’Connor recorded an unprecedented string of two wins, two seconds and a third place finish in the first five Joe James Memorial races.

1958: Following Pat O’Connor’s tragic death in the Indianapolis 500 a few months earlier, the Joe James Memorial was renamed the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial. Eddie Sachs of Center Valley, Pa., came away with the victory in the 100-lap event. Sachs, who had finished second in the AAA Midwest Sprint Car Championship in each of the three previous years, captured the 1958 title with his win at Salem.

1959: A young brash Texan named A.J. Foyt captured his very first USAC feature win in an exciting 1959 James/O’Connor Memorial. Foyt, driving the A.J. Watson Special, and Don Branson rubbed tires as they roared side-by-side into the fourth turn on the last lap, forcing Branson to momentarily brake while Foyt shot across the finish line for the thrilling victory.

1961: Parnelli Jones of Torrance, Calif., became the first back-to-back winner of the Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial. The 28-year-old driver nearly spun while battling A.J. Foyt for the lead on the opening lap, but recovered to finish two-laps ahead of second place, Elmer George at the end of the 100-lap event. Chuck Hulse finished third and Jim Hurtubise fourth.

1963: A.J. Foyt set a new “world” record during qualifications, with a one-lap time of 17.98-seconds, and led the first 67 laps before being sidelined with a shredded right rear tire as Roger McCluskey breezed home one lap ahead of second place Bob Wente in the 11th annual classic.

1964: Mario Andretti wins his very first USAC event. The Nazareth, Pa., driver passed pole-sitter, Jud Larson on the 20th lap and proceeded to build a one-lap advantage. He coasted at the end, finishing nearly a quarter-lap in front of second place Don Branson of Champaign, Ill.

1965: Bobby Unser sped by the disabled car of Mario Andretti on the fourth turn of the last lap to capture the 13th annual James/ O’Connor Memorial. Andretti, who had led the first 99 laps, hit the wall after blowing a tire on the final lap.

1967: Local favorite, Sonny Ates of nearby Sellersburg, Ind., drove the Iddings Auto Glass Special to victory in the 100-lap race. Ates led the final 54 circuits around the .555-mile oval and finished half-a-lap in front of Bill Puterbaugh, who finished second.

1969: Sammy Sessions of Nashville, Mich., roared past a faltering Larry Dickson on the next to last lap to win the 1969 classic. Dickson, who led from the opening lap, experienced mechanical woes late in the race and Sessions grabbed the lead as the front-runners came off the fourth turn on the white flag lap.

1971: Rollie Beale of Toledo, Ohio, become the sixth two-time winner of the fall classic.

1973: Tom Sneva, a junior high school principal from Spokane, Wa., demolished the barely three month old one-lap track record of 17.32-seconds, set by Gary Bettenhausen, with a sizzling 16.97-second clocking in the Gehlhausen rear-engine sprinter during time trials. Tom Bigelow of Whitewater, Wi., drove the Elder Cadillac car to a wire-to-wire win in the 40-lap James/O’Connor Memorial.

1975: Pancho Carter joins Parnelli Jones as the only back-to-back James/O’Connor winner with a victory in the 50-lap event. Sam Sessions finishes second and Larry Dickson ends up third.

1976: Pancho Carter, who dominated the 1976 USAC Sprint Car Division with 12 feature victories, became the first three-time winner of the memorial. After posting fast time during qualifications, Carter started sixth in the 50-lap race and passed Bruce Walkup for the lead on the 18th circuit and was unchallenged the rest of the way.

1977: Pancho Carter’s incredible string continues on the high banks as he goes to the front on the seventh lap and stays there for the remainder of the 50-lap race in capturing his fourth straight James/O’Connor Memorial. Larry Moore finished second and Chuck Gurney was third.

1979: Steve Chassey was the fastest, setting a new one-lap track record of 16.074-seconds in the Jet Engineering roadster during time trials, but Greg Leffler, driving the Armstrong Mould car, was the winner of the 27th annual James/O’Connor race. It was the first of what would be two straight memorial wins for Leffler.

1988: Bob Frey of Wickenburg, Ariz., held off a late charging Rich Vogler to win the first James/O’Connor race since Salem Speedway reopened after being closed for nearly seven years. Frey’s V-6 powered car owned by Glen Niebel, beat Vogler’s machine to the to the finish by a mere 61 heundredths of a second.

1990: Rich Vogler was fatally injured as he was breezing to his second James/O’Connor victory. The event, being shown live on ESPN, was red flagged with two-laps remaining and Vogler was named the victor posthumously since he was leading the last green flag lap. Jeff Gordon, making just his third career start on the Salem high banks, finished second and Bob Frey was third.

1995: Tony Stewart and Kenny Irwin Jr. staged a stirring dual over the final 10 laps with Stewart outgunning Irwin for the win in an exciting shootout on the high banks. Irwin, who set fast time in qualifications with a run of 15.703-seconds, pulled alongside Stewart on the white flag lap but was unable to complete the pass and had to settle for second, ending his hopes of back-to James/O’Connor victories.

1996: Chet Fillip spun on the eighth of 50-laps and dropped to the tail of the field. The Indy 500 veteran then roared back through the pack to capture his first victory in three James/O’Connor starts. Early leader Kenny Irwin Jr. was sidelined with a cut tire and fast qualifier, Andy Michner, banged the second turn wall while running second.

1997: Dave Steele led flag-to-flag in capturing his first career win on the Salem oval in dominating fashion. The Tampa, Fla., driver was nearly a half-lap in front of the second place car of Pat Abold, who was making his first Salem start, at the end of the 50-lap race. Brian Tyler finished third.

1999: Dave Darland, known for his mastery of a sprint car on dirt, recorded his first career pavement win in the 40th annual classic. He led the final 24-laps around the .555-mile oval and finished five car lengths in front of Ryan Newman at the checkers. Jason McCord finished third, with Billy Putterbaugh Jr. fourth and Steve Surniak fifth.

2001: Tracy Hines passed defending race winner Eric Gordon on the 38th lap and went on to record his first James/O’Connor Memorial victory. The race featured an abundance of dicing and wheel-to-wheel racing and will go in the record books as one of the most competitive and exciting in the last several years.

2002: Ed Carpenter took advantage of lapped traffic to pass Eric Gordon for the lead just past the midway point of the race on his way to his first James/O’Connor victory. The 50-lap race began with a bang as a spin by Jay Drake caused a seven-car pileup. Gordon finished second for the second consecutive year after winning the race in 2000.

2003: Michael Lewis capitalized on J.J. Yeley’s late race mistake and went on to win his first James/O’Connor Memorial. Yeley, driving for Tony Stewart Racing, had a half-lap lead on the rest of the field when he spun exiting turn four on lap 35. Lewis took over the lead and never looked back. Eric Gordon finished second for the third consecutive year.

2004: Dave Steele passed Brian Tyler for the lead and then checked out on the field, leading the final 32 laps, to claim his second career James/O’Connor victory. The Tampa, Fla., driver won the 30-lap midget main earlier in the evening to join Pancho Carter and Jeff Gordon as the only drivers to have won feature events in both divisions on the same day at Salem.

2006: On his first visit to Salem Speedway, 17-year-old Bryan Clauson put on quite a show, winning both USAC sprint and midget features. Clauson, a California native and high school senior, became just the fourth driver to win both Salem races in the same night, joining David Steele, Jeff Gordon and Pancho Carter.

2007: For the first time in 47 previous races no winner emerged from the 2008 Memorial, as rain halted the night’s activities 10 laps short of an official race. The 50-lap main event was stopped by a red flag after Kevin Swindell flipped on lap 15. While the red waved, the rains came and ended the race. Cameron Dodson was leading at the time of the accident.

2008: Jacob Wilson turned in a flawless performance in winning his first career USAC race. The Crawfordsville, Ind., driver raced to the front of the field from his sixth place starting position and held off veteran Tracy Hines at the end to pull off the stunning victory.