Re: Armscamp Speedway
 

About 35 or 36 years ago I read a brief history of Armscamp Speedway in Stock Car Racing Magazine. A few months later I was going from Sheridan to Marion and I saw what looked like a couple of man-made hills off the north side of the road behind a trucking company. I wondered, could it be? So I did a U-turn and went back. The young woman behind the desk in the trucking office gave me permission to tromp around the place and, sure enough, I had found the remains of Armscamp Speedway. At the time the wall was still intact and the racing surface probably could have been reclaimed by burning off the weeds and applying a couple of heavy coats of asphalt sealer. I took a bunch of pictures and have thought of the place often since then. I moved to Florida in 1980, so I've never been back to ol' Armscamp. Undoubtedly, the 30+ winters since I was there have done much additional damage, but it sure would be cool if it could be resurrected...

There are a couple guys working on cleaning up and restoring old Armscamp track. Any information or photos would really help. Please email me anything you can

Re: Armscamp Speedway
 

I trashed the pictures a couple of years ago when my wife and I were cleaning out old files and pictures. I doubt they would have been much help anyway. There was one picture of a light pole with part of the fixture still hanging on it, a picture of part of the front wall, and a couple of overall shots. Everything was so obscured by weeds and brush it just looked like a field of weeds. If you didn't know what it was the pictures made no sense.:11:

I would be interested to know more about the work going on there. Are there plans to make the place a working race track again? I had a flyer sent to me about some kind of reunion on the weekend of 10-21-17. I forwarded it to a friend in Indiana, he drove to the address on the flyer, a small strip mall, and there was nothing going on!:19:

I had found out recently that my Uncle Lew Morgan and his brother Burney owned the race track in Alexandria. My Grandpa, Alfred Chilton, would go to the track and take pictures of the drivers, get their autographs, and the sell the booklet. I have one of the autograph books with 32 drivers in it. One of Sod Saunders who was killed at the age of 26. It’s been interesting to find all of this out.

I read somewhere that the very short video clip in the movie “The Big Wheel” where Happy crashes through the fence in flames - was shot at Armscamp. That’s a 50’s movie starring Mickey Rooney where he goes from midget to Indy. I believe the 2 second clip of the crash was someone’s real crash - then Hollywood took over on a set as they tried to free Happy from the burning car. For the record, I remember off the top of my head, Houston Bundy and Alvin Wallace really were killed on that track. I’ll have to check my records, I think there may have been more.

Quick edit: add Paul Camp (1951) and Otto Butler (1946) to that list.

Re: Armscamp Speedway
 

Originally Posted by sprinter14:
I read somewhere that the very short video clip in the movie “The Big Wheel” where Happy crashes through the fence in flames - was shot at Armscamp. That’s a 50’s movie starring Mickey Rooney where he goes from midget to Indy.

Not to hijack the thread, but you can take all of the racing movies ever made, roll them up in one wad, and set them aside. I'll take watching "The Big Wheel" over all of them.

Classic Hollywood scene when Billy Coy (Mickey) walks into the nightclub and goes right up to the maitre d' and says, "Table for Alexander Hamilton."

Looking down at his list, the maitre d' replies, "I don't have an Alexander Hamilton."

He then looks up and Mick is holding out a bill and comes back with, "Well, you do now."

"Right this way Mr. Hamilton," as he shows Mick into the club.

On another sidebar, this thread was started on 12/17/07. This has to now hold the IOW world record for the longest running thread, yet alone the oldest one revived.

Re: Armscamp Speedway
 

Originally Posted by sprinter14:
I read somewhere that the very short video clip in the movie “The Big Wheel” where Happy crashes through the fence in flames - was shot at Armscamp. That’s a 50’s movie starring Mickey Rooney where he goes from midget to Indy. I believe the 2 second clip of the crash was someone’s real crash - then Hollywood took over on a set as they tried to free Happy from the burning car. For the record, I remember off the top of my head, Houston Bundy and Alvin Wallace really were killed on that track. I’ll have to check my records, I think there may have been more.

Quick edit: add Paul Camp (1951) and Otto Butler (1946) to that list.

Hey Aaron. My aunt was married to an Al Wallace which I would assume was a Cincinnati driver. The marriage did not last long after the birth of my cousin Tom. My father and Al were never close so I don't know much about him. Wondering if Alvin Wallace was one and the same.