Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedway
 

Former Union County Speedway in Liberty, Indiana reopening as Liberty 44 Speedway

Here is the tracks new Facebook page
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572246981517



https://i.imgur.com/C9k6nKP.jpeg

Had someone send me this earlier, track is 3 miles from my shop, when I went up the hill last summer it was a horse pasture. He had signs up wanting fill dirt, state had a bunch but couldn’t get in touch with him. I’m not super optimistic but hopeful. The flat drag group that had ran there for years wanted to continue running there when he leased it but he didn’t want them. Easiest gig, they brought their own tree and equipment all he had to to was open gates and start the generator. They took care of the rest.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

That's the track where I first met Marv Fish. Easily my favorite memory of the place.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

I used to do WHitewater (Union county on Fri, Florence on Sat and Burg on Sunday at one time. Used to be Robby Stanley's home track and he'd go topside while everyone ran the bottom. Halfway thru he'd start passing two cars a lap. My last race there was BOSS. Fischesser had a huge lead and coming to lap Dallas Hewitt, Hewitt switched lanes in front of him. totalled it.

If you go, Wear eye protection. grandstands and concession are nice. Restrooms about equivalent with Bloomington but much better than what it used to be. basically a three hole outhouse..

It's actually only about 45 minutes from me if I drive cross butler highway which turns into rt 44 in hamilton oh.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

I was only there one time. Back in the '80s the CRA stars would come in for a couple of weeks to run with USAC. I can't remember too much about the place, but seeing McSpadden, Shuman, Thompson and many others racing the great USAC drivers was fun.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

Originally Posted by Rapid Rick:
I was only there one time. Back in the '80s the CRA stars would come in for a couple of weeks to run with USAC. I can't remember too much about the place, but seeing McSpadden, Shuman, Thompson and many others racing the great USAC drivers was fun.

Frankie Kerr fed a RR to McSpadden to win

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

This could be a nice little track if someone would invest the time and money into upgrading it. The last time I was there USAC was scheduled to run a midget week show about 2008 or so. USAC pulled the plug due to unsafe track conditions but the sprint cars still ran that night I believe. They announced that you could get a refund if you wanted to and I promptly held out my hand and got a refund and headed home never to return again.

The concession stand and restrooms were good but the track fencing and the wall were not up to midget/sprint car standards. Parking was also a crap shoot as they would park cars near the turn one & two wall with no fencing to keep race cars on the track. If they can get the track back in racing condition, this could be a decent place to go,

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

I'm not sure there is a tougher time to reopen. Population close to the track is not great. They will have a few good nights when they open, but I worry about car counts. Modifieds are not a main attraction. Late Models, not many local drivers. Plus its hard to pull a decent car count even if you can pay $3,000 or $4,000 to win. Does not seem like they are trying to start out big, which may help.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

Is the rebar still sticking out of the walls

Most of the locals that had cars have sold them, they didn’t wanna travel to the burg or Montpelier. Everyone around here has derby cars though lol. I was shocked he didn’t allow the flat drag guys to race up there the last several years. All you gotta do is open the gate and turn the lights on. They bring their own equipment timing etc. easiest group to allow use.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

Originally Posted by Charles Nungester:
Frankie Kerr fed a RR to McSpadden to win

I remember that night very well as I wanted to kick Frankie's ass after that crap move.:20::34:

That night that USAC midgets pull out cause of safety concerns .Some of the midgets stayed and run a good feature Steve backwater won and told us he got good money for staying and racing .Sprint cars run a feature also and

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

The rebar was cut off. The only issue they couldn't solve was the grader buried in mud off turn one

I too took the refund and left. Only race I ever felt like I was at a blues brothers concert with a officer every five feet across the grandstand people were getting a little rowdy as well as the announcer when the haulers started leaving so the one or two security made a need assistance call and I think every officer in Indiana showed up. It was funny to look back at. Nobody was violent, Just dealing with the situation out of their control.

Also remember some guy jumping a quad runner. Seen this guy at another show a indoor monster truck show that had two trucks. They ran quad races around the rink and he had a 1000cc quad against 250cc competition That guy was a bad omen.

I think that guy jumped over some mods if I remember correctly. That was a crazy night

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

That night opened my eyes to just how terrible USAC is. Everyone in racing knows about that track. Everyone knows about its shady history. How decisions were no made before the day of the show is beyond me. USAC and other local race tracks lost a lot of my money after that. This track was really recovering at the time. They were pulling good car counts and good crowds. This event exposed all of the cracks. It dwindled away after that. New owner has a big uphill battle. Car counts are not what they were 10 years ago. Location is not on its side either.

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

we used to race late models up there in the 1980's. it was a no passing around the bottom joint with a bad rock problem. i hated that place. whitewater and jacksonville florida were the 2 worst tracks i've ever been to. the sprintcars put on the best show there. they can pass. i know billy daniels was the owner last i knew. they need new clay and more sweeping corners. new fencing also

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

Originally Posted by nathans1012:
Former Union County Speedway in Liberty, Indiana reopening as Liberty 44 Speedway

Here is the tracks new Facebook page
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61572246981517



https://i.imgur.com/C9k6nKP.jpeg

Talked with a few guys over the weekend that are close to this place. 1. The place is still owned by Billy Daniels. So the guy that created this flier is just leasing it. 2. sounds like he is having trouble getting anyone to come in to do events. I guess he just thought people were going to flock to the place. 3. the spring stuff was posted before he ever talked with anyone. Sounds like, talks did not go well. 4. Currently no insurance.

Hopefully I am wrong, but these guys seemed pretty adamant about it. As of right now the Spring is all but dead.

Has this place been touched

Turn 1 and 2

Re: Former Union Co. Speedway reopening as Liberty 44 Speedw
 

We were there for that midget race also that Buckwalter won. The feature ended up being a good one.


Bruce and Pat Eckel