[Indy1808]

Posted Friday, August 13, 2010 by Track:
Illinois State Fair Enters Second Century of Auto Racing
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Nineteen sixty-one saw change and sadness at the fairgrounds. Tony
Bettenhausen was killed at Indianapolis that May and the championship race,
nameless since 1934 became memorialized for Tony.
Motorcycle races continued during the fair but stock cars from USAC were
added after the fair's run and Len Sutton became the first to take both a
championship (1959) and stock car (1961) 100 miler at the
fairgrounds.

The sixties have been called racing's greatest decade and that may have been
the case at Springfield. A.J. Foyt won three of his then record four
Bettenhausen races. Mario Andretti won in 1969 while Jim
Hurtubise took the first two Bettenhausen events. Stock car drivers were no
slouches either as Norm Nelson, Don White and Butch Hartman won thrilling
and controversial events. The decade had it's sad
moments as well. First, the passing of Springfield's own Alien Crowe at a
USAC Sprint race in New Bremen, Ohio led to the first Allen Crowe Memorial
100 in 1963. In 1964 Bill Horstmeyer lost his life in
a horrific championship car crash on the front stretch. Two years later in
nearly the same spot a catwalk collapsed in the grandstand during an
exhibition resulting in injuries and fatalities.

A new concrete retaining wall was placed around the outside of the
Springfield Mile in time for the 1966 race won by Champaign's Don Branson.
The new all helped speed up the running of the Allen Crowe
100 stock car race (run during the fair in 1965) as no longer did the outer
chain link and board fence have to be repaired in a crash.

The 1970's saw another change at Springfield as it was removed, along with
the other dirt tracks, from the national championship trail. The crowds
still came as did the star drivers, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Mario Andretti
won the first five races of the new Dirt Track Division which would later
become the Silver Crown Series. Stock cars ran on Sunday's during most of
the decade with controversy remaining part of the Allen Crowe 100. A
racetrack in need of a new surface broke up and became dusty and it was
necessary to stop more than one race for the water truck. In 1975 the race
was stopped due to a power failure on the grounds. State Fair Motor Sports
Director Bill Oldani rectified the surface issue in 1979 when 10.000 tons of
clay were placed on the track.

USAC's stock car division began to wane in the late 1970's and in the 80's
folded up shop completely but not before Dean Roper would win four of six
races early in the decade as USAC added a second date to the fairgrounds.
ARCA stepped in when USAC needed cars in 1983 and in 1985 became the sole
stock car sanctioning body for the Allen Crowe 100. Dirt cars continued
their spectacular Tony Bettenhausen 100 runs with Tony's son Gary picking up
a win in 106 degree heat in 1983 and Steve Chassey and Jeff Swindell
breaking the 31 and 30 second barriers in qualifying respectively as the one
lap record fell six times during the decade. Sprint cars came back to the
fairgrounds in 1980 as Steve Kinser set a world record in qualifying that
would be broken by Rick Ferkel in 1982. Midgets returned during the 1983
fair with the Rex Easton 25.

The 90's opened with Chuck Gurney winning his record tying 4th Bettenhausen
then getting 5 in 1991 and two more in 1994 and 1996. ARCA stock car shows
proved wildly popular with big crowds and NASCAR and dirt late model stars
making their way to the big mile. Ken Schrader returned to Springfield in
1993 bringing dirt standout Bob Hill with him. Unfortunately the decade also
saw the passing of Bill Oldani prior to the 1993fair and the future of auto
racing at the Illinois State Fair was in great doubt.

Bob Sargent of Track Enterprises, the owner of Macon Speedway had proven
that a still date in 1992 would be successful bringing dirt late models and
modifieds to Springfield for the first Illinois Fall Nationals. He was the
logical choice to take over for Bill Oldani and Sargent immediately made
changes adding the local sportsman cars for the Wynn's Sportsman Nationals,
an event now entering it's 17th year.

Sargent and his group would see the Bettenhausen 100 and Crowe 100 as well
as the Fall Nationals through some glorious and trying times. ARCA's Frank
Kimmel won a record seven Allen Crowe 100 races while Dave Darland became a
three-time winner of the Bettenhausen. Billy Moyer, Scott Bloomquist and
Brian Birkhofer all fell in love with the big mile in late models while Jeff
Leka, Wes O'Dell and Dennis Vandermeersch became local heroes who won on the
mile. Sprint cars returned and bought large crowds and lap speeds in excess
of 145 miles an hour. Sadly, grand champion Dean Roper had a heart attack
and passed away during the 2001 Crowe 100 while George Handley lost his life
in a modified in the 2002 Illinois Fall Nationals.

The Nationals fell on hard times and eventually were moved to LaSalle in
2007. The Bettenhausen suffered from low car counts and lagging attendance
but the Silver Crown Series seems to be on an upswing and the race remains
among the most prestigious in the series. ARCA remains the only major stock
car sanctioning body to run on dirt. ARCA continues to give fans a battle
of local drivers versus national stars. Springfield's Justin Allgaier became
the first hometown driver in over 70 years to win a major race at the
Illinois State Fair and went on to the 2008 ARCA title.

From triumph to tragedy, from world renown racing stars to unheralded
weekend warriors, from early 'big cars' to national championship machines to
sprint cars, stock cars, midgets and motorcycles, the Illinois State
Fairgrounds has seen it all in 100 years of auto racing. Seventy-six
national championship dirt track races, fifty-seven national championship
stock car events. Numerous midget car, sprint car, stock car and motorcycle
races. World speed records too numerous to count. The Springfield Mile has
a racing history that predates the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As just one
of four operating one-mile fairground dirt tracks in the country, she
remains a vital link to America's oval track racing heritage.

Here's to another 100 years!