[Tony Barhorst]

This would make a good present for Christmas. Bill Holder has authored a book on Eldora Speeedway back in the 90's also. Like many of you, I have been going to the high banks since they had the covered grandstands.

Book chronicles 100 years at Winchester Speedway



Famed Indiana venue was likely first high-banked track.

By Greg Billing

Dayton Daily News Staff Writer

Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Unser, Pancho Carter, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart tested their driving skills on its high-banked, half-mile oval.

Bill France Sr. used it as inspiration for the Daytona International Speedway.

And motorcyles, not stock cars or late models, ruled its early days.

Winchester Speedway celebrates its 100th anniversary next season and local author Bill Holder chronicled the “Fastest Half-Mile in the World” in the book “100 Years of Speed: The Centennial History of Winchester Speedway (1914-2013).”

“It was one of the first, if not the first high-banked track,” said Holder, who lives in Riverside.

Holder tells the story of NASCAR founder France Sr. making a clandestine trip to Winchester in the 1950s. He wanted to test his cars on the high banking – and with little fanfare. Not long after another high-banked track in Florida opened.

“Winchester’s banks are about 30 degrees and amazing enough Daytona’s are pretty much the same,” Holder said.

France wasn’t the only one to test at Winchester. Henry Ford’s Model A also made laps around the Indiana track, which also played host to Harley-Davidson and Indian factory motorcycle teams in its early days. It also proved a popular testing ground for Indy cars in the 1920s.

The 128-page book contains more than 100 black and white photos, remembrances by Dave Argabright, Dick Jordan, Tom Bigelow, Rollie Beale and Jack Hewitt and a list of track and world records broken at Winchester. Cost is $19.95 (special introductory price, plus $4 for shipping). Profits benefit the injured drivers’ funds for the both the Hoosier Auto Racing Fan Club (HARF) and the Dayton Auto Racing Fan Club (DARF).

To order send a check or money order to: Tachometer Press, 4240 Minmor Drive, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45217 or visit tachometerpress.com.