[Indy1808]

A tip o' the hat to Track Enterprises for this.

Illinois State Fair Enters 2nd Century of Auto Racing
PART 1 (1909-1950's)

Springfield IL-August 12, 2010-When the USAC Silver Crown Series and ARCA
RE/MAX Stock Cars come to the Illinois State Fair on August 21 and 22 they
will be continuing a motor sports tradition at the Illinois capitol that
reaches back over 100 years at an annual fair that dates back to 1853!

Not long after the Illinois State Fair entered the twentieth century
automobiles were added to the entertainment lineup and drew huge crowds to
the one-mile dirt oval. Newspaper accounts and official records indicate
that many of these events were nothing more than exhibitions, many including
the famous Barney Oldfield during his barnstorming days across the country.
Oldfield would frequently lap fairground tracks in an attempt to break
records and at times would race airplanes.

In 1909 Lewis Strang, Louis Chevrolet and the Buick Racing Team came to
Springfield, Illinois for an Illinois State Fair held in July. The media
reports and record keeping of the time are less than accurate so news
accounts and official records are somewhat sketchy as to the intent of the
meet. While the day received American Automobile Association sanction no one
is quite sure if this was a 'racing program' or part of the Buick Racing
Team tour and an exhibition. Strang broke several records at the Illinois
State Fair including circling the dirt oval for 50 miles in just over 50
minutes. A motorcycle race was also part of the entertainment and J. Nash
McCrea won on a Thor built in Aurora. Of note is the fact that Strang's run
at Springfield came over a month before the official opening of the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway!

What is clearer is that the races held in the next Illinois State fair were
part of an October race meet that included several classes of cars, local
entries and a purse placed on the day's longest event of $500 in gold!
Oldfield was a part of the day's festivities and Springfield's Art Bisch won
one of the events. The large and raucous crowd enjoyed a full day of racing
until the finale. During the final event a racer entered by Springfield's
Larue Vredenburgh crashed and overturned killing the twenty eight year old
member of one of Springfield's most prominent families.

Racing did not return in 1911, though Ray Harroun's Indianapolis 500 winning
Marmon was on display during part of the fair. When the sport did return in
1912 it was open wheel, open cockpit 'Big Cars" that played before large
crowds. Drivers such as Louis Disbrow, Fred Horey, Leon Duray, Oldfield and
George "Texas" Clark were pioneers of early American auto racing and each
won at some point on the Springfield Mile. Minnesota's Sig Haughdahl was an
IMCA champion. He would become a crowd favorite at the Illinois State Fair
and later set world records on Daytona's sandy beach.

By 1926 the fair board realized the configuration of the racetrack was a
problem. Shoehorned near barns and with an old wooden grandstand the
east-west slant of the track meant drivers and fans were blinded by the late
afternoon sun. A massive reconstruction project was authorized with the
track being placed in its present location and a steel/brick and concrete
grandstand built along the front straightaway. Records still fell with the
new track with Wilson Pingrey lapping at over 80 miles an hour in August of
1927 and Chuck Bane breaking Pingrey's 25-mile record in the second event of
the fair!

The famous also showed up with 1931 Indianapolis 500 winner Lou Schnieder
setting records and posting victories in 1928 but the next year motor sports
faced extinction at the Illinois State Fair. A spectator fatality and
numerous injuries caused when a car crashed through the outer fence happened
in conjunction with several driver injuries on track. The bad publicity and
lawsuits forced the Illinois State Fair board to
ban auto racing at the fairgrounds for several years. Racing would return in
a big way thanks to the passage of time and a racing promoter who would wind
up in the hail of fame.

The destruction of many board tracks across America led AAA to look for
other venues to run championship style cars. One-mile horse tracks seemed to
be one solution, the facility at Langhorne Pennsylvania was built
specifically for cars and the fairground track at Syracuse, New York hosted
both cars and ponies. Ralph "Pappy' Hankinson was a legendary promoter and
was convinced that Springfield could host a successful national championship
race. He lobbied, successfully for the return of racing to Springfield and
obtained an AAA sanctioned national championship race. On August 25, 1934
Billy Winn put his name in the record books as the first national
championship race winner at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

Winn was a crowd pleaser and a repeat winner but lost his life in 1938 on
his beloved Springfield Mile. Future Indianapolis 500 winners Wilbur Shaw
and Mauri Rose took wins on the mile before World War
II while Ted Horn grabbed a win after the war. Motorcycles also took part in
the fair festivities from 1912 on and in 1937 came under the American
Motorcycle Association sanction. From 1938-1953 the
winner of the Springfield Mile was declared the AMA Grand National champion.

Sprint cars ran before and after World War II with Jimmy Wilburn becoming a
household name in the capitol city. Stock cars ran after the 1950and 1953
fair, disappeared and returned in 1961.

During the 1950's Springfield became synonymous with American championship
racing. Drivers looked forward to the wide and fast mile, while fans looked
forward to the men and the visit of the Indianapolis machines. It would be
only fitting that an Illini, Tony Bettenhausen of Tinley Park, become the
first three-time national championship race winner in Springfield history.
Tony captured his first Springfield win in September of 1947 on the mile,
then followed that up with wins in October of 1950 and August of 1951, the
latter propelling him to his first national title. His bolt upright style in
and out of the car gained him hero status in the sporting world.

Bill Schnidler, Rodger Ward, Jimmy Bryan and Len Sutton joined Tony B. as
Springfield race winners during the fifties, while Joe Leonard and Paul
Goldsmith would duel on Springfield's dirt, not in racecars but on bikes in
the AMA races.
to be continued.

[Indy1808]

Posted Friday, August 13, 2010 by Track:
Illinois State Fair Enters Second Century of Auto Racing
******************************************
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!

[SC12]

Thank you and you're welcome.

The Author

[ISF]

I enjoyed reading the press release concerning the 100th year of auto racing at the Springfield Mile on the Illinois State Fairgrounds. The section on the 1960's was of particular interest to me since I was in the grandstands the day following the deaths of 3 men back on August 20th of 1966. I was very young but remember seeing the roped off area of the lower grandstands where the rooftop platform on which 2 photographers had been setting up their cameras had landed the day before when it had been pulled from it's anchors. There had been a rope tied to the platform and extended down and across the track to a wrecker parked just North of the stage. The Green Berets were to use the rope as part of a demonstration following Champ Car qualifying. The wrecker reportedly lurched forward inadvertantly pulling the platform, mounted on the roof of the grandstand, on which Dale Mueller and Bob Lockwood were preparing to photograph Champ Car hot laps and qualifying, off of it's mooring. Ralph Heger, stage manager was hit and killed instantly when the platform plummeted 75 feet to the ground along with Mueller and Lockwood. All these years later I still get a chill when I walk near that part of the lower grandstands. My parents, who were stock car fans, had taken me with them to watch the stockers run the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 the day after the tragedy so many years ago.

Dale Mueller by the way was the founder and president of the St. Louis Auto Racing Fan Club. The annual Dale Mueller Memorial Photo Award is given every State Fair Race Weekend and is dedicated to the memory of the men who died that day.

I apologize for the long windedness but I must add that the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 USAC stock car race my Parents took me to see that Sunday in 1966 was won by none other than Don White in a Ray Nichols prepared 1966 red and white Dodge Charger #3. He led all but one mile and the race ran without a yellow and the elapsed time for the 100 miles stands to this day as the track record for stock cars on The Springfield Mile. 1 hour, six minutes, 30.14 seconds.

My wife and I also have a wonderful family friend who just turned 86 August 4th who has been to every Champ Car race run during the Illinois State Fair since 1946, and every one during the Du Quoin State Fair (every one they haven't cancelled) since they built The Magic Mile in 1948. And I was starting to think my paltry 35 years in a row was pretty good. Guess I better think again!

[ThePurple73]

Does anybody remember "the Dream Event" that was held at the Springfield Mile about 1982. The race run in silver crown cars contested the USAC drivers and the World Of Outlaw drivers together for a race.

I think there was also some special challenge races as well, as some WOO Sprint Car races.

The Springfield fair Silver Crown race has always been a favorite of mine. It is a great event to make a family outing out of. If you have never attended I very highly recommend it.

[ISF]

NASCAR ran at The Springfield Mile once. It was in 1970 or 1971. The cars that raced were the pony cars, I think. Can't remember what NASCAR called them but Tiny Lund was a major player in the deal. I think the weather wreaked havoc with the whole deal and it really never had a chance to be a success.

Too bad, NASCAR would do well to race on the beautiful old 1 mile dirt tracks that are left. I've heard Kenny Schrader say it a dozen times.

Will be interesting how the new 50/50 format will affect the show this year.

[SpfldMile]

I was at the "Stroh's Challenge" in 1982. I think Danny Smith won one of the challenge races, and Larry Dickson won the hundred lapper in the Champ cars. Danny was driving the Kenny Rogers car. Sunday night at Springfield Speedway was pretty good too with some great drivers sticking around.

I think if the dirt miles had a usable pit area, there might be a chance of getting a nationwide race. I think it would have some of the best TV ratings of the year.

[ISF]

I believe that too. It obviously would cost multi-millions to prepare any of the fairgrounds mile dirt tracks for a race of the magnitude of even a truck race with garage areas and pit road, etc. It's truly amazing that the mile dirts were a part of the championship trail all the way up until 1970 given the facilities, or lack thereof.

I'm sure most of you know Earl Baltes built a dirt mile Southeast of the half mile back in the early 1970's that never was raced upon. It's has been rumored that some guys took a few hot laps on it, and Earl was quoted in Open Wheel that he could have it up and running in a matter of a couple of months. If ever there was a chance to have a really big time race held on a big dirt track it would have been there. He would have had the facilities necessary to accommodate. Wish he would have finished and used it.

[SC12]

Springfield would have been considered state of the art in 1970. It had a concrete wall around the outside and one down the mainchute just like today. It was wide and offered more than one groove. Springfield's facility (other than being dirt) was not one of the reasons it was taken off the trail.

NASCAR ran once, 1971 called the Grand American Series. It was for 'pony' cars and they ran the night before I believe on the half at Granite.

A 100 miler was slated for May 16, 1971 and won by Buddy Baker's dad Buck.

For you Dave Darland fans, if he makes the Tony Bettenhausen 100 field he will tie A.J. Foyt for most consecutive starts at Springfield with 18, and he and Russ Gamester can move past Foyt on the starts list with 19 each. Dave and Russ would have a ways to go to catch George Snider who made 29 champ dirt car starts at Springfield, a recorx I doubt we will ever see broken.