I caught this on the channel 13 news in Indy last night. The old stadium/track is being used as a junk yard holding place now. There is some video along with the story. Place looks terrible. Sure did have some good memories of the place.
Originally Posted by openwheelKT:
I caught this on the channel 13 news in Indy last night. The old stadium/track is being used as a junk yard holding place now. There is some video along with the story. Place looks terrible. Sure did have some good memories of the place.
The nicest driver I think I ever met was at 16th Street Speedway. Ron Smoker - what a great guy. I remember he commuted by car every weekend fron New England to Indy and back just to race a midget. I was happy when he won the title in a real nail biter. IIRC, he was in the Parker Machinery 24 car.
Man, that track was always rough, but unbelievably fast for it's size. Every time I drive past there, I wish it was still open for racing. I always wondered how many gazillion dollars were lost on that deal. Sad to see that entire property looking like it does now.
There was definately some real good racing there. If only somebody could afford to buy it and make it back into a racetrack and bring it up to be one of the nicest in the area, would take some money but would be pretty cool.
Funny I drove down by the race track just yesterday coming from the USAC office to see if it was still around as I thought the city was planning on tearing it down. Lot of memories watching the midgets run there. Seems like always a good show, like the night Jay Drake turned Tony Stewart over intentionally. The funny thing was Tony was letting Jay stay at his house while racing in the mid-west but Tony took it all in jest.
The neighbors complained about the noise saying that the race cars drowned out the normal sound of gunfire in the surrounding neighborhoods. Not a real great area of town....
My first trip there, was in the mid to late 40's, actually to a baseball game, my second trip there, was to opening night as a race track, close to 50 years later, surprising how sometimes your mind will recall things you thought were totally forgotten. We raced there off and on, until it was closed, a real momentum track, a slight lift, and you were history. Bob
"Being old, isn't half as much fun, as getting there"! Ole Robert I!