History of One Mile Dirt Tracks

[Seadog]

Historically speaking, when was the last time a one mile dirt track was built specifically for motorsports competition - if ever? The few miles that still exist are multipurpose tracks, or now paved, now closed down, etc.

Any idea?

Thanks.

[NoviVespa]

Langhorn? Don't believe horses raced in a circle.

[Littleman]

How about a mile and an eighth - Nazareth as it was originally?

The modern day Nazareth Speedway was originally Nazareth National Speedway, a semi-banked, dirt, D-shaped 1-1|8 mile oval built in 1966.

[KevMcNJ]

How about a mile and an eighth - Nazareth as it was originally?

The modern day Nazareth Speedway was originally Nazareth National Speedway, a semi-banked, dirt, D-shaped 1-1|8 mile oval built in 1966.

But it was shortened to a mile in '82 so it counts IMO
Earl Baltes started to build a 1 mile dirt track down the street from Eldora but it never was finished. You can still see the outline in satellite images

Was Trenton Speedway ever a dirt mile?

[Max Revs]

Was Trenton Speedway ever a dirt mile?

Yes, dirt mile from 1946 to 1957 (it was half mile dirt oval before then). Then paved mile from 1957 to 1969. Then paved kidney-shaped 1 1/2 mile oval from 1969 to 1980.

[Niseguy]

Trenton ran horse races when dirt. Used to have the furlong pylons on the inside of the track.

[Belanger99]

Greg

My research leads me to conclude Langhorne was the first and ONLY MILE dirt track built and completed specifically for cars. Earls mile has already been noted here.
I believe Nazareth was built for cars but it was a 1 and 1/8 mile.

Most others were built with horses in mind and the automobile came along as added forms of entertainment for state and county fairs.

One could make a fair argument that Springfield and DuQuoin (especially DuQuoin) were built with the intent of being dual purpose tracks. The original mile at SPringfield was clearly a horse track, when reconfigured in 1927 it was done so with autos in mind as well.

Bill Hayes specifically constructed the mile at DuQuoin with autos in mind as well as the horses.

Not every state fair had a mile track, miles took up lots of space and were more expensive to build and maintain than halfs, thus some state fairs built haves for the ponies instead and adapted them to cars later on.

Had it not been for the demise of the boards, the Great Depression and some enterprising promoters we may never have been given the beauty of the mighty uprights on the big miles

Trenton, Detroit, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Milwaukee, Sedalia and I believe St Paul were all state fairground tracks. The mile at San Jose was a county fairground. Many others were simply horse tracks (Bay Meadows, Del Mar)

There are only five state fair mile dirts left in existence capable of hosting auto racing. Indy, Springfield, DuQuoin, Sacramento and Syracuse.

[carl s]

Pretty darn good answer mon ami.

If you go back a few years in history there are a few if any mile (and larger) dirt tracks built specifically for auto racing but you are right in your post not many!
Here's a link to one that was 1.5 miles:
http://winfield.50megs.com/SpeedwayPark.htm
Why build when you can use an existing horse track/fairgrounds?

And the abundance of existing dirt tracks is illustrated by the lack of any significant new construction during the years 1931-1950 (I count 25 mile dirt tracks in this period)when AAA Contest Board decided upon answering the crisis of the demise of all board tracks by sanctioning and promoting dirt tracks. (With the exception of the IMS and Elgin, IL and Vand. Cup Road Course and Pikes Peak, all AAA Championship events between 1931 and 1950 were held on dirt ovals until the opening of Darlington paved super speedway in Dec 1950)

Greg

My research leads me to conclude Langhorne was the first and ONLY MILE dirt track built and completed specifically for cars. Earls mile has already been noted here.
I believe Nazareth was built for cars but it was a 1 and 1/8 mile.

Most others were built with horses in mind and the automobile came along as added forms of entertainment for state and county fairs.

One could make a fair argument that Springfield and DuQuoin (especially DuQuoin) were built with the intent of being dual purpose tracks. The original mile at SPringfield was clearly a horse track, when reconfigured in 1927 it was done so with autos in mind as well.

Bill Hayes specifically constructed the mile at DuQuoin with autos in mind as well as the horses.

Not every state fair had a mile track, miles took up lots of space and were more expensive to build and maintain than halfs, thus some state fairs built haves for the ponies instead and adapted them to cars later on.

Had it not been for the demise of the boards, the Great Depression and some enterprising promoters we may never have been given the beauty of the mighty uprights on the big miles

Trenton, Detroit, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Milwaukee, Sedalia and I believe St Paul were all state fairground tracks. The mile at San Jose was a county fairground. Many others were simply horse tracks (Bay Meadows, Del Mar)

There are only five state fair mile dirts left in existence capable of hosting auto racing. Indy, Springfield, DuQuoin, Sacramento and Syracuse.

[Seadog]

Greg

My research leads me to conclude Langhorne was the first and ONLY MILE dirt track built and completed specifically for cars. Earls mile has already been noted here.
I believe Nazareth was built for cars but it was a 1 and 1/8 mile.

Most others were built with horses in mind and the automobile came along as added forms of entertainment for state and county fairs.

One could make a fair argument that Springfield and DuQuoin (especially DuQuoin) were built with the intent of being dual purpose tracks. The original mile at SPringfield was clearly a horse track, when reconfigured in 1927 it was done so with autos in mind as well.

Bill Hayes specifically constructed the mile at DuQuoin with autos in mind as well as the horses.

Not every state fair had a mile track, miles took up lots of space and were more expensive to build and maintain than halfs, thus some state fairs built haves for the ponies instead and adapted them to cars later on.

Had it not been for the demise of the boards, the Great Depression and some enterprising promoters we may never have been given the beauty of the mighty uprights on the big miles

Trenton, Detroit, Sacramento, Indianapolis, Syracuse, Milwaukee, Sedalia and I believe St Paul were all state fairground tracks. The mile at San Jose was a county fairground. Many others were simply horse tracks (Bay Meadows, Del Mar)

There are only five state fair mile dirts left in existence capable of hosting auto racing. Indy, Springfield, DuQuoin, Sacramento and Syracuse.

Good stuff - thank you.

Do I remember a one mile track in Hanford, CA that USAC ran at a few times many years ago?

[Michael Ferner]

Guys, you are forgetting Roby Speedway in Hammond (IN), a suburb of Chicago. Not sure if they ever ran horses there, but it was a dirt mile built for auto racing, and it was older than Langhorne.

[carl s]

Guys, you are forgetting Roby Speedway in Hammond (IN), a suburb of Chicago. Not sure if they ever ran horses there, but it was a dirt mile built for auto racing, and it was older than Langhorne.

I have read it was first built in The Gay 90s for wagering on the ponies and pugilistic encounters and the original (described as disreputable) bunch was run out of townand that it wasn't until the Roaring 20s that it's use shifted to motorcycle, then automobile racing.

I'll try and find the 'reference' which of course doesn't make it true.

OK, Found the reference:
http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/l...b69e30c74.html

And of course it is no surprise to find a Umbrella Mike car at this track (photo #2)
http://www.kalracing.com/Autoracing/..._Scrapbook.htm

[Belanger99]

Michael

Thanks for chiming in

I always thought Roby was a horse track converted for cars-but I'm sure you have researched it far more than I. If that's the case then perhaps there were two, three if you give nazareth the benefit of the doubt.

According to what I've seen the Roby track was first used for horses and from the pics I've seen would have led me to believe it was a horse track-Stan's pretty sharp on this and fromthese articles it appears it was for horses then converted to autos in 1920. The guardrail in the pics looks like that of a horsetrack

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/motor...9144d6d1a.html

http://www.nwitimes.com/sports/motor...568b8cfeb.html

Hanford was a 1 1/2 mile paved unless I've missed a dirt track somewhere.

When Langhorne was built it had a board fence that did not resemble the 'rails' used on most horse tracks. Nazareth had a concrete outer wall, I believe.

When Springfield was reconstructed a chainlink fence was used on both sides with a board insert similar to Langhorne. DuQuoin was state of the art for the day boys. Metal guardrail made out of boiler plate!!

[silvercrown]

Didn't phoenix have a one mile state fair track at some point?

[drtuba]

Here's a link to info about a 1.5 mile dirt track located west of Memphis in Lehi, Arkansas:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memphis-Arkansas_Speedway

The picture shows quite a bit of banking.

[JThur1]

Good stuff - thank you.

Do I remember a one mile track in Hanford, CA that USAC ran at a few times many years ago?

Yes, Hanford Motor Speedway, but it was listed as 1.5 miles (though closer to 1.25 to 1.3), and it was paved and banked.

The first superspeedway west of the Rockies.

[JThur1]

I was going to mention Memphis-Arkansas Speedway. See, there were tracks other than those built for open wheelers Interesting, since plans were to pave it, but lack of $$$ kept that from happening.

[Belanger99]

Phoenix did, another I believe ponies were the intent and cars added later. The adobe clay was pretty rough and took it's toll, literally.

I was unaware of the Memphis ARK track but from the link it appears it was a 1.5 mile and I read that as it was intended to be paved at some point but they ran out of cash.

[Seadog]

Yes, Hanford Motor Speedway, but it was listed as 1.5 miles (though closer to 1.25 to 1.3), and it was paved and banked.

The first superspeedway west of the Rockies.

Found this old thread about Hanford.

http://www.trackforum.com/forums/sho...nford-Speedway

[Michael Ferner]

Michael

Thanks for chiming in

I always thought Roby was a horse track converted for cars-but I'm sure you have researched it far more than I....

Apparently not...

So, maybe it was intended for the bangtails, but never used as a race track, only for training? Anyway, t'seems I was wrong.

[Stick500]

Belanger, you're right about the St. Paul track;The Minnesota State Fair Speedway was originally a 1-mile track used for horse racing dating back to 1885. It was also used for auto racing from 1902 to 1939. Eventually there was a 5/8 mile dirt track inside the mile. In 1940, the mile track was plowed under while the 5/8 oval was used for stock and sprint car races throughout the 50s. It was paved in '64 and was torn up in 2003 after it's last race, an ASA stock car event.

Roby Speedway IIRC is where Baby Face Nelson raced his stock car. I figured it was a short track- never knew Baby face was a mile racer!

[carl s]

Link to some data on Roby if you're interested:
http://www.kalracing.com/Autoracing/Roby_Main_Page.htm

Cars line up before the start of the AAA-sanctioned National Championship Indy Car race at Indiana's Roby Speedway on June 19, 1932. "Stubby" Stubblefield, #15, won the 100-lap event.
(Mike Markovich Photo)
And here's 1901 photo of harnes racing at Min ST Fairgrounds

MNHistSociety photo

Belanger, you're right about the St. Paul track;The Minnesota State Fair Speedway was originally a 1-mile track used for horse racing dating back to 1885. It was also used for auto racing from 1902 to 1939. Eventually there was a 5/8 mile dirt track inside the mile. In 1940, the mile track was plowed under while the 5/8 oval was used for stock and sprint car races throughout the 50s. It was paved in '64 and was torn up in 2003 after it's last race, an ASA stock car event.

Roby Speedway IIRC is where Baby Face Nelson raced his stock car. I figured it was a short track- never knew Baby face was a mile racer!

[Seadog]

Link to some data on Roby if you're interested:
http://www.kalracing.com/Autoracing/Roby_Main_Page.htm

Cars line up before the start of the AAA-sanctioned National Championship Indy Car race at Indiana's Roby Speedway on June 19, 1932. "Stubby" Stubblefield, #15, won the 100-lap event.
(Mike Markovich Photo)
And here's 1901 photo of harnes racing at Min ST Fairgrounds

MNHistSociety photo

Awesome stuff.

Question - between the frame rails in the front of some of the cars is what appears to be an aerodynamically shaped coolant holding take. Is that what it is?

[drtuba]

Carl--the number 15 is the same as this one, isn't it?

http://popartmachine.com/item/pop_ar...ANAPOLIS-MOTOR...

I always thought that was an unusual racer. Never thought about that car racing on dirt. Thanks!

[KevMcNJ]

There used to be a mile dirt track in Charlotte NC.
I believe it was somewehre near where the Charlotte Airport is now.
I tried to find any info about this track online but cannot find anything

[carl s]

Yes. I'm still a babe in the woods with this stuff, but yes, the same car. 'The Catfish'
Read up on the builder Clyde Adams sometime. Both he and Myron Stevens worked for Harry Miller and then were out on their own, each setting up shop in the neighborhood.
The Catfish was his second major chassis and built for Art Sparks and Paul Weirech who were described as having lots of ideas and little cash. Stanford U. Professors used the project to help with their students design education and Clyde used junkyard parts Ford, Chrysler, Miller to put it together. Harry Hartz set land speed records with it. Later sold to Fred Frame who took it West to Legion Ascot where the big bucks were and driver Kelly Petillo made so much $ they never thought of returning back East.

Carl--the number 15 is the same as this one, isn't it?

http://popartmachine.com/item/pop_ar...ANAPOLIS-MOTOR...

I always thought that was an unusual racer. Never thought about that car racing on dirt. Thanks!

[carl s]

Boy, you got me there. It's a good guess. I always thought they were aero deflectors like I have on my car but they could have served as an aux tank of some sort as there looks to be a cap on the one,second from the right.
Someone else will have to chime in here.

Awesome stuff.

Question - between the frame rails in the front of some of the cars is what appears to be an aerodynamically shaped coolant holding take. Is that what it is?

[carl s]

A slight diversion re #10 Bill Cummings Boyle Valve Spl - below


Is this (now numbered #10) the same car Lou Moore drove as the #8 in the Indy 500 several weeks prior?
#8 with Cummings at the wheel had suffered steering problems two weeks prior to the Roby Race-same car with repairs made or different car?
Miller 230 Chassis #1
ie: "- 1932 #8 => #10 Boyle Products, white/red/blue, Miller 268, M. J. Boyle, Lou Moore (ret Indy), Bill Cummings (ret Detroit, 3rd Chicago, 3rd Syracuse, 2nd Detroit, 1st Oakland)"
courtesy Michael Ferner:
http://www.oldracingcars.info/marques/indy/miller/1931/

P.Harms has listed it as a 'Stevens Miller'???

[Belanger99]

Hey Ferner, no problem at all

Your work is very good and well researched.

I may be wrong but I thought the Charlotte dirt track was 3/4 of a mile.

[KevMcNJ]

Hey Ferner, no problem at all

Your work is very good and well researched.

I may be wrong but I thought the Charlotte dirt track was 3/4 of a mile.

Could be. Im not gonna dispute it, I may be wrong too

[Calhoun]

Yep, Charlotte was a three-quarter.

Also, add Nashville to the list of one-mile horse tracks at state fairgrounds that hosted auto racing.

The first race was held in 1904, and this is the oldest photo I've been able to find - 1911. No, they never hosted an AAA points race, but they did hold "big car" races there for many years.