Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

To the best of my knowledge/recollection, I think I have seen every sprint car race that was ever held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds beginning with the 1955 Hawkeye Futurity, an event in which Bob Slater was fatally injured.

I also remember when Bill Hudson went over the turn 1 fence into the back of a tent on the midway, fatally injuring a spectator standing outside the fence, Aldo Andretti's crash in turn 1, which nearly killed him and ended his racing career, and Jerry Crabb launching over the turn 3 wall into some parked cars. In fact, I have the newspaper articles of all these events, plus many more from the fairgrounds, in my racing scrapbooks.

In the early years, the sprint car races were held on weekend afternoons, usually Sunday if memory serves me correctly. Most of those races were indeed dusty affairs. Due to the fact that the track was originally built for horse racing, the turns were pretty "short". As a result, the cars would get up a pretty good head of steam going down the straights and then when they got to the turns, especially turn 1, it was like they threw out a boat anchor as it seemed they would almost come to a stop to negotiate the corner.

For a while, they would have the sprint car races in the afternoon and then have a super-modified race the same night. The "supers" ran roll cages, which the IMCA still disdained at that time, and had to run square tail tanks. The night shows for the supers were always
exceptional compared to the afternoon sprint program.

Later on, they started running the sprint car race on a weekday afternoon of the fair, which really killed attendance. (My recollection is that the weekend afternoon sprint races were always well attended.)

The fair races were probably never as good as Knoxville, but hey, they were sprint car/super-modified races right in my (and my parent's) backyard, and we weren't going to miss them!
And if they started racing sprint cars at the fairgrounds again I would absolutely be there.

Again, these are just my recollections; with the caveat that my wife says my memory isn't what it used to be!

I've been very interested in this thread as I would love to see another sprint race at this historic facility. I miss the ol' half miles, as most are long gone. I hope MASSiveFan is sincere with his words as I would certainly be in attendance.

Like many, I have fond memories of races there since the late 50's. That big'ol grandstand would be filled to the rafters for the fair dates with an SRO area outside turn 1.

I certainly understand the concerns of racing during the fair today, low fence & pit area. Many cars have jumped that wall over the years. Add to those already mentioned, Larry Kirkpatrick going out turn 3 in the early 70's. They used to have a little train that went by there.

IMCA used to pit along the inside of the front stretch, cars backed in, stalls seperated by those blue and yellow banners. It looked cool, but would never fly today.

I have seen them pit in the infield, but with pick-up trucks and open tralers, not the mega'rigs of today.

I recall an NSCA (wingless) show in '79, the place was PACKED. Wolfgang and Tim Green waged a TORRID battle for the win with Wolfie prevailing. Afterwards, Doug commented that, It must've been a helluva race, because I could hear the crowd roaring everytime we came down the frontstretch!

Greg Weld and Red Amick had an epic nose-to-tail battle in the '60's.

Jack DeLano won the Iowa State Jalopy (Super-Mod) Championship in '58. My Dad was on his crew.

The last sprint show I recall seing there was the Danny Young Memorial in maybe '94 or '95 (guessing).

Does Ralph Zarno still have a band?

My biggest fear is that if we wait too long, it too, will be gone.

www.teamwmotorsports.webs.com

I was at the Danny Young Memorial in 99' and it might have been the last year for that race. 360s and 410s and one of the features got rained out. Plenty of cars in both classes and the racing was pretty good from what I can remember. Bill W probabably has a summary someplace in his archives.

I doubt you'll every get 4 nights during the State Fair to race, to much money made on the concerts, and I know anything during the day they want everything done and out by 5:00 PM so they can set up for the concerts.

Anything during the summer months I venture to say Fridays are out because of the current promoter.

If you wanted to try a race during the fair the cars could pit in the infield like they currently do for the Monday night stock car show. The noise curfew is not in effect during the State Fair but is the rest of the year no race is suppose to start after 10:30 PM.

I do know that a few years back the State Fair Board approched Marion County (Knoxville) about how to turn the State Fair Track into a money maker like Knoxville. Knoxville people advised them what they thought should be done and you see how that advice has was used.

I'd love to see sprint cars back, but that's not going to happen until a new promoter is in place. I talked with him one time about even the 360's (which used to be part of his Friday night program) and his complaint was not enough cars would show up. When I ask what he paid to win the "A" Main he thought he paid good at $500 and like $50 to start.

Doubt much out there will change until there is a new promoter at the State Fair Grounds.

Good Luck Hope You Can Get Something Started.

We used to race the Sunday afternoon after the Nationals. I think we last ran there in '86.

And I always thought it was Bill Randleman # 17 from Jefferson, Iowa that went off turn 1 into the midway and killed a woman and injured or killed a little girl

Anyone remember the Drivers Dream Race? Had to be 94/95 ish

More weight, more regulation, more similarity in the 
cars.... that will ensure plenty of thrills for years 
to come.  Only the most average talent behind the 
wheel will be needed with such awesome equipment on 
the track!
minthess 8.28.14

You may be right. I'll have to look up the article in my scrapbook.

The first article I have about racing, which my mother saved, is Sept. 2, 1951. The headline was "Car Smashes Wall, Hitting Spectators." Parts of this article are as follows:

"A racing driver was killed and four spectators injured Saturday afternoon when a car went out of control on the west curve of the state fair race track.

"Hundreds of frightened fans scattered to safety when a car driven by Richard Cramer, 29, Monahana, Tex, drove up over another car and skidded along a heavy fence atop the track's concrete retaining wall.

Cramer was killed outright. Four spectators leaning against the concrete wall were injured."

The victims' names, ages and addresses were included in the article. Injuries included a concussion, head injuries, internal injuries, scalp cuts and multiple bruises.

Sorry. Didn't mean to highjack this thread. Will perhaps start another one with some of this historical stuff on the IA State Fairgrounds if there's any interest.

Low car counts led to the dropping of sprints, I assume. Too many folks would "save their cars" for Knoxville. I had troubles getting my crew to go two nights a week but tried the Fairgrounds several times. It actually paid, for a while, more tow money than Knoxville did. Plus with only 20 or so cars you were guaranteed to make the feature and get some good laps. As car counts dropped, they lowered the tow and "to start" money which discouraged folks further. So, chicken or the egg? It costs a bunch to run, even a 360 and lots of guys just can't afford to go more than one night a week, even tho' it would make them better drivers, lead to better finishes, more purse money to offset the expense. Danny Young and Mark Wilson put on some great shows racing against each other there. I know there was a 360 race there in April of 2001 but don't recall if it was a special or the start of the season.

Pulling in a thread I remember reading  a couple of years ago and interesting to see peoples concerns and perspectives. Glad to see Tony bringing more sprint cars to Iowa. 

Keep It Real

I  know for sure that there were sprintcars at fair in 1990,s.  Danny young won alot of them.  I know they had a non wing 305 race  at fair about 2006.  These were along with stock cars.  I am almost positive a WOO show would do well at track.  It has been so many years that people would go.  I am sure they probably prepare track OK, what  happened 10-20 yrs ago does not mean it would happen now.  If a car gets out of track, it is because of not proper safety  fence.  Ins. co. are demanding  more.  They still race stock cars at DesMoines, so I do not think they are going to plow up track and plant corn.  I have heard they want to get Racesaver 305 sprints to run there.  Hope they can get enough.