By: Ron Burt
I want to start off by thanking all of you that have taken time to email, message or call me to talk about racing this past year. When I started this column, I knew it would be hard to please everyone because of the many types of racing in the Tri-state area. I knew I couldn’t focus on one or two types of cars and some of you like dirt while others like asphalt. Our Tri-state area is where national drivers and race teams like to compete. Our area is a racing buffet for race fans.
Some of my older readers love to talk about area tracks where they attended races growing up. Leading the list would be the old New Bremen Speedway. It was a ½ mile dirt oval that opened September 14th, 1926, and operated as a dirt track until1966 when promoter, Earl Baltes had it paved. It ran as an asphalt track until 1979 and then the pavement was ripped up and it went back to dirt. The paved bullring wasn’t profitable. New Bremen Speedway lasted for one more year, as a dirt track. Earl Baltes closed it down and moved the races to his other track, Eldora Motor Speedway.
New Bremen started out as a track built for a local farmers’ picnic on the property of Frank Kuenning. The first race in 1926 had four competitors. It was a local hit and over the next several years hosted four to five races a year. Improvements were made and more cars showed up and then it started to attract national drivers. Many of these drivers raced in the Indy 500 back then. In 1931 the drivers got together and demanded more prize money and they refused to compete in the fourth race of that year. The fans tore up the bleachers and a riot ensued. That put a stop to racing for several years. It started back up in 1947. The 50’s saw many improvements to the speedway. The racetrack had several owners and promoters from its beginning to end. During the life of the track open wheel and stock cars were the feature classes. You can see what’s left of this historic racetrack by going to Google Maps.
What racetrack did you first attend races at? I would like to hear about your early days attending races on a Tri-state track. We would go to Bryan Motor Speedway on Sunday nights. At that time Bryan was a 3/8-mile paved track. If you’re a former driver reach out to me and let me know what tracks, you enjoyed competing on.
Remember the Rumble in Fort Wayne will be December 30th and 31st if you need to get your winter racing fix. The racing event will feature Midgets, 600 CC Wing and Non-wing Micros and Karts. This event is held annually at the War Memorial Coliseum.
If you want the most bang for your buck, the Chili Bowl Nationals will be held in Tulsa this year. The Sagenet Center just hauled in 700 truck loads of dirt to build the track for the event January 9-14, 2023. So Far: 333 Entries, including 52 A-Feature starters, 62 Rookies, and 4 past Champions from 242 Municipalities across 35 States and 5 countries (USA, Aust., Can., NZ, UK).
Until next week, keep your wheels down. Ron out! ohiosportsblitz@yahoo.com/
