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One Hundred Years of Glory

To stand at the top of the grandstands and gaze at Bloomington Speedway from every angle is akin to a visit to some of this nation’s greatest sports venues. There is a timeless quality to the old plant punctuated by the red clay, the beautifully manicured infield, and the stately tree which has stood vigil over the first turn for decades. No one need tell you that legends have performed here. You can feel it. On a cold and quiet winter day, when no one else is near, you can hear the roar of engines and feel the presence of those who came before.
One hundred years is a long time. When the first wheels turned in anger at Bloomington Speedway the country was just five years removed from World War I. By now Indiana was a leader in the automotive industry. In 1909, the state ranked second only to Michigan in the number of cars produced. Ten years later there were 172 companies within the borders building cars or parts. Not surprisingly racing became embedded in the genetic code of Hoosiers.
In May 1923 Tommy Milton became the first man to win the Indianapolis 500 twice. It was also the year Bloomington Speedway was born. The individuals who made it happen were an interesting lot. They were both entrepreneurial and adventurous. Among those who brought the speedway to life included Nat Hill Jr. His father was the President of the 1st National Bank in Bloomington, an Indiana State Treasure, a Indiana University benefactor and trustee, and a county chairman of the Republican Party. Needless to say, he was a pillar of the community. Nat Jr. was born in 1881 and would follow his father as the President of the Bank. He was also at the helm of College Avenue Motor Sales, a Chevrolet dealership. Nat would organize the Bloomington Home guards during WWI and also was active with the Empire Stone Company. He would see the speedway project come to fruition but passed one year after the track opened.
Another mover and shaker was W Wylie Carter who became the track manager in 1924. Carter was a WWI veteran as well as a former automotive dealer and air pioneer. He is credited with taking the first aerial picture of the city, but a crash in Indianapolis in 1928 brought his flying life to an end. Carter clearly did not sit idle.
Any venture of this nature is risky, but those who sought to bring racing to Bloomington were not on a thin branch all alone. Short track racing was alive and well in Indiana in the 1920s. By then famous tracks like Winchester Speedway were in operation but there were a host of others up and running. Two facilities were active near Brazil including Sunflower Speedway. Another forgotten venue was a one-mile track near Terre Haute ominously named Black Demon Speedway. George Rogers Clark Speedway near Vincennes hosted many of the contemporary stars of the sport, and just up the road Sullivan, Indiana had a track of their own. Then there was the notorious and legendary Jungle Park Speedway north of Rockville. That track is still visible for all to see. Given the nature of the cars, and the quality of the facilities and medical care provided at these and other fairgrounds ovals it is not surprising that this became known as the Suicide Circuit.

It would be impossible to go through all the early racing legends that competed on these short tracks. Rest assured they were well-known and celebrated in their day. Some made it to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and other well-established racing organizations, while others toiled in relative obscurity. Like was true elsewhere early winners at Bloomington were characters and trailblazers. For example, Ray Butcher a graduate of Arsenal Tech High School topped the chart in 1923 and 1924. A garage owner by trade, he lost his life at Logansport, Indiana on September 7, 1924, just one day after victory at Bloomington. Wally Butler who had participated as a riding mechanic at the Indianapolis 500 was a 1923 winner. On the day he acknowledged the salute from the crowd he had just topped Louis Schneider who would be the king of the 500 in 1931. Also winning in 1923 was Charles “Dutch” Bauman an Indy 500 starter and today a member of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. A marker in his honor will be unveiled on April 22, 2023 at St Joseph/Holy Cross Cemetery. This recognition comes a full 100 years after he had triumphed at Bloomington.
Other greats like Hall of Famer Ira Hall and Billy McCoy had early success at Bloomington, and their names adorned advertisements across the Midwest to entice people to take in an afternoon of racing. Some winners had particularly colorful lives. Consider Hilton Crouch. On the same day that Pete DePaolo was winning at the Brickyard, Crouch was doing the same at Bloomington. Hilton was also the champion at Hoosier Speedway in Indianapolis, a significant accomplishment. However, it was his activities outside of racing that got the attention of authorities. Crouch was reported to be the driver for John Dillinger and was clearly in the center of some nefarious deeds. In short order he was doing hard time. However, he earned an electrical engineering degree while in prison and eventually opened his own business. He is buried near Dillinger in Crown Hill cemetery in Indianapolis.
All auto racing was halted during World War II and when the action resumed fans and participants were treated to a reworked Bloomington Speedway. The contours of the original five-eighths-mile track are easy to trace today. Stepping in to revamp the facility was 1948 Midwest Dirt Track Champion Wayne Padgett and the irrepressible Ennis “Dizz” Wilson. Wilson who was one of the sport’s most colorful figures forged a long and successful Hall of Fame career. Dizz provided rides for a laundry list of the all-time greats in his own unique racecars. By the time Padgett and Wilson put their tools away a new ¼-mile track was ready.
Up and running again Bloomington became a host for groups like the Midwest Dirt Track Association (MDTRA), know colloquially as the Kerosene Circuit and for the Central States Racing Association (CSRA). Once again, an honor roll of new winners emerged including the great Bobby Grim who would dominate the IMCA in years to come. MDTRA champions Wayne Padgett and Glen “Peewee” Northern were winners, as was WWII Navy veteran and 1951 and 1952 CSRA king Sid Bufkin.
As some of these organizations faded away other stepped in to sanction races and create a circuit that would entertain fans. One such group was the South Central Indiana Racing Association established on March 31, 1961. The SCIRA began as a three track circuit consisting of the 25th Street Fairgrounds Raceway in Columbus as well as Bloomington and Paragon Speedways. Some of the original officers included Bloomington’s Roscoe Brewington who served as President, Bloomfield’s Johnny Johnson was the vice President, with Bloomington residents Frank Knight serving as Treasure with Attorney Ron Hughes also prepared to serve as counsel. The Board of Directors included Pete Brewer, Dizz Wilson, James Maxwell, Harry Hollars, and Rex Mitchell. How tough was this group? Supermodified/Sprint car champs included Sheldon Kinser, Dick Gaines, Butch Wilkerson, Bob Kinser, and in 1976 a kid named Steve Kinser. Stock cars were also represented with titles falling to the likes of Steve Bowlen and Bob Fleetwood.
By the late 1970’s the landscape of sprint car racing had changed dramatically. For years USAC would not allow sprint cars to compete on tracks smaller than ½ mile. That changed. In the late 1970’s the World of Outlaws were launched and soon the All Star Circuit of Champions gained steam. These three national groups would compete at Bloomington and only add to the future Hall of Fame drivers who would take on the red clay. From the glory days of Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, and Doug Wolfgang to the battles of Frankie Kerr and Kevin Huntley the new wave in wing sprint cars arrived in Bloomington. USAC also brought stars in the midget and sprint car ranks from Bob Tattersall, Rich Vogler and Jack Hewitt, Jeff Gordon (the 1988 track champion), to Tony Stewart, Dave Darland, Tracy Hines, Tony Elliott, and then new aspirants including Bryan Clauson, Christopher Bell, and Kyle Larson. Simply put, so many who have put their name on the winners list at Bloomington Speedway are now household names among race fans.
While it is always exciting when the circus comes to town, the backbone of this speedway has been the weekly program. In each class fans come to see family members, neighbors, and coworkers compete. It is a story several generations deep as the baton is consistently passed to the next in line who is eager to give it a go. No one has won more sprint car championships at Bloomington than Brady Short, while Kevin Briscoe, Randy Kinser, and Derek Scheffel took their share. It is that history that makes wearing the crown so important to transplanted Californian Geoff Ensign. In the modifieds drivers like Dale DuBois, the late Buddy Cunningham, A J Bowlen, Kent Robinson, and Shelby Miles established a foundation for a young Bloomington driver Jordan Wever to build upon. Stock cars in various forms have been a staple back to SCIRA and standouts like Russ Petro, Ernie Barrow, Denny Campbell, Scott Patman and Jeremy Hines set the stage for Zach Sasser and Austin Phelps to shine. While the class known has hornets has a shorter history, drivers Luke Bland and Matt Hamilton approached their craft with pride, and when Chad Taylor grabbed the winner’s trophy in 2022 it was as important a moment to him as any driver who has landed at the head of the season standings.
As we look back at 100 years it is impossible to list all of those who were instrumental as leaders of this racetrack. Yet among those people are David Mitchell, Roscoe Brewington, Zach Becthel, Bob Taylor, Clyde Lawrence Jim Mitchell, Bob Deschamps, as well as Lawrence Fox. We salute Karl Kinser, Denny Richardson, and Jerry Shields who all contributed money to reopen the race track when it was fallow. Denny Richardson and Mike Miles worked as a team. Then Mike and Judy Miles oversaw the facility and helped it prosper for years. Later promoters included Dan and Brenda Roberts, Bruce Leer and Dale Dillon, USAC and Levi Jones stepped in for a year, and today Joe and Jill Spiker serve as caretakers.
Equally if not more important are the hundreds of people well outside the spotlight that made this work. No racetrack can survive a year, let alone a century without ticket takers, those in the concession stand, safety crew members, officials, push and tow truck operators, and individuals who prepare and maintain the facility.
As always, the most important people are the extended family members – the fans. The people who come in sit in the same spot year after year. The sport cannot survive without those who come prepared to cheer their favorites and band together in the toughest times. Here is to one hundred great years. May there be many more.

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