Ohio

All-Time Favorite Ohio Track:

Eldora Speedway – Rossburg

Current lifetime trackchasing state rank:  8

Best Memories:

Since I’ve been to the Eldora Speedway more than 35 times it would be difficult to say Eldora is not my favorite Ohio track. For most of those visits, I lived more than 2,000 miles from the rural Ohio track. I guess my commitment to Eldora racing has been strong although not that much lately.

I’ve seen all of the big stock car and sprint car shows at the track. My specialty has been the World 100, having seen it about fifteen times. One of my all-time favorite photos is a picture of Carol with Eldora founder Earl Baltes. My buddy Jim Sabo joined me on many of the Eldora adventures.

Back in 1994, my visit to the 93 Speedway in Oak Hill resulted in me classifying this track as a “worst ever” and tying it with the Glad Rag Speedway in New York for this dubious honor. I’ve seen some really good racing in Ohio at tracks like Attica Raceway Park.

I had an outstanding interview at the Brown County Speedway on K103 radio with Ken Smith. I saw Ed Howe win at the Columbus Motor Speedway. My buddy Greg Robbins (above) joined me at CMS for their figure 8 show. We ended up eating at Possum Holler Pizza. At the Crawford County Fairgrounds, I saw pickup truck figure 8 racing. The Weidman’s, Eleanor and Paul trackchasing fellow competitors joined me for the figure 8 racing at the Cuyahoga County Fairgrounds.

I got to see one of my favorite sanctioning bodies, the Antique Auto Racing Association compete at the Fayette County Fairgrounds in Washington Courthouse. An Ohio highlight was exploring the long-ago shuttered New Bremen Speedway (above). The facility looked like one Saturday night they just left the track and never returned. The pageantry at the Fremont Speedway was only superseded by what I had seen at the Rockford Speedway.

The Hamilton County Fairgrounds in Cincinnati was the most “citified” county fair I’ve seen. The Hilltop Speedway was a “way down-home” track. Not a lot of teeth in this area. The Holmes County Fairgrounds was home to lots of Amish and Jac Haudenschild. An out of control school bus with a stuck throttle almost reached the grandstand seating area at the Knox County Fairgrounds in Mount Vernon.

At the Lawrence County Fairgrounds in Proctorville, the promoter paid $3,500 to win a five-car figure 8 race in the mud. The Little Eldora Speedway kart track had 226 karts; 60 heat races; 16 consies and 17 features all on a one-groove racetrack. The Mansfield Raceway asphalt track featured outhouse restrooms. At the Martinsville Raceway, I met the track’s caretaker, Mark, who took me on a complete tour of the Attica Raceway Park, which sits less than a mile from Martinsville.

I met ARAA track announcer Stumpy Stone at the Mercer County Fairgrounds. It was difficult to see much of the racing action at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. I went trackchasing with Ed Montgomery at the Midvale Speedway. I returned to Midvale for their mixed surface F8 show and joined my buddy Brian Tredway and his family. After the racing, we all went out for dinner at Denny’s!

I had a most unique police encounter at the Morrow County Fair. At the Oakshade Speedway, the race leader broke in the last turn of a 200-lap enduro. I saw some really good flat track indoor kart racing in the O’Neill Building (above) at the Ohio State Fairgrounds. There was good side by side racing at the Painesville Speedway. I rode the ferry with buddy Greg Robbins to South Bass Island to see the Put-In-Bay-Airport vintage racing.  

Our home track in 1974, when we lived in Cincinnati, was the West Chester Speedway. I saw my first ever sprint car race on their asphalt track with Jan Opperman racing. I saw Sarah Fisher race at the Skyline Speedway. The dirt modifieds were good at Raceway 7. I also saw some good close racing on the Toledo Speedway quarter-mile. I was probably my sickest ever following an overnight drive from Wisconsin Dells to the Van Wert County Fairgrounds for an AARN show. The racing at the Vinton Speedway was straight out of the 50s with great country music. The last time I ever saw Jan Opperman race was at the Wayne County Speedway in Orrville.

If you see a track link in the above list simply click on it to be transferred to my Trackchaser Report. Here you will be able to read about my adventure at this particular track. Not only will you learn about my time at the track but you’ll hear about all of the interesting people, places and things I encountered during the entire trip, coming and going, to that speedway. Most of my Trackchaser Reports will also include a photo album and YouTube video. Check it all out. Don’t be afraid to use the “search” box in the upper right corner of my website’s home page. Just type in the track name or whatever and you’ll be directed to the place you want to be.

Below is a key to surface types and track configurations so you can understand the above list just a little bit easier.

Surface types:  D-dirt; P-paved; M-mixed

Configuration types:  O-oval; RC-road course; F8-figure 8 track