Antique Car Racing, Kansas, 1960s (The Stuff Our Grandpas Got Away With 50 years Ago)

I ran across some old reports of the Hutchinson Region, Horseless Carriage Club of America today. It had a lot of mentions of antique car races that were run regularly at the Kansas State Fairgrounds there in the 1960s. In one of them, a 1907 2-Cylinder Maxwell owned by Francis Turley was the only entrant for the 2-cylinder race, so he yanked off a spark plug wire so he could compete in the 1-cylinder race.They actually allowed it! That was the 1961 event with 103 cars, probably in 15 or so races.

As far back as 1910, there were both horse and car races at this 1/2-mile dirt track. One match race was horse vs. car....narrowly won by the horse! Famed Buick Team driver Glenn Breed raced a Model 16 Buick here in 1910. Duesenbergs raced in 1916 and 1919. Barney Oldfield ran a Christie with a 1,237 Cu. In. four-cylinder front-wheel-drive car there in 1912, and in 1931 a Miller straight 8 raced. By the sixties, Glenn Brown, my Grandpa, was racing a 1910 Buick on the same track. He won some, too.

That sounds like the life. This makes me feel nostalgic, wish we still did stuff like this.

I found this on a Kansas car racing site called: www.winfield.50megs.com, not in the HCCA Gazette . I don't have any Gazettes, but it's possible some of the races were covered there, too.

Thanks Guys!

Really fun to see! an remember some of the later Kansas Racing stuff!

Lotsa good stuff there - thank for posting it.

As a race fan in Wichita, it's great to check out the local racing history.

I was thinking this thread would be about the cops pouring my beer out and telling me to go home.

I was thinking this thread would be about the cops pouring my beer out and telling me to go home.

I found this on a Kansas car racing site called: www.winfield.50megs.com, not in the HCCA Gazette . I don't have any Gazettes, but it's possible some of the races were covered there, too.

Thanks for the share, nice to see Kansas Racing History (CLASSIC)!

Maybe I should have just called this "Antique car racing, Kansas, 1960s". I keep hoping to find stories and photos of my Grandfather 50 years ago with his Buick race car on the State Fair Track, but these reports are incomplete. Still, there's some neat stuff, like a lady winning the Powder Puff event with a '31 Cadillac(Who were the other racers? Was she driving a limo or a roadster?) and the fact there were a couple of Duesenberg race cars there almost 100 years ago.

Looking again, I see there was a "New Stock Car Race" in 1949 where a guy won in a 1949 Packard. Having trouble imagining a car like that powering around a 1/2-mile dirt track. The "Antique Car, Powder Puff" event was in 1967, so that would be a little like someone doing dirt track racing in a '78 Eldorado today.

I resent the line, [h=2](The Stuff Our Grandpas Got Away With 50 years Ago)[/h]

That WAS ME! doing the raceing not my grandpa! (;-)