The “Auto Racing & Trade Day” held on the

½ Mile Dirt Racetrack at the Inter-County Fairgrounds

Oakley, Kansas

“Located Along the Union Pacific railroad”

(These fairgrounds later became known as Sportsman Park)

Saturday Afternoon, May 3, 1919

 

 

Roy Ivanhoe Pickering (1880-1962), along with a partner, ______ Johnson, both men of WaKeeney, Kansas, promoted these what are believed to have been the first automobile races ever run at Oakley, Kansas:

 

 

First Heat Race – 10 Laps

Place

Driver

Driver’s Hometown

Car Owner

Car Owner’s Hometown

Automobile

Purse

1

Noel E. Bullock

Smith Center, Kansas

Rex L. Kent

Norton, Kansas

Studebaker “6”

$100

2

Charles “Butch” Lebsack

Otis, Kansas

Leonard E. Kerbs

Otis, Kansas

Fronty Ford

    50

3

Walter F. Krhut

Collyer, Kansas

Walter F. Krhut

Collyer, Kansas

Ford

    25

4

Roy I. Pickering

WaKeeney, Kansas

Roy I. Pickering

WaKeeney, Kansas

Maxwell

 

 

 

Second Heat Race – 10 Laps

Place

Driver

Driver’s Hometown

Car Owner

Car Owner’s Hometown

Automobile

Purse

1

Noel E. Bullock

Smith Center, Kansas

Rex L. Kent

Norton, Kansas

Studebaker “6”

$100

2

Charles “Butch” Lebsack

Otis, Kansas

Leonard E. Kerbs

Otis, Kansas

Fronty Ford

    50

3

Walter F. Krhut

Collyer, Kansas

Walter F. Krhut

Collyer, Kansas

Ford

     25

4

Roy I. Pickering

WaKeeney, Kansas

Roy I. Pickering

WaKeeney, Kansas

Maxwell

 

 

 

Extra Heat Race – 10 Laps

Place

Driver

Driver’s Hometown

Car Owner

Car Owner’s Hometown

Automobile

Purse

1

Noel E. Bullock

Smith Center, Kansas

Rex L. Kent

Norton, Kansas

Studebaker “6”

$50

2

Charles “Butch” Lebsack

Otis, Kansas

Leonard E. Kerbs

Otis, Kansas

Fronty Ford

  30

DNF

Walter F. Krhut

Collyer, Kansas

Walter F. Krhut

Collyer, Kansas

Ford

 

DNF

Roy I. Pickering

WaKeeney, Kansas

Roy I. Pickering

WaKeeney, Kansas

Maxwell

 

This “Extra Heat Race” was run in place of the advertised amateur auto race that was not run.

The cars driven by Krhut and Pickering bumped together and spun out on the 7th lap.  Neither driver was injured but the front end of Pickering’s Maxwell was damaged.

 

 

Motorcycle Race – 10 Laps

Place

Rider

Rider’s Hometown

Purse

1

Harold Salters

Monument, Kansas

$25

2

Charles Gillman

Oakley, Kansas

  15

DNF

Frank Smith

Monument, Kansas

 

Smith was thrown from his motorcycle in the northwest turn, on the seventh lap of this race and handed headfirst in an embankment.  He remained unconscious for three days before waking up in the hospital, but he had no other signs of injury and he fully recovered.