The History of Auto Racing on the Quarter-Mile Dirt Oval Racetrack at the Grant County Fairgrounds at Ulysses, Kansas
The Grant County Racing Club (later known as the Grant County Stock Car Club and still later as the Grant County Racing Association) was formed the evening of May 15, 1951 during a meeting at the office of Dr. G. C. Martin in Ulysses. Eddie Klester was elected the first president of the club and volunteers from that organization built the racetrack early that summer. There was already a smaller racetrack at the fairgrounds that was used for micro-midget racing. The Grant County Racing Club started racing 1932 through 1948 model “strictly stock cars” (also known as “jalopies”) shortly after the racetrack was completed. In those early days, any car competing was subject to be claimed by anyone posting $200.
A ticket booth, judge’s stand, and some portable bleachers were added to the racetrack the following year. Crowds for those early Sunday afternoon races averaged around 500. Seventeen lights were installed around the racetrack in 1953 and the racing was moved to Friday nights.
The Charles B. Hart American Legion Post 379 at Ulysses sponsored the races through 1957 while the Grant County Jaycees sponsored them in 1958 and 1959.
In 1955, Ernest Mann became president of the Grant County Racing Association, a position that he held until the racing subsided at the fairgrounds after the 1959 season. The races proved quite popular as crowds had grown to between 800 and 1,200 by 1956.
“Ulysses was a real hotbed of racing for a few years when jalopies were the (in) thing and one was sitting out by nearly every service station so it seemed. I went there one time. It was probably 1956. I rode in the backseat of Larry Torson’s new Lincoln with his painted-to-match Hudson jalopy in tow. I never went anyplace off of the farm (back then as) I couldn’t afford it so it just as well been the Indianapolis “500” that Friday night!”
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Dave Ross “The Flying Farmer” from Jetmore, Kansas Kansas State Modified Jalopy Champion – 1966 |
Grant County Fairgrounds at Ulysses, Kansas
The quarter-mile racetrack where the cars raced is in the upper left-hand corner of this aerial photograph. The east / west street that is just visible along the very bottom of the picture is Patterson Avenue – Ed Neidert collection
This Photo was Taken on the Racetrack at Ulysses in 1955
Kneeling left to right: Bob Murphy, Bob Elliott, Levon Turner, flagman Dean Burchfield, Charles “Chuck” Arnold, Jim Gibbs, unidentified, Clarence “Nut” Cokeley, Scott Talbert, Sr. and unidentified.
Standing left to right: Charles “Chuck” Lucas, Bill Humphreys, Harold Farthing, Kenneth Gillette, unidentified, unidentified, Don Shumard, Bill Wilson, Harvey Main, Stanley Trahern, Duane Caldwell, unidentified, unidentified, and Lowell “Bus” Talbert – Murphy collection
The list below is of the races that were run at Ulysses from 1951 through 1959. There are plans to tell about the races run on this racetrack in much more detail and to include photographs that were taken at those races or at least of cars that participated in those races. Many of the race dates at left below are written as links. By following those links, you will find other web pages about the racing just on those particular days. If you have any additional information or any photographs pertaining to the races run on this racetrack, or if you can identify any of the unidentified men in the photo above, please contact Bob Lawrence at sprintguy @ cox.net As more information is learned, more will be added.
Feature Race Winners
Date |
Winning Car’s Number |
Driver |
Driver From |
Laps in Feature |
Total Purse for Entire Program |
Number of Cars Participating in the Program |
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Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
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$0 |
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Don Stout |
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August 12, 1951 |
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August 25, 1951 |
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April 20, 1952 |
Races canceled due to rain |
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4 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
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13 |
Cecil “Junior” Maupin |
Dodge City, Kansas |
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29 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
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Races canceled due to rain |
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Races canceled due to rain |
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May 20, 1953 |
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May 29, 1953 |
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40 |
Scott Talbert, Sr. |
Elkhart, Kansas |
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94 |
Hugh Turner |
Elkhart, Kansas |
25 |
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August 22, 1953 |
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June 25, 1954 |
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July 4, 1954 |
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July 23, 1954 |
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25 |
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September 6, 1954 |
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September 19, 1954 |
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88 |
Bob Champlin |
Wichita, Kansas |
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$300 |
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20 |
$300 |
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June 17, 1955 |
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20 |
$300 |
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Jack Walker |
Tribune, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
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45 |
Levon Turner |
Elkhart, Kansas |
50 |
$300 |
|
|
88 |
Bob Champlin |
Wichita, Kansas |
60 |
$300 |
21 |
|
88 |
Charles “Chuck” Lucas |
Big Bow, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
24 |
|
75 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
24 |
|
80 |
Glen McDonald* |
Montezuma, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
25 |
|
34 |
Harvey Main |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
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Harold Farthing |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
21 |
|
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Harold Farthing |
Ulysses, Kansas |
50 |
$200 |
21 |
|
15 |
Duane Caldwell |
Sublette, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
22 |
|
5 |
Darrell Harms |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
|
|
34 |
Harvey Main |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
|
|
88 |
Charles “Chuck” Lucas |
Big Bow, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
|
|
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|
|
|
$300 |
18 |
|
28 |
Don Shumard |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
20 |
|
18 |
Max Malone |
Copeland, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
22 |
|
25 |
Floyd “Dutch” Davis |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
24 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Ensign, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
18 |
|
72 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
24 |
|
25 |
Floyd “Dutch” Davis** |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
19 |
|
75 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
18 |
|
75 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
16 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Ensign, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
17 |
|
79 |
Dean Lewis |
Dighton, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
26 |
|
79 |
Dean Lewis |
Dighton, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
27 |
|
97 |
Lyle Lewis |
Dighton, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
35 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Ensign, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
27 |
|
25 |
Floyd “Dutch” Davis |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
30 |
|
97 |
Dale Carter |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
26 |
|
90 |
Max Malone |
Copeland, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
25 |
|
88 |
Charles “Chuck” Lucas |
Big Bow, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
34 |
|
98 |
Cecil “Junior” Maupin |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$400 |
39 |
|
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75 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
50 |
$600 |
37 |
|
May 31, 1957 |
Races canceled due to rain |
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75 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$425 |
31 |
|
Races canceled after time trials due to rain |
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26 |
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88 |
Charles “Chuck” Lucas |
Big Bow, Kansas |
20 |
$425 |
25 |
|
88 |
Charles “Chuck” Lucas |
Big Bow, Kansas |
20 |
$425 |
25 |
|
28 |
Don Shumard |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
21 |
|
24 |
Cecil "Junior" Maupin |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
20 |
|
89 |
J. D. Pflieger |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
28 |
|
28 |
Don Shumard |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
18 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
19 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
17 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Dodge City, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
19 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Dodge City, Kansas |
50 |
$500 |
32 |
|
73 |
Paul Befort, Jr. |
Garden City, Kansas |
$300 |
16 |
||
19 |
Allan Fischer |
Hooker, Oklahoma |
15 |
$300 |
15 |
|
23 |
Gene Coffman |
Liberal, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
15 |
|
23 |
Gene Coffman |
Liberal, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
16 |
|
27 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
15 |
|
Feature race canceled due to rain |
|
|
$500 |
27 |
||
27 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
21 |
|
98 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
14 |
|
12 |
Glenn Smith |
Hooker, Oklahoma |
20 |
$300 |
18 |
|
7 |
Merle “Rabbit” Trahern |
Sublette, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
16 |
|
98 |
Charles “Chuck” Arnold |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
22 |
|
Feature race canceled due to rain |
|
|
$300 |
12 |
||
23JR |
Frank Garcia |
Liberal, Kansas |
50 |
$500 |
26 |
|
7 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
10 |
|
50 |
Bob Murphy |
Ulysses, Kansas |
20 |
$300 |
12 |
|
7 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
|
$300 |
12 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Sublette, Kansas |
|
$300 |
10 |
|
80 |
Stanley Trahern |
Sublette, Kansas |
11 |
$300 |
11 |
|
7 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
11 |
$300 |
12 |
|
7 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
15 |
$300 |
14 |
|
21 |
Gene Coffman |
Liberal, Kansas |
15 |
$300 |
16 |
|
73 |
Paul Befort, Jr. |
Garden City, Kansas |
15 |
$300 |
11 |
|
7 |
Clarence “Nut” Cokeley |
Liberal, Kansas |
50 |
$500 |
21 |
Major rule changes were implemented in this form of racing throughout much of the Midwest beginning in 1960. More expensive cut down cars with modified engines were allowed to compete in this class at many racetracks. The new cars were known regionally as “rails” and, although it was not mandated that all competitors have one, the “rails” were much faster rendering the “strictly stock cars” uncompetitive. Some of the smaller racing organizations tried to resist the rule changes only to be faced with car shortages for their races as several car owners scrapped their “strictly stock cars” to build “rails”. The car shortages and the inability to pay larger purses demanded by “rail” owners forced many racetracks in the smaller communities such as Ulysses to close. It did not help that a woman was struck by an errant wheel from a jalopy at Hooker, Oklahoma near the end of 1959. Her injuries were not serious but the lawsuit that followed and the resultant increase in liability insurance to continue racing there not only put an end to the sport at Hooker but the realization of the possible liability sent shock waves through those responsible for the other small racetracks in the area including Ulysses.
The Grant County Racing Association disburdened and its president, Ernest Mann, along with some of the other members. were instrumental in forming the new Grant County Go-Kart Club. The old track’s lights and portable bleachers were moved first to a Go-Kart racetrack at the fairgrounds and later to baseball fields constructed on the site of the former stock car racetrack.
There was an attempt to revive grassroots auto racing in the Midwest in the mid-1960s with “modified jalopies” and “semi-late model stock cars” but the Grant County racetrack was not rebuilt.
A racetrack for cars known as the Sand Dune Speedway was built southeast of Ulysses in the mid-1970s but racing there only lasted a matter of months before it closed.
* Second place finisher Glen McDonald was declared the feature race winner after judges disqualified first place finisher Harvey Main of Ulysses.
** Second place finisher Dutch Davis was declared the feature race winner after judges disqualified first place finisher Eldon Smith of Syracuse, Kansas.
You may contact the Webmaster at: sprintguy @ cox.net
Thank you to:
Phyllis and Sunny Battles, Roseann Coffman-Davis, Will Cokeley, John Grantham, Bud Lands, Charles Lucas, Bob and Janet Murphy, Bob and Ed Neidert, Dave Ross, Don Shumard, Don and Scott Talbert, Larry Torson, Wilma Weckerling, the Grant County Museum, and the Ulysses News