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!”

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
July 22, 1951		Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas		$0
July 29, 1951		Don Stout
August 12, 1951
August 25, 1951
April 20, 1952	Races canceled due to rain
April 27, 1952	4	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas
May 11, 1952	13	Cecil “Junior” Maupin	Dodge City, Kansas
July 4, 1952	29	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas
August 23, 1952
May 1, 1953	Races canceled due to rain
May 15, 1953	Races canceled due to rain
May 20, 1953
May 29, 1953
June 12, 1953	40	Scott Talbert, Sr.	Elkhart, Kansas
July 4, 1953	94	Hugh Turner	Elkhart, Kansas	25
August 22, 1953
June 11, 1954
June 25, 1954
July 4, 1954
July 23, 1954
August 6, 1954
August 20, 1954				25
September 6, 1954
September 19, 1954
May 30, 1955	88	Bob Champlin	Wichita, Kansas		$300
June 3, 1955				20	$300
June 17, 1955				20	$300
July 4, 1955 – Day		Jack Walker	Tribune, Kansas	20	$300
July 4, 1955 – Night	45	Levon Turner	Elkhart, Kansas	50	$300
July 15, 1955	88	Bob Champlin	Wichita, Kansas	60	$300	21
July 29, 1955	88	Charles “Chuck” Lucas	Big Bow, Kansas	20	$300	24
August 5, 1955	75	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300	24
August 12, 1955	80	Glen McDonald*	Montezuma, Kansas	20	$300	25
August 19, 1955	34	Harvey Main	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300
August 26, 1955 – Day		Harold Farthing	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300	21
August 26, 1955 – Night		Harold Farthing	Ulysses, Kansas	50	$200	21
September 2, 1955	15	Duane Caldwell	Sublette, Kansas	20	$300	22
September 9, 1955	5	Darrell Harms	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300
September 16, 1955	34	Harvey Main	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300
September 23, 1955	88	Charles “Chuck” Lucas	Big Bow, Kansas	20	$300
September 30, 1955					$300	18
May 4, 1956	28	Don Shumard	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$400	20
May 11, 1956	18	Max Malone	Copeland, Kansas	20	$400	22
May 18, 1956	25	Floyd “Dutch” Davis	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$400	24
May 25, 1956	80	Stanley Trahern	Ensign, Kansas	20	$400	18
June 1, 1956	72	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas	20	$400	24
June 8, 1956	25	Floyd “Dutch” Davis**	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$400	19
June 15, 1956	75	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$400	18
June 22, 1956	75	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$400	16
June 29, 1956	80	Stanley Trahern	Ensign, Kansas	20	$400	17
July 4, 1956	79	Dean Lewis	Dighton, Kansas	20	$400	26
July 13, 1956	79	Dean Lewis	Dighton, Kansas	20	$400	27
July 20, 1956	97	Lyle Lewis	Dighton, Kansas	20	$400	35
July 27, 1956	80	Stanley Trahern	Ensign, Kansas	20	$400	27
August 3, 1956	25	Floyd “Dutch” Davis	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$400	30
August 10, 1956	97	Dale Carter	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$400	26
August 17, 1956	90	Max Malone	Copeland, Kansas	20	$400	25
August 24, 1956	88	Charles “Chuck” Lucas	Big Bow, Kansas	20	$400	34
August 31, 1956	98	Cecil “Junior” Maupin	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$400	39
September 3, 1956
September 7, 1956	75	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	50	$600	37
May 31, 1957	Races canceled due to rain
June 7, 1957	75	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$425	31
June 14, 1957	Races canceled after time trials due to rain					26
June 21, 1957	88	Charles “Chuck” Lucas	Big Bow, Kansas	20	$425	25
June 28, 1957	88	Charles “Chuck” Lucas	Big Bow, Kansas	20	$425	25
July 5, 1957	28	Don Shumard	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	21
July 12, 1957	24	Cecil "Junior" Maupin	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	20
July 19, 1957	89	J. D. Pflieger	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	28
July 26, 1957	28	Don Shumard	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	18
August 2, 1957	80	Stanley Trahern	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	19
August 9, 1957	80	Stanley Trahern	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	17
August 16, 1957	80	Stanley Trahern	Dodge City, Kansas	20	$300	19
August 23, 1957	80	Stanley Trahern	Dodge City, Kansas	50	$500	32
May 30, 1958	73	Paul Befort, Jr.	Garden City, Kansas		$300	16
June 6, 1958	19	Allan Fischer	Hooker, Oklahoma	15	$300	15
June 13, 1958	23	Gene Coffman	Liberal, Kansas	20	$300	15
June 20, 1958	23	Gene Coffman	Liberal, Kansas	20	$300	16
June 27, 1958	27	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas	20	$300	15
July 4, 1958	Feature race canceled due to rain				$500	27
July 11, 1958	27	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas	20	$300	21
July 18, 1958	98	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300	14
July 25, 1958	12	Glenn Smith	Hooker, Oklahoma	20	$300	18
August 1, 1958	7	Merle “Rabbit” Trahern	Sublette, Kansas	20	$300	16
August 8, 1958	98	Charles “Chuck” Arnold	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300	22
August 15, 1958	Feature race canceled due to rain				$300	12
August 22, 1958	23JR	Frank Garcia	Liberal, Kansas	50	$500	26
May 29, 1959	7	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas	20	$300	10
June 5, 1959	50	Bob Murphy	Ulysses, Kansas	20	$300	12
June 12, 1959	7	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas		$300	12
June 19, 1959	80	Stanley Trahern	Sublette, Kansas		$300	10
June 26, 1959	80	Stanley Trahern	Sublette, Kansas	11	$300	11
July 3, 1959	7	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas	11	$300	12
July 10, 1959	7	Clarence “Nut” Cokeley	Liberal, Kansas	15	$300	14
July 17, 1959	21	Gene Coffman	Liberal, Kansas	15	$300	16
July 31, 1959	73	Paul Befort, Jr.	Garden City, Kansas	15	$300	11
August 21, 1959	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.

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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