Winfield Daily Courier
Wednesday, July 29, 1931 - Page 10:

Will Have Auto Races

     Auto races have been scheduled for Saturday beginning at 2 o’clock.  Eighteen racing cars have been entered and thrills and spills are in store for those who attend.

     Final arrangements were made late Tuesday to hold the races.  The fair association management would not advertise the races until the auto racing association put its stamp of approval on the attraction.  This was done and the races come to Winfield as a bonified entertainment given by some of the best dirt track drivers in the country.

Winfield Daily Courier
Thursday, July 30, 19 31 - Page 10:

Special Attractions To Feature Car Race
Saturday's Events at Local Track Include Many Thrillers

     Special feature attractions never before offered in Winfield, will be a part of the auto racing program offered at the local half-mile dirt track Saturday, August 1st.  Don C. Onley, of San Antonio, announces a program of unusual interest to those who like thrilling entertainment.
     One of the features on the program is a head-on collision between two popular makes of cars going at a speed of between 30 and 40 miles.  Drivers of the two cars leap to safety just before the crash in front of the grandstand.  This attraction has proved a thriller wherever it has been staged.
     Another feature attraction is the race between a Model A Ford stock car and a Chevrolet four-cylinder machine.  The Ford will be driven by a representative of a Ford dealer in Oklahoma City.

Winfield Boy to Drive
     Donald Dauber¹ of Winfield will drive the Chevrolet which is owned by Garold Cheek, another Winfield boy.  The Chevrolet is a 1928 model roadster and has a local reputation for its speed.  This race will be of interest to local fans.
     Several of the best known dirt track drivers in the country have been entered, Mr. Onley announces.  Carl Mayfield of Oklahoma City, who holds Oklahoma dirt track records, will drive a Rajo special.  He is one of the older drivers in the game and has been racing for the past ten years.

Texas Champion Here
     Jack Derbanne, a Frenchman from Shreveport, Louisiana, will drive an Auburn eight-cylinder machine.
     Cotton Grable, of Houston, Texas state champion will appear in his Chrysler.
     George Barringer² of Los Angeles, a Pacific coast champion who drives a D.O. Frontenac, has one of the fastest cars known for dirt track driving.
     The racing program will start at 2 o’clock and those who like to witness dare-devil driving on a
half-mile track, will have an opportunity to see an afternoon of good entertainment, the management promises.

George Barringer

Arkansas City Tribune
Thursday, July 30, 1931 - Front Page:

To Start Winfield Races
J. F. Pickens Will Officiate When Racing Cars Contest

     Jim Pickens, one of the most popular race starters in the states of Kansas and Oklahoma, will officiate at the automobile races during the fair.  There will be several big races between the best speed artists of dirt tracks in the middle west at tomorrow’s fair in the county seat town.  R. D. Hill, of this city, and his Chevrolet as well as other local drivers, will have their race cars in the meet.  It is really a treat to watch “Easy” Pickens officiate and his skill is so well known in keeping discipline that the crowd gets as much fun out of his executive work as they do out of the speed trials.  A great many local fans plan to attend the Winfield races and watch Mr. Pickens officiate all the races and witness the local drivers compete with Pat Cunningham and other like well-known contestants.

Arkansas City Daily Traveler
Thursday, July 30, 19 31 - Page 3:

Will Have Auto Races

     Auto races have been scheduled for Saturday beginning at 2 o'clock.  Eighteen racing cars have been entered and thrills and spills are in store for those who attend.

Winfield Daily Courier
Friday, July 31, 1931 - Page 12:

Auto Races Saturday

     Saturday’s racing card will include some of the most thrilling auto races eve scheduled for the Winfield track.  For several years, it has been the custom to end the horse race meet with a day of automobile dirt track races and the management of the meet believes that this year’s races will excel any ever offered here.

Winfield Daily Courier
Saturday, August 1, 1931 - Front Page:

Rain Fails to Halt Auto Racing Program
Bray Wins Feature Event on Fourth Lap Around Local Track

     Automobile races at the Winfield fairgrounds racetrack this afternoon were cut short by the heavy shower which began about 2:30 p.m.  Only one event, the three-cornered race, had been completed when the storm broke.  A large crowd was present for the closing events of race week in Winfield.  Fifteen automobiles from many cities were entered in the feature races of the afternoon.

     The three-cornered race, scheduled as the fourth event of the afternoon, was called about 2:15 p.m. when it became apparent that the storm would break soon.  Rea Bray, of Hutchinson, driving a Frontenac; Cotton Grable, of Houston, champion car racer for Texas and his Chrysler; and Carl Mayfield, Oklahoma City champion, were entered.  Mayfield drove a Rajo special.

Grable Takes Early Lead
     Cotton Grable assumed an early lead on the racetrack and he was ahead during the first three laps.  It was on the fourth lap, however, that Bray, ever pressing Grable for leadership, passed the Chrysler and sped down the track for first honors.  The time was 2:16.5.
     Time trials occupied the attention of the crowd during the early part of the afternoon, each car making a time test around the track for rating in other events of the afternoon.  Only six time trials had been made when the three-cornered race was called.
     Despite the showers, which made the track slick, racing was resumed late in the afternoon.  A large number of cars were put on the track and, in a short time, it was in shape for racing again.  The crowd, greatly pleased with the taste of auto races it had had, remained for the other events.

Winfield Daily Courier
Monday, August 3, 1931 - Page 5:

New Record is Set in Automobile Races
Dallas Flier Speeds Around Curves on Local Track

     A new track record of 28.6 seconds was set at the fairgrounds Saturday on the auto racing program when Tex West of Dallas, Texas in a Frontenac, made 62.8 m.p.h. in a time trial.  The old record was 31.2 seconds.

     Rea Bray of Hutchinson, driving the Hill Frontenac of Arkansas City, was the first to lower the old record when he went the half-mile in 29.8 seconds in a time trial.  West came along a few minutes later and clipped off one and one-fifth seconds from Bray’s time.

     The races were the best that Winfield has had to offer for several years.  Sponsored by the (W. W.) Bowen Auto races of San Antonio, the program consisted of six events and three added attractions.  The drivers went into the competition in daring style and gave the crowd the thrills they wanted.

West Takes Race

     The second event, a three-mile race open to the six fastest cars qualifying in the time trials, was won by Tex West in 2:59.4.  Rea Bray crowded him for second place and Bobby DeMuth of Los Angeles, in a Frontenac, finished third.

     First of the thrills came in this race when Ossie Benson of Portland, Oregon in a Frontenac; and Carl Mayfield of Oklahoma City in a Rajo Special, crashed together on the south turn at the beginning of the first lap.  The speeding machines spun like tops.  Benson’s machine rammed backward through the outside fence and came to a stop on the railroad right-of-way.  Neither driver was hurt and the cars were slightly damaged.

     Event three was a six-lap event open to non-winners of the second event.  It was won by Carl Mayfield in 3:03.2.  Cotton Grable of Houston, Texas in his Chrysler, was second and Harold Bell of Kansas City, Missouri, was third in his Front Wheel Drive powered by a Hispano airplane motor.

     Another thrill came in this race just after the cars had come under the fire for a start.  On the north end of the track in the first lap, Herb Beigel, of Chicago, in a Frontenac; and Mike Parnell of Houston, in an Auburn 8, tangled and piled up close to one of the barns.  Neither driver was injured but the cars both had to go to the pits for repairs.

Bray Wins Event

     The fourth event was run before the time trials had all been finished because of an approaching rain storm.  It was a three-cornered race of four laps won by Bray in 2:10.5.  The other two entries were Mayfield and Grable.  Grable and Mayfield were neck-in-neck for the first three laps but Bray made a spurt of speed to win the event ahead of Grable.

     The consolation straw hat derby, in which every driver wore a straw hat, was won by Benson in 3:26.8.  Grable had the event sewed up all along the line but, at the finish, he lost his hat just 20 feet from the wire which disqualified him.  He was given second place and Posey Reeves, of Oklahoma City, in a Frontenac; placed third.

Sweepstakes to West

     Tex West again showed his ability as a driver and put his speedy Frontenac through the paces to win the great sweepstakes, open to winners of the second and third events and the next two fastest cars.  The ten laps were fast and furious.  West never was headed.  Bray, who was headed by Mayfield for two laps, went into second position and kept it to the finish.  Bell finished third in the field of nine starters.

     Benson went into the pit on the second lap when his machine went into a coughing fit.  Mayfield deserted the track and started mowing down fence in the fourth lap.  Parnell got into Bell’s lane in the fifth lap and the two cars piled up on the south turn.  Both drivers escaped injury and the cars were only slightly damaged.  DeMuth came rolling in for fourth place in the race about a lap behind the winner.     After the shower, which held up the races for about an hour, the tramp car race was run.  It was an event for local Model-T Fords, valued at $50 or less.  Jimmy Cantrell led the field of four starters for the eight laps.  Bernie Crabtree finished second.

Cheek Shows Speed

     Garold Cheek of Winfield, in a four-cylinder Chevrolet roadster, took H. Berry of Henrietta, Oklahoma to a trimming in the Chevy vs. Ford event.  The time was 3:47.2 for the six laps.  The race was close for the first four laps, but Cheek showed his license tag to Berry the rest of the way, finishing about 100 yards ahead of the challenger.

     Two cars were smashed in a head-on collision in front of the grandstand as the last event on the program.

     Two of the racing drivers, one in an obsolete model Nash touring car, and the other at the wheel of a dilapidated Chevrolet coach of an ancient vintage, jumped out of their cars just before the crash.  The old cars, which were little more than junk to begin with, were ready for the potter’s field after the crash.  They were carried off the track by wreckers.