The History of Motorcycle Racing on the Historic Half-Mile Dirt Racetrack at the Cowley County Fairgrounds, Winfield, Kansas

The half-mile racetrack at the Cowley County Fairgrounds was originally laid out in the summer of 1872 and has been used for horse racing off and on since the fall of that year.  The corners were dredged out in the summer of 1883, more so near the inside of the track to give the effect of a slight banking to the turns, thus making the racetrack into a rare "dish" oval.  The size, shape, and location of the racetrack have not been altered since but flood sediment has filled in some of the original dish bringing the racing surface up almost to ground level.  The track lies just a couple hundred yards east and north of the Walnut River and outside the levee protecting the city of Winfield so the racetrack is often covered by flood water.  The track surface is mostly silt which does not pack down well so the racing surface was always very dusty but riders who liked a slick groove found this racetrack to be to their liking.

In the early 1900s at Winfield, motorcycles were raced on the same program with automobiles with afternoon races alternating between an auto race and a motorcycle race.

The following list of race dates and winners may not be complete.  Race results from some of the dates that are listed have yet to be located.  To see what results are currently known, click your mouse on the race date at left.

DATE	RACE	DISTANCE	WINNER	HOMETOWN	MAKE / MODEL	TIME	CROWD
October 15, 1909	Final	20 laps	Ray Weishaar	Wichita, Kansas	Indian	13:27.00	2,000
October 16, 1909	Final Free-for-All	4 laps	Dan Randall	Wichita, Kansas	Indian	2:55.00	2,000
July 1, 1910	Free-for-All	8 laps	Pete Hickerson	Winfield, Kansas	Indian	6:31.00	800
July 4, 1912	Single Cylinder	20 laps	Wells Bennett	Wichita, Kansas	Thor	14:08.50	4,000
July 4, 1913	Final	10 laps	Roy Rinehart	Arkansas City, Kansas	Indian	16:10.00	6,000
November 27, 1913	Final	200 laps	Lou Hoyt	Milan, Kansas	Harley-Davidson	2 hrs., 17 sec.	“Large”
July 4, 1914	Final	200 laps	Roy Rinehart	Arkansas City, Kansas		2 hrs., 6 mins
May 13, 1915	Final	10 laps	Walter Higley	Coffeyville, Kansas	Excelsior-Twin	6:39.00	2,000
July 5, 1915	Final	50 laps	Frank Mansfield	Arkansas City, Kansas	Indian		300

E. W. Yount at right

There is a photograph in the Cowley County Historical Society Museum in Winfield, Kansas labeled on the back:

"E. W. Yount racing motorcycles at the fairgrounds in 1916."

Ernest W. Yount (1894-1965) of Winfield, Kansas did race motorcycles at Winfield in 1915 but no other records have yet been located indicating that any motorcycle races were run at the Cowley County Fairgrounds in 1916.

The following races were run at Winfield by the Walnut Valley Motorcycle club:

DATE	RACE	DISTANCE	WINNER	HOMETOWN	MAKE / MODEL	TIME
January 29, 1933	Speed Race	4 laps	Lonnie Rose	Arkansas City, Kansas	Harley-Davidson	2:55.00
April 9, 1933	Free-For-All	10 laps	Pete Petross	Ponca City, Oklahoma	Excelsior-Henderson Super-X
Summer, 1933 (exact date unknown)

The Winfield Lions club sponsored stock car races on the Winfield racetrack in the 1950s but too few entrants and declining crowds led the Lions club to try presenting “C” class professional motorcycle racing in association with the Wichita Jeeps Motorcycle Club of Wichita, Kansas:

DATE	RACE	DISTANCE	WINNER	HOMETOWN	PLATE #	MAKE / MODEL	TIME
July 4, 1959
May 30, 1960	Expert Final	10 laps	Bill Dusenbery, Sr.	Wichita, Kansas	81	BSA Gold Star
July 4, 1960	Expert Final	10 laps	Mike Long	Ponca City, Oklahoma	56n	BSA Gold Star

Hugh “Hugo” Shea

 1929 - 2011

After the Winfield Lions club ceased presenting motorcycle racing in 1960, local horse racing interests constructed a steel pipe guard railing around the perimeter of the racetrack partly to discourage the use of the facility by motor vehicles.  They were only partially successful as the Winfield Jaycees and the Mid-West Harley-Davidson Dealers Association, headed by former Winfield resident, Hugh "Hugo" Shea, conducted the first annual Kansas State Motorcycle Rally at the Cowley County Fairgrounds on May 19-20, 1962.  Shea owned Harley-Davidson dealerships in Wichita, Kansas and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  These rallies consisted of poker runs, various contests, church services, and racing on the half-mile racetrack sanctioned by the American Motorcycle Association.  The following is an incomplete list of race winners at each Kansas State Motorcycle Rally run at Winfield:

DATE	RACE	DISTANCE	WINNER	HOMETOWN	Plate#	MAKE / MODEL	TIME	CROWD
May 19, 1962
May 20, 1962	Expert Final	6 laps	Gary Nixon	Ft. Worth, Texas	63	Triumph	3:10.44	1,000
May 11, 1963	250cc Final		John Stenfors	Salina, Kansas	129n	Harley-Davidson Sprint
May 12, 1963	Expert Final	10 laps	Darrel Dovel	Hutchinson, Kansas	45	Harley-Davidson	5:00.00
May 17, 1964	Expert Final	8 laps	Ted Davis	Ponca City, Oklahoma	90	BSA	4:02.46	1,900
May 16, 1965	Expert Final	10 laps	Roger Reiman	Kewanee, Illinois	1	Harley-Davidson	5:05.75	3,000
May 15, 1966	Expert Final	8 laps	Fred Nix	Lawton, Oklahoma	95	Harley-Davidson KR-750		2,800
May 20, 1967
May 21, 1967	Expert Final	12 laps	Pat Gosch	Omaha, Nebraska	47	Triumph Daytona 500		2,500
May 19, 1968	Expert Final	10 laps	Robert Winters	Ft. Smith, Arkansas	21	BSA	5:05.45	4,000
July 7, 1968	Expert Final	10 laps	Sam Satterley	Little Rock, Arkansas	72	Harley-Davidson KR-750	5:01.23
May 17, 1969
May 18, 1969	Expert Final	8 laps	Sid Carlson	Seattle, Washington	73	Harley-Davidson KR-750	3:51.96
May 23, 1970	Open Final	12 Laps	Jim Ratliff	Wichita, Kansas	2	Harley-Davidson Sportster
May 24, 1970	Expert Final	10 laps	Cal Rayborn II	Spring Valley, California	25	Harley-Davidson	4:52.81	7,000
May 15, 1971	Open Final		Jim Ratliff	Wichita, Kansas	2	Harley-Davidson Sportster		1,000
May 16, 1971	Expert Final	10 laps	Don Castro	Hollister, California	5	Triumph	4:44.38	3,000
May 21, 1972	Expert Final	11 laps	Neil Keen	St. Louis, Missouri	10	Yamaha 650		18,000

Mike Sherman raced at Winfield in 1963

George Roeder’s Bonneville land speed record

setting 250cc Harley-Davidson Sprint

behind the grandstand in 1966

Motorcycles were everywhere on Winfield’s

Main Street on race weekend in 1967

Mike Long raced at Winfield

1959 – 1963

Race weekend on Winfield’s

Main Street in 1966

Mike Van Bibber raced at

Winfield 1967-1970 and 1972

In the early 1960s, organizers would hold a large picnic in Island Park at the north end of Main Street for the riders and fans but as the years passed and the weekend crowds increased, such amenities waned.

The motorcycle races at Winfield became well known nation wide drawing increasingly larger crowds.  By the late 1960s, the city was doing little to prepare for the huge annual influx of people which resulted in shortages of almost everything a large crowd might need.  For example, restaurants ran completely out of food causing some visitors to travel as far as Ponca City, Oklahoma (51 miles) just to find something to eat.  Only the lucky few with motel rooms could take a shower although some improvised at the local car wash.  There were long lines at every available restroom in town.  Few trash containers were available on city streets and those few were overflowing within hours leaving no place to deposit further refuse.

The local citizenry was divided between those who wanted Winfield to remain as quite and peaceful on race weekend as it was the rest of the year, and those who felt there was normally little to do in Winfield and the motorcycle rallies provided some much needed activity.  In the end, there was somewhat of a compromise as, after the 1972 rally in Winfield, the Kansas State Motorcycle Rally was moved first to Wichita, Kansas; then to Hutchinson, Kansas; and eventually to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (although that last move prompted an obvious name change).

Just five months after the last motorcycle race there, the Cowley County Fairgrounds became the home of the first annual Walnut Valley Festival.  The City of Winfield has learned to cope with large crowds and that festival continues there to this day.

There is little doubt that, had the motorcycle rallies remained at Winfield, today, the city would rival Sturgis, South Dakota and Daytona Beach, Florida as the most popular gathering points in the country for motorcycle enthusiasts.  Instead, it has become just that for fans of Bluegrass music.

A flood in November 1998, took out the steel pipe guard railing from the front straight-away and from around the first turn, although it remains around the rest of the racetrack which has now been allowed to grow over with grass.  The grandstand has been enlarged but now extends well out into the racetrack itself to accommodate the music festivals so it is unlikely this historic half-mile racetrack will be utilized for racing again anytime soon.

Nine AMA Expert Class Competitors in the Races at Winfield have been
   Inducted into the AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame at Pickerington, Ohio:

NAME	YEARS COMPETED AT WINFIELD	YEAR INDUCTED
Wells Bennett	1912	2000
Ray Weishaar	1913, 1915	1998
Gary Nixon	1960, 1962	1998
Fred Nix	1963 - 1967	1999
Everett Brashear	1964	1998
Roger Reiman	1965 – 1966	1998
Neil Keen	1967, 1970 - 1972	2000
Cal Rayborn II	1970	1999
Don Castro	1970 - 1971	2010

One Expert Final Race Winner on the Winfield Racetrack has been Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at Novi, Michigan:

NAME	YEAR HE WON AT WINFIELD	YEAR INDUCTED
Gary Nixon	1962	2003

Two Expert Class Competitors in the Motorcycle Races on the Winfield Racetrack have been inducted into the Trail Blazers Hall of Fame at Los Angeles, California:

NAME	YEARS THEY COMPETED AT WINFIELD	YEAR INDUCTED
Everett Brashear	1964	2005
Neil Keen	1967, 1970-1972

One Novice Competitor in the Motorcycle Racing on the Winfield Racetrack has been Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America at Novi, Michigan Although in the Drag Racing Category:

NAME	YEAR HE COMPETED AT WINFIELD	YEAR INDUCTED
Eddie Hill	1971	2002

One Expert Final Race Winner on the Winfield Racetrack has been Inducted into the Dirt Track Hall of Fame at Springfield, Illinois:

NAME	YEAR HE WON AT WINFIELD
Gary Nixon	1962

One Public Address Announcer of the Motorcycle Races at the Winfield Racetrack has been Inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa:

NAME	YEAR HE ANNOUNCED AT WINFIELD	YEAR INDUCTED
Jack Miller	1972	2001

This photo was taken at 709 Main Street in Winfield after Michael Ames had ridden this XLCH trike from Texas to take part in the rally festivities in May of 1971.  Note the streamliner on the trailer in the background.

THANK YOU:

Dick Ainsworth, Roger Attebury, Fred Beall, Lee Both, Bill Bottorff, Ken Bright, Joan Cales, Sid Carlson, Don Castro, Harold Chance, Sherry Cobb, Ron Cyr, Bill Dusenbery, Jr.; Connie Fleming, Dave Harrier, Gene Hartline, Robert Herrick, Fred Holter, George Holter, Doug Johnston, John Koller, Mike and Libby Long, Robert Mielke, Russell Moore, Carl Myers, Gary Nixon, Herb Ottaway, Lee Parker, Wendell Petross, Nancy Pinard, Phil Pratt, Jimmie Ratliff, Dan Robertson, Jeff Roth, David Sawhill, Dennis Schoenfeldt, Hugo Shea, Mike Sherman, Bill and Lou Tharp, Mike Van Bibber, Mary Van Scyoc, Warren Vincent, Mary Ann Wortman, the American Motorcycle Association, the Winfield Daily Courier, the Winfield Public Library, and everyone else who has assisted me with this project but whom I might have neglected to name here.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Do you have a photograph, program, entry list, line-up, results sheet, AMA rider supplement, or other memorabilia from the motorcycle races from any time period at Winfield that could be added to this web site?  If so, please contact Bob Lawrence at sprintguy @ cox.net.  Your comments are also welcome as well.

Note that there are many links on this web page to a lot of additional information about the motorcycle races at Winfield.  For instance, many of the race dates above are also links to web pages with information about that particular day of racing.

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Sid Carlson