Breed - 1912

W. Brown – 1913

Barber - 1913

Haugdahl - 1915

Donica - 1927

Fuller - 1927

Maze - 1928

 

The History of Automobile Racing on the Historic Half-Mile Dirt Racetrack at the Cowley County Fairgrounds, Winfield, Kansas
Page 1

Harrier - 1927

Holden - 1928

McAnally / Scruggs

1928

Cowan - 1929

Haskell - 1929

Carroll - 1931

Sparling - 1928

Fox - 1928

M. Cline - 1929

Bell - 1931

Grable - 1931

Mayfield - 1931

  

Fairs were representative of the idealized public version of life in rural communities in Kansas in the early 1900s in contrast with the normally boring everyday life actually experienced there.  That idealized concept, of course, included the excitement of automobile racing.

The earliest known automobile race run in Cowley County, Kansas took place on Labor Day, September 4, 1905 on a half-mile racetrack in Athletic Park on the east bank of the Arkansas River on the west side of Arkansas City, Kansas.

The half-mile racetrack at the Cowley County Fairgrounds in Winfield 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 track have not been altered since but flood sediment has filled in some of the original dish bringing the surface up almost to ground level.

The racetrack lies just a couple hundred yards east and north of the Walnut River and outside the levee protecting the city of Winfield so the track is often covered by floodwater.  The track surface is mostly silt that does not pack down well so the racing surface for cars has always been very rough and dusty.

Touring promoters presented a number of exhibition races on the track in the early 1900s.  In those races, the promoter either owned, or contracted for, the cars and drivers on the program with the emphasis placed on providing a good show for the crowd rather than on presenting a real competitive event.

The Cowley County Fair Association set aside $40 for a planned a time trial event where area cars could compete against the clock at the Cowley County Fair in September of 1903.  They planned to have contestants run two laps of the racetrack with the car with the fastest elapse time collecting $25 and the car with the second fastest time being paid $15 but no published results of that event have been located to date.  It is doubtful that the event even took place.

There were a number of legitimate automobile races contested there as well.  The earliest known of those are:

  

 

 

Date

 

Feature Winner

 

Driver’s Hometown

 

Car Owner

Owner’s Hometown

Car #

Make / Model

October 15, 1909

 

Dr. Lemuel Kimball

 

Arkansas City, Kansas

 

­­­­Frank Brandenburg

Arkansas City, Kansas

 

Hudson-20

October 16, 1909

 

Lloyd Haight

Winfield, Kansas

 

Lloyd Haight

Winfield, Kansas

 

Buick

July 1, 1910

 

Canceled after altercation

 

 

 

 

 

July 4, 1912

 

Glenn Breed

 

Winfield, Kansas

 

Glenn Breed

Winfield, Kansas

 

Buick Model 17

July 4, 1913

 

Glenn Breed

 

Emporia, Kansas

 

Glenn Breed

Emporia, Kansas

 

Buick Model 17

May 13, 1915

 

Sig Haugdahl

 

Albert Lea, Minnesota

 

Sig Haugdahl

Albert Lea, Minnesota

11

Mercer Raceabout

 

Froetschner - 1931

P. Cline - 1931

Winfield hosted a major horse race meet each summer and auto racing was added as a last day attraction to both those and to the Cowley County Fair each fall.  The increased crowds they helped generate in 1927 prompted the City of Winfield to construct a larger new grandstand before the races were run again the following year.

 

Date

Feature Winner

 

Driver’s Hometown

Car Owner

Owner’s Hometown

Car#

Make / Model

July 30, 1927

Earl Hovenden

 

Arkansas City, Kansas

Dwight Moody

Arkansas City, Kansas

2

Chevrolet special

September 27, 1927

Postponed due to rain

 

 

 

 

 

 

October 1, 1927

Canceled due to rain

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 23, 1928

Ira T. McIntire

 

Arkansas City, Kansas

Joe Hutchinson

Arkansas City, Kansas

44

Ford Rajo special

July 28, 1928

James F. Pickens

 

Arkansas City, Kansas

Joe Hutchinson

Arkansas City, Kansas

440

Ford special

October 9, 1928

Ralph Chrysler

 

Omaha, Nebraska

 

 

 7-11

Ford Rajo special

October 13, 1928

Ira T. McIntire

 

Arkansas City, Kansas

Joe Hutchinson

Arkansas City, Kansas

44

Ford Rajo special

July 27, 1929

Art Hutchin

 

Dallas, Texas

Art Hutchin

Dallas, Texas

101

Ford Laurel OHC

August 1, 1931

Tex West

 

Dallas, Texas

Tex West

Dallas, Texas

3

Ford Frontenac

October 7, 1931

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 29, 1933

Al A. Banks

 

Hastings, Nebraska

Al A. Banks

Hastings, Nebraska

5

Ford Model T

July 28, 1934

Ben Musick

 

Dallas, Texas

Chelsie E. Johnson

Lincoln, Nebraska

4

Ford McDowell

July 27, 1935

Tex West

 

Dallas, Texas

Tex West

Dallas, Texas

22A

Ford Model A

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taylor - 1933

Reeves – 1933

 

The Winfield racetrack was occasionally utilized as a test track for racing cars in the late 1940s but organized auto racing did not return until stock car racing began as just another attraction added by fair secretary, Noble Bradbury, to the annual Cowley County Fair:

 

Date

 

Feature Winner

Driver’s Hometown

 

Car Owner

 

Owner’s Hometown

Car#

Make / Model

August 30, 1950

 

Bill Mears

Wichita, Kansas

 

Pat Lucas

 

Wichita, Kansas

   10

1932 Ford

 

 

Beal - 1933

Ellis - 1934

Earl - 1933

Musick - 1934

 

The Winfield Lions club, with help from Winfield auto dealer, Joe Collins, began running races on the fairgrounds racetrack the next year.  Loosely adopting Wichita's Cejay Stadium's "strictly stock" rules, they raced 1932-1948 model American made stock passenger cars.

The City of Winfield owned the fairgrounds and required that a local civic organization sponsor such events in order to receive the City's permission to use the facility.  The following list of race dates may not be complete and race results from some of the dates that are listed have not been located yet.

 

 

 

Date

Driver

Driver’s Hometown

Car Owner

Owner’s Hometown

Car#

Make / Model

May 30, 1951

Ira Woodward

Wichita, Kansas

Glen Martin

Wichita, Kansas

3

1934 Ford Sedan

August 30, 1951

Charlie Lutkie

Wichita, Kansas

Bob Moffitt

Wichita, Kansas

51

Ford coupe

August 31, 1951

Frank Lies

Wichita, Kansas

Kenny Riffel

Herington, Kansas

55

Ford coupe

July 4, 1952

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 1, 1952

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 30, 1953

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 4, 1953

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 7, 1953

Bill Mears

Wichita, Kansas

Ted Kammerer

Wichita, Kansas

10

Ford sedan

May 31, 1954

Will Forrest

Wichita, Kansas

Joe Collins

Winfield, Kansas

43

1932 Hudson coupe

July 5, 1954

Frank Lies

Wichita, Kansas

Kenny Riffel

Herington, Kansas

55

1932 Ford coupe

September 6, 1954

Orval Beckel

Wichita, Kansas

Kenny Neely

Wichita, Kansas

99

1934 Hudson sedan

May 30, 1955

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 4, 1955

 

 

 

 

 

 

September 5, 1955

Ray Clark

Wichita, Kansas

Jack & Gail Jones

Coffeyville, Kansas

19

1932 Plymouth coupe

May 30, 1956

Orval Beckel

Wichita, Kansas

Kenny Neely

Wichita, Kansas

98

1932 Hudson sedan

July 4, 1956

Will Forrest

Wichita, Kansas

Lawrence Brooks

Arkansas City, Kansas

8 Ball

1932 Hudson sedan

September 3, 1956

Orval Beckel

Wichita, Kansas

Kenny Neely

Wichita, Kansas

98

1932 Hudson sedan

 

Barnett - 1934

Durant - 1934

Carpenter - 1934

Fondoble - 1935

Hodges - 1935

Chitwood - 1935

Rohrer - 1949

Bodkins - 1950

Pearson - 1951

DeWald - 1951

C. Lutkie - 1951

Pauley - 1934

O. Coleman - 1934

Plant - 1935

Cunningham - 1935

West - 1935

Hale - 1935

Holland - 1935

Salmon – 1950

Cox - 1950

Houdek - 1951

Mack - 1952

 

Webmaster's Note:  Each race date listed on this page is a link to another web page on this website that tells what I have been able to learn about the racing at Winfield, Kansas that took place on that given date.  You will find a number of photographs on those pages as well.  There are numerous other links within the text on this page and each of the photographs here is also a link.  A mouse click on any photograph displayed on this page will not only bring up a larger version of that picture but, in several instances, you will find other photographs there which are not otherwise displayed on this page, or any other page on this website.

This is only one page of this 3,500-page website so, if you have not found what you are looking for, you may wish to use the “Site Search” button below that will allow you to search just the pages on this web site for what you might wish to see.  A “Site Map” of those 1,500 pages is available below as well.

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