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.

 

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 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:

 

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:

 

Hugh “Hugo” Shea

 

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:

 

 

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.

Mike Long raced at Winfield 1959 - 1963

Mike Van Bibber raced at Winfield 1967-1970 and 1972

Mike Sherman raced at Winfield in 1963

Motorcycles were everywhere on Winfield’s Main Street on race weekend in 1967

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.

 

 

 

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

 

 

  

One Expert Final Race Winner on the Winfield Racetrack has been
   Inducted into the National Motorcycle Museum and Hall of Fame at Anamosa, Iowa:

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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:

 

 

 

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:

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

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: