Automobile Races at Hutchinson, Kansas

Feature Race Winners in the Automobile Races

Run on the Historic Half-mile Racetrack at the

Kansas State Fairgrounds

Hutchinson, Kansas

Page 1

1909 – 1932

The first known half-mile racetrack at the Reno County Fairgrounds at 12^th and Main Street in Hutchinson is known to have already been there as early as 1879. A second such racetrack was built there in 1887. There was a big push to build a new one mile racetrack there in 1893 but those efforts failed.

The Reno County Fair became the Kansas State Fair in 1900 and a new half-mile racetrack was constructed on the grounds that same year. It was there that the first automobile race was run at the Kansas State Fair. Almost immediately after that event, work was started on the “new” Kansas State Fairgrounds including the current racetrack located a half-mile north of the old fairgrounds. The new facilities were completed in time for the fair and races to be run in October of 1910. Automobiles, motorcycles, and horses were all raced on the new racetrack that year. The first grandstand at the current Kansas State Fairgrounds measured 280 feet long, 64 feet deep, and was designed to seat 7,500 people making it the largest grandstand in the state at the time.

In September of 1912, members of the Hutchinson Automobile Owners Club again petitioned the Kansas State Fair Association to lengthen the half-mile oval into a one-mile speedway as the American Automobile Association would not recognize any records set on any racetrack less than one-mile in length. The group of Hutchinson automobile owners was not successful.

The current grandstand was built before the fair in 1928 and seats 12,600 people. The older grandstand was not turn down until 1929 so both grandstands, with a total seating capacity of 20,100, were in place for the races in 1928.

The date of most of the races below is a link that will take you to a web page telling about the races run at the Kansas State Fairgrounds on that date. Most of those web pages contain photos of some of the cars and drivers that competed in those races.

Date:		Driver:	From:	Automobile:	Sanction:
September 18, 1909	*	George Wiles	Hutchinson, Kansas	E.M.F.	F.A.M.
October 13, 1910					None
October 19, 1910		Glen Breed	Bushton, Kansas	Buick Model 16	None
September 21, 1912		W. W. Brown	Kansas City, Missouri	Buick Model 10	None
September 18, 1914		Louis Disbrow	Indianapolis, Indiana	Gray Streak Case #2	None
September 19, 1914		Louis Disbrow	Indianapolis, Indiana	Gray Streak Case #2	None
September 17, 1915		Louis Disbrow	Indianapolis, Indiana	Gray Streak Case #2	I.M.C.A.
September 18, 1915		Louis Disbrow	Indianapolis, Indiana	Gray Streak Case #2	I.M.C.A.
September 24, 1915		Bill Endicott	Indianapolis, Indiana	Case	I.M.C.A.
September 25, 1915		Races canceled due to rain			I.M.C.A.
July 8, 1916		Bill Endicott	Indianapolis, Indiana	Maxwell	I.M.C.A.
September 20, 1916		Eddie Hearne	Chicago, Illinois	Briscoe	I.M.C.A.
September 23, 1916		Cliff Woodbury	Chicago, Illinois	Duesenberg	I.M.C.A.
September 15, 1917				Ford	None
September 21, 1917		George Clark	Ft. Worth, Texas	Case	I.M.C.A.
September 22, 1917		Jules Ellingboe	Crookston, Minnesota	Briscoe	I.M.C.A.
September 20, 1918		Sig Haugdahl	Albert Lea, Minnesota	Fiat	I.M.C.A.
September 21, 1918		Bill Endicott	Indianapolis, Indiana	Hudson Super-Six	I.M.C.A.
September 15, 1919					I.M.C.A.
September 19, 1919		George Clark	Ft. Worth, Texas	Duesenberg	I.M.C.A.
July 5, 1920		Johnny Mais	Indianapolis, Indiana	Essex	None
September 20, 1920		John Boyd	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Hudson Special	I.M.C.A.
September 24, 1920		John Boyd	Oklahoma City, Oklahoma	Hudson Special	I.M.C.A.
October 8, 1920		Harold Roller	Abilene, Kansas	Ford Special	None
October 9, 1920		Harold Roller	Abilene, Kansas	Ford Special	None
July 4, 1921		Fred Lentz	Hutchinson, Kansas	Essex Special #1	None
September 23, 1921		Leon Duray	Cleveland, Ohio	Golden Submarine	I.M.C.A.
July 4, 1922		Fred Lentz	Hutchinson, Kansas	Essex Special #1	None
September 22, 1922		Fred Horey	St. Paul, Minnesota	Frontenac	I.M.C.A.
July 4, 1923		James Speer	Wichita, Kansas	Frontenac	None
September 18, 1923		Al Watters	Chicago, Illinois	Duesenberg	I.M.C.A.
September 21, 1923		Fred Lentz	Hutchinson, Kansas	Lentz Special	None
July 4, 1924		Charles Lebsack	Otis, Kansas	Kerbs Special #4	None
September 15, 1924		Al Watters	Chicago, Illinois	Golden Oldfield Special #2	I.M.C.A.
September 19, 1924		Al Watters	Chicago, Illinois	Golden Oldfield Special #2	I.M.C.A.
July 4, 1925		Fred Lentz	Hutchinson, Kansas	Dodge Brothers’ Special	None
September 25, 1925		Fred Horey	St. Paul, Minnesota	Miller Special	I.M.C.A.
July 5, 1926		Charles Lebsack	Great Bend, Kansas	Kerbs Special #4	None
September 24, 1926		Charles Lebsack	Otis, Kansas	Kerbs Special #4	None
September 25, 1926		Vic Felt	Deer Trail, Colorado	Frontenac	None
September 19, 1927		Fred Horey	St. Paul, Minnesota	Miller Special #23	I.M.C.A.
September 23, 1927		Races canceled due to rain
September 17, 1928		Rex Edmonds	Houston, Texas	Chevrolet Special	None
September 21, 1928		Jim White	Sharon Springs, Kansas	White Special	None
July 4, 1929		George Barringer	Los Angeles, California	Barringer Special	None
September 16, 1929		Emory Collins	Regina, Sask., Canada	Red Streak D.O. Fronty #7	I.M.C.A.
September 20, 1929		Emory Collins	Regina, Sask., Canada	Red Streak D.O. Fronty #7	I.M.C.A.
September 15, 1930		Archie Powell	Galesburg, Illinois	Frontenac #3	I.M.C.A.
September 19, 1930		Rea Bray	Hutchinson, Kansas	Hill Special Frontenac #7	I.M.C.A.
September 21, 1931		Races canceled due to rain			I.M.C.A.
September 25, 1931		Emory Collins	Sioux Falls, South Dakota	Miller #7	I.M.C.A.
September 23, 1932		Maynard Clark	Milan, Illinois	Gerber Special #15	None

*The races in 1909 were run on the old State Fairgrounds racetrack that was located at 12^th and Main Streets, ½ mile south of the current facility.

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To see a list of Track Records for

the Automobiles on the Half-mile

Racetrack at the Kansas State Fairgrounds

in Hutchinson, Kansas

To Search this Web Site or to See a Site Map

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To View the Guest Book

Thank you to:

Betty (Kerbs) Able, Jeff Adams, Gaylon Albright, Mary and Andy Anderson, Dr. Mary Berghaus, Leroy Byers, Darren Galpin, Robert Ging, Ken Greteman, Tim Hiatt, Dick Jepsen, Carolyn (Felt) Junod, Galen Kurth, Jerry Leep, Bob Mays, Charles Pauley, Don Radbruch, David Russell, Ken Simon, Roy Still, Jim Taggart, Warren Vincent, L. A. Ward, Todd White, and the Hutchinson Kansas Public Library