Wichita Fairgrounds Racetrack

Later Known as

West Side Racetrack

Later Known as

West Side Park

Later Known as

West Side Speedway

The Latter Being Two Blocks North of Douglas Street between Glenn Street and Vine Street at 1800 West Third Street in Wichita, Kansas

 

 

Numerous horse racetracks had been scattered around Wichita, KS for years but the Wichita Fairgrounds Racetrack can be traced back to 1906.  At that time, the fairgrounds were bounded by what is now First St. on the south, Osage St. on the west, and the Big Arkansas River on the north and the east.  The half-mile dirt oval occupied 15 acres on the west side of the 31 acre Wichita Fairgrounds.  The straightaways on the racetrack ran north and south.  That is where the first automobile races (not counting impromptu contests between just two vehicles) ever run in Wichita were contested:

 

 

            The next known auto races to be run on this half-mile dirt oval was a non-sanctioned event run in a virtual sand storm.  Nothing more is known about those races that took place before 5,000 people on Tuesday afternoon, July 4, 1911.  The only results located so far from those races show that Glenn M. Breed from Bushton, Kansas placed second in the Free-for-All event in his 1909 Buick Model 17.  Given the weather conditions that the race was run in, Breed claimed that he was happy to have done even that well.

            Right after the races that were run on July 4, 1911, much of the land where the fairgrounds had stood was purchased by the Midland Valley Railway Company.  By late August of that year, the racetrack and grandstands had been razed to make way for a new railroad terminal and yard.

            The next races run in Wichita were held on a mile and a half circular dirt racetrack at the short-lived Speedway Park southwest of Wichita on South Meridian St. in October of 1915.

            The next known auto races to be run in Wichita were on a half-mile dirt oval that was the first racetrack to be known as the West Side Racetrack.  It was built in 1916 on a 25-acre parcel "even with Charles St. from First St. north to the Arkansas River."  The grandstands were along the east side of what would have been Clarence St. on the west side of the racetrack if Clarence St. had proceeded north from its intersection with First St.  The auto races held on that racetrack this year were promoted by Capt. Harvey Kennedy backed by Ernest Moross and his company, Moross Amusements.  As with the races run at the West Side Racetrack through 1918, the cars and drivers that participated were contracted with by the promoters:

 

 

It is unknown who promoted the first day of races on this half-mile dirt oval in 1917.  Those consisted of racing during the International Wheat Show and was a non-sanctioned program for local cars and drivers.  The next three days of racing also run during the wheat show were promoted by Louis Disbrow of Indianapolis, Indiana.  Disbrow was a veteran driver himself and competed in his own races:

 

 

            The next auto races to be run on the half-mile dirt oval were promoted by Ralph Hankinson of Wichita, Kansas:

 

 

            The races run on this racetrack during the International Wheat Show in Wichita in 1918 were promoted by Lewis Disbrow of Indianapolis, Indiana:

 

 

            I.M.C.A. sanctioned aces were run during that annual International Wheat Show in 1919.  Those were promoted by J. Alex Sloan of Des Moines, Iowa and his assistant, Howard Duff:

 

 

            The next known auto race to be competed there was an unsanctioned event organized by Merle Warren of Newton, Kansas and run on the afternoon of July 4, 1921.

            The next auto races run in Wichita took place at the short lived Meridian Speedway in the early 1920s and on the Bo Stearns Track northwest of the intersection of 101^st and North Broadway (then known as North Old Lawrence Road) in the 1930s.

            In the mean time, the Cessna-Roos aircraft company purchased much of the land that had been the half-mile West Side Racetrack north of First St. and Charles St. and turned it into a landing field for their adjacent factory in the fall of 1927.  The racetrack was shortened to 1/8 mile and softball fields were also added on the property.  The facility was utilized seven days a week in the summers of 1941 and 1942 with softball games scheduled Monday through Saturday nights and Kansas Midget Racing (KMR) sanctioned midget auto races run on the racetrack owned by Frank Addis and promoted by Frank Murphy on Sunday nights beginning on May 25, 1941.  Over the next two years, drivers from five states would win feature races on this very competitive “bullring”:

  

 

 Sources: One Tough Circuit, Midget Racing in America’s Heartland by Bill Hill

Wichita Beacon newspaper

 

 

D. A. Clem won the points championship in 1941 while Guy “Mac” McHenry was the points champion in 1942 driving a car owned by Clem.

World War II put an end to the racing season across the nation after July 31, 1942 and the sport did not return to this little racing facility.  Today, only the softball complex known as the West Side Athletic Field remains.

 

1941 West Side Speedway Champion – D. A. Clem

Durward Aloysius “D. A.” Clem (1906–1956) at West Side Speedway in the earlier of his at least two front-wheel-drive midgets.  This one was powered by an Indian motorcycle engine and today is owned by Bob More of Junction City, Kansas.  The car is currently in pieces awaiting restoration - Louann (Chacon) Schodde collection

 

 

1942 West Side Speedway Champion – Guy “Mac” McHenry

D. A. Clem found himself too busy helping with the war effort in Wichita’s defense plants to defend his midget title in 1942 so Mac McHenry (1918–1964) drove D. A. Clem’s #13 midget to the championship for him that year.  McHenry is shown here parked in the pit area at West Side Speedway in the later of D. A. Clem’s two front-wheel-drive midgets.  This one was equipped with a Menasco engine.

Clem received serious injuries in a highway accident near Stillwater, Oklahoma in the summer of 1946 while transporting this car to a race in Oklahoma.  While Clem was hospitalized, mechanic Jim Soukup repaired the midget and then took it for a test drive on a Wichita city street.  The result was a crash that required Soukup to be cut from the midget although he sustained only minor injuries.  By September 8^th, the car was back in competition again at Wichita’s Cejay Stadium with George Elrod driving – Cindy Abbott collection

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Durwood A. Clem

Durwood Clem

Durwood Aloysius Clem