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In case you have a query concerning the historical past of Jacksonville Speedway, then Wayne Stearns is your man.
Stearns has served as monitor historian since 2012 and through that point has gathered an encyclopedic information of racing, not solely in Jacksonville, however in central Illinois. All of it suits in properly with the memorabilia he has displayed in an orderly trend in his South Jacksonville residence.
There may be numerous historical past to the monitor, which was established in 1912. Nevertheless, common racing did not materialize till 1949 and even then, there was a niche between 1958 and 1966 when no races had been run.
Whereas compiling a historical past of the Jacksonville monitor, Stearns additionally started to collect details about the historical past of racing in central Illinois. Stearns units up a desk on race nights with memorabilia for folks to have a look at.
“I often attempt to tailor it to the occasion. If there’s a memorial race, I often have sufficient materials to place collectively a slide present for the driving force,” Stearns stated. “We’ve an concept for a museum, not only for racing, but additionally a historical past of the Morgan County Truthful.”
Whereas Stearns is busy accumulating historical past, Kenny Dobson is working exhausting to verify the historical past continues.
Within the Nineteen Fifties, there have been tracks at Jacksonville, Pittsfield, Carrollton and Macomb and two tracks in Lincoln that raced inventory vehicles on half-mile flat tracks, Stearns stated.
“They had been at county fairgrounds, so that they had been utilizing the identical tracks that horse races had been held on. Out of these tracks, solely Jacksonville and Lincoln nonetheless have common races,” Stearns stated.
A bonus for Jacksonville is the monitor. 1 / 4-mile banked monitor was inbuilt 1965 to switch the flat half-mile monitor that ran in entrance of the grandstand. The half-mile monitor was lastly eliminated in 2013. What stays of the outdated monitor is primarily a part of the pit space.
When Dobson, the present operator and promoter of Jacksonville Speedway, turned concerned in speedway operations in 2012, there have been questions on whether or not it will stay open.
“A small group and I made a decision to try to hold it open. We referred to as it Final Probability Promotions as a result of we considered it as a final likelihood for the speedway to proceed,” Dobson stated.
“It was a multiyear strategy of determining the economics of creating it work at a small monitor. Jacksonville will not be an enormous inhabitants heart. The economics of the place weren’t working then, so we did some altering and located new racing courses the place it made extra sense financially,” Dobson stated.
“We had 5 or 6 years that had been rebuilding years. Now we’re higher established and revel in working our hometown race monitor,” Dobson stated.
After two years as Final Probability Promotions, the monitor started working as an arm of CILTRAK, which is dedicated to rising and selling motorsports all through central Illinois.
This yr’s attendance has averaged round 750, which compares to about 300 in 2012 and the 400 to 500 vary it was in a couple of years in the past.
“Our attendance and nationwide viewers by way of livestreaming is best than it’s ever has. Over the previous couple of years, we’ve got turned the nook. We’re a vacation spot monitor and one of many premier dust tracks within the Midwest,” Dobson stated.
For Dobson, a key within the turnaround was drawing within the World of Outlaws, a dust monitor touring collection presently owned by World Racing Group.
“I feel the largest factor we did right here was after we purchased in World of Outlaws in 2014. That’s the pinnacle of the dash automotive racing. A facility our dimension is mostly too small to place sufficient folks within the grandstands, however followers had been behind the hassle, and we did what gave the impression to be the not possible. We’ve achieved it two extra occasions,” Dobson stated.
Including the World of Outlaws was a part of a normal course of to make race nights higher by providing larger purses to draw a greater model of racing.
“We’ve actually tried to concentrate on thrilling occasions. We made numerous enhancements to the ability to make it a greater fan expertise and never have a usually soiled dust monitor. We’ve good concession areas, new restrooms, and a brand new banquet and bar space for folks to congregate. They will keep clear and comfy and take within the races,” Dobson stated.
Stearns stated many individuals questioned Dobson’s determination to livestream his races by way of DIRTVision. There are 600 tracks within the U.S. and Jacksonville is one in all solely 5 or 6 to have all of its races televised nationally.
“We had a free evening a couple of years in the past. We had a fantastic crowd and he figured 80% to 90% wouldn’t come again in the event that they needed to pay, however some may. He is prepared to do issues to convey folks in. Some folks assume he is loopy for doing that, however he figures in the event that they see them, they could come later. He is a particular promoter,” Stearns stated.
“There may be nothing like watching racing in particular person. It is the ambiance. It’s totally family-oriented, together with the very fact there are generations of drivers from the identical households,” Stearns stated.
Dobson’s first brush with racing got here when he was about 12 and his father, Kenny Dobson Sr., ran the monitor for a lot of the late Nineteen Seventies.
“I used to be about 12 years outdated when my dad ran the speedway for a handful of years and that’s how I used to be uncovered. I simply loved hanging round serving to my dad with odd jobs and I cherished being there Friday nights,” Dobson stated.
After his dad stop selling the monitor, Dobson bought away from racing for various years.
“I used to be going to varsity and being a younger grownup with a household, so I used to be away from it, however bought again into in my 40s,” stated Dobson, who’s a vp for Ware Manufacturers, which operates J.B. Hawks shops in Illinois and Missouri. “This can be a pure interest. This is not actually a job.”
Technically, there is no such thing as a proprietor of the speedway for the reason that Morgan County Truthful owns the grounds, Dobson stated. He calls himself the operator and promoter. Deb Casson, who owns Barney’s Pub, runs the meals and beverage concessions, and Tommy Casson takes care of the ability and race monitor.
“We could not do that and not using a nice facility and a cooperative truthful board who retains the property in nice situation. Different tracks get into wars with their truthful boards, however we’re lucky to have a fantastic group of individuals working the fairgrounds,” Dobson stated.
Dobson stated he has a straightforward relationship with the truthful board. When he meets with the board, he tells them his schedule they usually agree on a value. He additionally works with the truthful board to make enhancements to issues across the grandstand together with the brand new restrooms and banquet space.
“We race on the pleasure of the residents of the town and the truthful board. There will not be numerous communities the place you can also make noise 15 occasions a yr and never trigger issues. They perceive what we convey to the group. One in every of our larger successes is having a great relationship with the group and being appreciated for what we contribute,” Dobson stated.
One of many issues he brings to the group is folks, each drivers and people who attend the races. For his efforts, Dobson was named a Pal of Tourism in 2022 by the Jacksonville Space Conference & Guests Bureau.
The award acknowledged Dobson’s work by way of the speedway to advertise tourism in and round Jacksonville by attempting to convey household leisure to the town.
“There are such a lot of nice companies, sights and group members that gas the engines of tourism for the Jacksonville space and the Jacksonville Speedway is one in all them,” stated Brittany Henry, government director of the CVB.
“Kenny and his staff have made the speedway the exhilarating vacation spot it’s by making it the right mix of thrills, velocity, talent and leisure that pulls crowds from far and extensive whereas providing inexpensive ticket costs,” Henry stated.
“We’re grateful for sights, just like the Jacksonville Speedway, that function a strong catalyst that helps ignite financial progress whereas fostering a way of group delight together with providing lasting recollections,” Henry stated.
It is not simply followers who’re drawn to the speedway. Drivers come from throughout to drive on the monitor together with representatives from 32 states as various as Alaska, Washington, Florida and North Carolina. Some races have had a global taste as a number of drivers from Australia and New Zealand have navigated the Jacksonville oval.
Stearns believes curiosity in racing intensified after the Korean Battle and troopers returned residence and inventory vehicles recurrently ran in Jacksonville. After a dry spell within the late Nineteen Fifties and Sixties, racing reappeared in 1969 below the Jacksonville Speedway banner and promoted by Lance McKinney.
“Then it was inventory vehicles and midgets, that are four-cylinder open-wheel racers, working on Friday nights,” Stearns stated. “Now sprints, micro sprints and avenue shares are the primary attracts, although late fashions and modifieds are a part of the common season.”
Jacksonville is the one monitor within the space that races dash vehicles, and they’re there virtually each Friday the races run, Stearns stated.
The monitor is on the brink of take a break after the June 30 races due to the Morgan County Truthful. Racing will resume July 21.
“It is a good break throughout a busy season. It will be exhausting to regulate to suit into the truthful schedule,” Stearns stated.
Stearns stated Jacksonville’s location has been advantageous.
“If persons are going to Knoxville, Iowa, from the east, they could cease right here for the Friday evening races earlier than persevering with on for his or her Saturday races. For folks going east from the west, they is likely to be headed for dust tracks in Indiana and make the identical cease for a similar cause,” Stearns stated.
“We’ve had occasions the place folks had been touring to the Indianapolis 500 and stopped right here earlier than going to Indy. Our geography helps. There are many dust tracks in Indiana, Missouri and Iowa and we’re form of in the course of all that. It is a massive draw for the world,” Stearns stated.
Whereas racing is a enterprise, what’s necessary to Dobson are the individuals who come to the speedway and who’re pals by way of what all of them take pleasure in.
“It is the connection. To me, the variety of folks I do know and think about to be pals has grown exponentially since I’ve operated the speedway,” Dobson stated.
“Everybody concerned in racing, whether or not a competitor or fan, shares a bond and a love of the game. We’ve a camaraderie,” Dobson stated. “We’re not a closed group or a clique, as a result of it’s open to these with shared pursuits. Friendships type simply.”
Need extra?
See story, Jacksonville Speedway roars to life on race night, in Sports activities in the present day.
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