”
The
Drome”
With
Written Permission
by:
Dick Lee
I stood on a small strip of asphalt
that remained of the Grand Rapids Speedrome which was commonly known as the ‘Drome.’
This was several years ago and now even that small strip of pavement is
gone and nothing remains of this great racetrack. It was located on
North Park St
between the North Park bridge and
West River Dr NW
in
Comstock Park
,
MI
, a suburb of
Grand Rapids
.
As I
closed my eyes, my mind drifted back and my senses picked up the deep roar of
racing engines, the smell of alcohol fuel and my eyes could pick out all of the
colors of the rainbow on the neatly painted race cars. The Drome was another
defunct race track which started out in 1950 and ran till the track was sold to
the state in 1966 for the 131 expressway to run through the property.
For 63
years, off and on, the thundering race cars had roared around the track. My
personal recollection went back to
1950 when at fourteen years of age, I saw my first auto race. It was at the
Grand Rapids Speedrome and it was love at first sight and since then I’ve been
hung up those four wheel beauties and will be forever. Somehow it doesn’t seem
right for the Drome to slide into history without telling its story.
Our
story begins before most of us were ever born, for the first auto race was held
at the site on September 26, 1903. At that time the track was a one-mile dirt
track with long straight-aways. The turns were slightly banked and the
backstretch was only ten feet from the
Grand River
. For this was the original West Michigan State Fairgrounds which was closed in
1937 when the State Fair was moved to
Detroit
. Some of the biggest names in racing ran back there. The Grand Rapids Racing
Club was formed on September 12, 1903 and the first race drew 1900 paid
admissions which allowed the club to break even.
The promoters were W.S. Daniels and a Mr. Morse. Carl Fisher was the
winner of the first event over Earl Kiser.
The next year the winner was none other than the world famous Barney Oldfield,
who ran the mile in 56.6 seconds, which was close to the world’s record for
a one-mile dirt track. He also went on to win the race with a time of
9:17 for the ten miles from a standing start with an eighty horsepower Peerless
racer.
A large
crowd of 4,000 filled the grandstands, lined the fences and gathered on an
exhibition stage. The following year, the local paper said, “Fifty deputies
have been engaged to watch fences
and the gates, the Automobile Association is determined to make those pay who
see the expensive race cars of this years meet.”
From 1906 to 1908 no races were
held. 1909 saw the appearance of two champion drivers, Louis Chevrolet and Ralph
DePalma, who was to go on and win the
Indianapolis
500 in 1915. Barney Oldfield set a new track record
of 52.4 seconds in 1910. Louis Arms, a writer for a local paper wrote
about Oldfield this way, “The magic of the
name Oldfield brought thousands to
Comstock
Park
…..when it was fashionable to bang through fences and climb trees at a sixty
mile an hour clip, Barney always insisted on making the biggest hole in the
fence and hanging from the highest bough!”
In 1911 they talked about 200 horsepower cars and a $500 purse.
Wild Bob Burman set two track records breaking those of Oldfield and
DePalma. Fifty-one seconds for one mile. Fred
Pantlind was the referee of the meet held during the fair.
Teddy Tetzloff in a 300 horsepower Blitzen Benz set a new track record of
fifty seconds flat and won the fifty miler that was run in 1914.
Five thousand spectators turned out for the race.
In October of that year, auto polo was introduced and it was called the
“Undertakers Delight”.
1916 found Depalma , driving a Mercedes,
beating Ralph Mulford. DePalma
being billed as “one of the speed marvels of
the world”. A fatality
struck in 1923 when Bernard McCale, a 22 year old driver from
Detroit
drove a Frontenac to his death on June 17th.
3,500 spectators looked on that Sunday afternoon.
There were five others injured in the three car pile up, which went
through the fence. McCale went end
over end and was fatally injured.
The Grand Rapids Speedway Association was formed in 1924 and Sid Haugdal
was the victor. Racing programs sold
for ten cents in those pre-inflation days.
There were twenty-two entries for a 100 mile race with a $3,000 purse in
1925. But the big news was when
Sheriff W.L. Smith stopped the Sunday races at
Comstock
Park
. A quote from the local paper said, “Three separate petitions from
congregations of local churches have been presented to Sheriff Smith requesting
him to halt all similar Sunday exhibitions and he stated his action is partly in
accordance with these demands.” “As
a result of these protests, raised from many sources, I have ordered against any
more Sunday racing. The law makes it
a misdemeanor for anyone to stage such exhibitions on a Sunday. The expense to
the promoters, participants and also spectators is punishable by a fine of ten
dollars, and costs. If someone should disobey my orders, I would be forced to
arrest all racers, promoters, judges, time keepers and spectators as all are
equally guilty under the law as I understand it.”
Shorty Cantlan set a new
track record in 1926. 1932 saw the Interstate Racing Association of Lansing
sponsor short distance races on Sunday afternoons. Apparently Sunday racing was
no longer illegal. Barney Oldfield
and Ralph Depalma returned in 1935, but Buddy Callaway won. The end of the State
Fair in
Comstock
Park
came in 1937 and everything was shut down.
After World War II ended, the big craze in the nation were airplanes
because of so many peoples involvement with planes during the war. One of the
many airstrips around the country was built on the site of the old fairgrounds
mile dirt track. O.C. Hall took a
fifty year lease with an option to purchase on the fairgrounds and built a
north-south 6000 foot runway with provisions for a seaplane base on the river.
By 1949 work was started to switch it back to a race track site and plans
were laid out for one-half mile and one-quarter mile dirt ovals. Back in 1950,
before inflation really hit, $100,000 was spent to build the Speedrome as it was
now called. Later, everyone called it the ‘Drome’ for short.
The opening race was scheduled for May 14th of 1950, but with
the
Grand River
overflowing its banks, it was postponed till May 28th. Hank Heald
was the first announcer and later was followed by Big Bud Lindeman. The flagman
was Ben Crampton and Jesse Steinway the manager.
Now you must remember the context of auto racing in the late forties.
This had been the day of the Mighty Midgets.
In those days, midgets were running seven nights a week.
This was the hey day of the Kurtis-Kraft Offy. The midgets were king,
long live the king. There were a few
stock car races being staged around the country, however they were looked upon
as a fad which would quickly fade out and leave the racing world to the midgets
and their big brothers, the big cars, which were the forerunners of today’s
sprint cars.
The original intent at the Drome was to run AAA midgets weekly on the
quarter-mile and periodically Sunday afternoon big car programs on the half-mile
track. The big cars were sanctioned by Interstate Big Car Racing Circuit which
also ran at Playland Park in South Bend, Shererville Speedway near Gary, Indiana
and Jackson Speedway in southeast Michigan. The open top roadsters of that day
ran some races but did not catch on with the spectators. The jalopy stock car
races were going to be used as a
filler part of the program with a very minor role and a low status.
1950 was a turning point in racing history however, this was the year
that racing fans got tired of the midgets for many reasons and were looking for
something new on the racing scene. The something new were the old 1930’s
vintage stock cars.
4,000 fans showed up for the opening stock car race, which saw “Wild”
Bill Wiltse win the feature coming from 18th position in a 1932 Ford
coupe owned by Chuck Frieburg. The
stock car races were on their way and by Labor Day reached a peak for that
opening year of 8,000 fans.
To give credit to those who helped initiate the Drome
and helped usher in stock car racing into West Michigan here is a partial
list of participants for the Drome in 1950:
“Wild” Bill Wiltse, Don Green, Johnny Purwin, Jack Cummiford, Gene
Farber, Bob Bockeim, Dick Peoples, Bob Knight, Rod Black, Burr Krupp, Willie Wik,
Harvey Gibson, Gordon VanderLaan, Jack Sanborn, Duke Melinn, Eddie Olmstead,
Howard Newland, Kenny Knoll, Sherm Shimmel, Eddie Anible, Johnny Johnson, Don
Nickleson, Speedy Eichorn, Wally Sanders, Glen Rocky, Tommy Lane, Willie
Spielmaker, Leon Bocheim, Dick Stoddard, Bill Sherman, Al Witt, Harry Dromela,
and Jack Beduhn.
We must also make mention of the AAA midgets that ran for awhile, simply
because of the stature of the drivers who ran there, such as Neil Carter, Bernie
Jacobson, Art Cross, Frank Armi, Vic Carter, Bill Vukivich, Sr., Sam Hanks,
Eddie Johnson, Jimmy Davies, Ralph Pratt, Roy Sherman, Joe Sostillio, and Potsy
Goacher. Even the AAA flagmen were
big names, Bill Mitchell from
Detroit
and Bill Vanderwater, who also flagged the
Indianapolis
500.
The big cars on the Sunday afternoon shows on the one-half mile were
pretty much of a bust as they were unable to put together large enough fields of
cars to satisfy the fans.
The original stock car racing season was sanctioned by Chet Mysliwiec and
Hank Russ under the name of the Northern Michigan Stock Car Racing Club.
At the Labor Day program, the Speedrome management told Mysliwiec and
Russ that they no longer needed their sanctioning at the track. Chet Mysliwiec
leased the Berlin Fairgrounds to open
the 1951 season and built a fifth-mile dirt track for stock cars. Berlin Raceway
is in
Marne
,
Michigan
about seven miles west of the Grand Rapids Speedrome. Both tracks ran on
Saturday nights and a bitter power struggle went on for cars and drivers
competing in
West Michigan
.
1951 was the year that NASCAR came
north and ran a 200 lap Sunday afternoon race on the dirt half-mile of the
Speedrome. This Grand National race
which was the forerunner of the Winston Cup and now Nextel Cup series had all of
the top name competitors of that day including Fonty and Tim Flock in the
Oldsmobile 88’s and Marshall Teague in his famous Hudson Hornet. Lee Petty had
his
Plymouth
coupe there also. Dick Rathmann,
who was to later win the
Indianapolis
500, finished second. Marshall Teague won the 100 miler easily. Teague was to
lose his life at the Daytona International Speedway in an Indy Car in 1959 while
practicing for an Indy Car race there.
Tommy Lane
, from
Muskegon
,
MI
, drove his street Buick Roadmaster to the track and put
a number on it, strapped the doors shut and qualified fifth and finished
tenth. Lane tells the story of how Lee Petty came up to him before the start of
the race and said to him, “Hey boy, I got just this little
Plymouth
coupe and you got this big Buick. Now don’t run over me when the green flag
drops.” Tommy said that when the green flag dropped, he couldn’t even find
Petty much less run him over.
NASCAR returned to the Speedrome on July 11, 1954 with Lee Petty winning
the 200 lap race on the dirt half-mile. Some
Michigan
drivers who participated were Clare Lawicki, Chuck Neal, Jack Cummiford, Hank
Russ, and Irv Atkinson.
After Mysliwiec left the Drome for Berlin Raceway, the Drome’s
operations were taken over by O.C. Hall, who promoted the 1951 and 1952 seasons.
Hall met an untimely death in the Spring of 1953. That year a group headed by
Hank Heald took over and ran it through 1954 and then gave it up.
Chet Mysliwiec came back and leased the track for a couple of seasons.
Then ORA, which was Frank Evans and his associates ran the Drome till
1963. During that period, Evans
paved the quarter-mile track.
Midway through the 1963 season Chet Hall came along and became the final
promoter of the Drome. Hall paved
the half-mile track in 1964, lighted it and brought in the fast super modifieds.
This period proved to be the
high point
of the tracks history. The crowds grew to fantastic sizes as the unlimited
supers ran wide open competition. The
participants of the Speedrome super modifieds were a virtual who’s who of the
super modified era.
Some of the drivers in the super modified division that ran the track
during that era included Johnny Logan, Jimmy Nelson, Nolan Johncock, Cy
Fairchild, Harold Smith, Jack Lindhout, Todd Gibson, Art Bennett, Norm Brown,
Dick Good, Eddie VanderLaan, Johnny Benson, Sr., Ralph Baker, Dick Carter, Bob
Seelman, Duane Knoll, Wayne Root, Jack Nichols, Casey Jones, and Harvey Lennox.
Just to read these names brings back visions of snarling Chevy racing
engines, open wheel monsters hurtling into the turns and bellowing down the
backstretch and a deafening roar as they thundered by the grandstands. No true
race fan will ever be able to forget the memories of these men and the super
mods of that era. The
high point
of that period was in 1965 when the
Air Force sponsored a championship race which drew in excess of
9,000 fans
The low point of the track came on August 21, 1965. Just one week prior
on the 14th, Dick Carter was fatally injured at Berlin Raceway.
Carter was perhaps one of the greatest dirt track drivers of all time
in
Michigan
. On August 21st Jimmy Nelson, a close friend of Carter, came to the
Speedrome to race and announced that all of his winnings that night would be
contributed to the Carter family. Fate
stepped in that night and snuffed out the life and career of Nelson as he
flipped end over end, right out of the track into the parking lot.
In 1966 the State of
Michigan
was bringing the 131 expressway
north and bought up the property the Grand Rapids Speedrome was on. The land
that had seen auto racing from 1903 suddenly became silent.
Who can ever forget her history or forget all of the stars who took her
checkered flags. Just running
through the list of names raises my pulse and sets my heart beating faster.
The one-mile West Michigan Fairgrounds track and the tracks of the
Speedrome were some of
Michigan
’s greatest tracks and her memory will live forever in the hearts of race
fans. I know that I will never forget her. I sometimes stop near the property of
the old tracks and pay silent tribute to all of the men who ran on her tracks.
