| Plymouth Speedway features a 3/8ths (0.375)
mile banked paved oval with a paved Figure 8 track through the infield
area. |
| |
| Paul Meyers, Howard Bauman, and Shorty
Mentzel leased 16 acres of land and bulldozed a 3/8 mile surface.
Slab wood was purchased in Indianapolis and used for construction
of a wall around the track with Railroad ties posted 5 feet into the
ground. "We worked like slaves putting the rails up", recalls
Meyers. |
| |
| The gates opened for the first time in
the Spring of 1952, with a surface of oil and stones. After 2 weeks,
the drivers rebelled, complaining that the surface was impossible
to race on. The owners decided to take imeddiate action and applied
a new surface, losing only one night of racing. They had 180 tons
of limestone applied as a base., followed by a two inch base coat,
a one inch coat of finer material, and a 2 inch layer of 1,025 tons
of asphalt. And thus, a new and stronger dimension of racing came
to the area. Chuck Engel had set fast time of 20.31 before, 17.22
after. |
| |
| The early years were dominated by Dick
Good, with competition by Chuck Engel. in his Hudson Hornet, and Berrien
Springs driver Dave Paul. Others included Hook Henderson, Cap Arnold,
Oscar Faye, Kenny Fry, and Gordon Johncock. |
| |
| Following a 10 year layoff, the track
reopened with new owners Curtis and Russell Thews, who hired Dave
Schroeder as track manager in 1967. This time the track had a new
$150,000 remodeling look. A new track surface, with a special compound,
and the wall removed with a new retaining wall added on the Frontstretch. |
| |
| The 2 classes were Late Models and Supers.
The stars included Stockers Buck Cravens, Hal Apple, Dan Rogan, Grandpa
Johnson, Eldon Byler, Bill Kranenburg, Dave Byler, Ronnie Drake, Leroy
Skiles, Larry Schrock, Jiggs Myers, Dave Roahrig, George Migacz, Jim
Blount, Denny Nyari, and Dave Sabaj. The Supers were highlighted by
Ernie Nash, Gene Beecher, Walt May, Billy Jo Havens, Ozzie, Jeff Bloom,
Willie Stutzman, Dick Bandy, Lanny Scott, and Frank Demske. Another
class was started, called the Hobby Stocks. Those entries included
Larry Horn, Dave Wagoner, Manfred Back, Bud Masterson, Lyle Bailey,
Keith Berger, Rocky Bradley, Gary Wiles, Butch Ryman, and Ron Dickson. |
| |
| In 1969, Joe Hamsher and Howard Bice purchased
the track after which Bice sold out., leaving Hamsher the sole owner.
The track campained under the Tri-State Racing Association. This was
a 3 track, 3 race night operation, with South Bend running Friday,
New Paris on Saturday, and Plymouth, on Sunday. For the years up to
1973, Tri State was a very sucessfull operation with big car counts,
and tremendous crowds, especially Blueberry weekend.. Then in June
73, the South Bend Owner, Louie Freeburn, broke away, and the car
counts went down drasticly, as a ruling was in place that if a car
ran South Bend, he could not run New Paris or Plymouth. |
| |
| In 1974, Plymouth was tried as a Friday
night track. At this time the Super Modifieds were getting more expensive
running Slicks and V-8 engines, with that class dropping out by mid
year. The Late Models ran, along with the Hobby Stocks, plus a new
"stock" class, the Roadrunner Division. |
| |
| 1975 and 1976 , Plymouth went back to
the Sunday format, running Late Models, Hobby Stocks, and Roadrunners. |
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