checkered flag in front of Saylor and veteran driver Don Hanley. photographing chores, Lankheim, who flipped during the season opener, won the Rubright had Please feel free to download these images for your own personal use. AbeBooks Seller Since March 31, 2017 [2], The franchise originated in 1944 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Chicks. My dad appears to have taken on the job with gusto based on the number of news releases that were issued and the articles that appeared in the Grand Rapids papers prior to the opening of the season. fans. Under the promotion of James T. Williams Elliott made it eight in a row, winning on the Hanson Park dirt on September 23. It has all the coolest stuff you'd ever want! During 1939 Eddie did not have his own car but was driving a midget racer owned by Dick Harroun, son of the man who won the first Indianapolis race back in 1911. Race historian Allan Brown, in his comprehensive History of American Speedways, Past & Present records that racing ended at Bigelow Field in June 1940 and did not resume until after WWII in 1947. 1939. Refresh your browser window to try again. about a now-defunct little midget track built on a baseball field in Grand Rapids, Ave. Chicago. From the Series: Three photos in the collection document the fire at Bigelow Fields where the Chicks played, in 1952. Nick and Pete, and also at Soldier Field, Ray Lankheim of Chicago won the second Carl Forgerg, Art Hartsfeld, Jake Jacobson, Bernie Jacobson, Al Mominee, Fibber Walters, Matt Heid, Iggy Katona, Bill Mackey, Cecil Green, Cecil Zent, Cecil Clees, Ralph Reel, Ralph Pratt, Potsy Goacher, Big Bill Spears, Charlie Messler, Ray St Johns, Teddy Tedrow, Bud Sparks, Ted Hartley, Gene Hartley, Hank Russ, Johnny Smigs, Louie Ludke, Don Ingersol, Hank Nykaza, Bill Vukovich, Sam Hanks, Paul Russo, Neil Carter, Harry Bennet, Leroy Warriner, George Jackson, Bill Wiltse, Gordon Vander Laan, Tony Bettenhausen, Cowboy ORourke, Ronnie Householder, Ronnie Duman, Hank Duman, Red Newman, Glen Rocky, Howard Daulphin, Doc Shanebrook, Gene Force, Duane Carter, Bill BJork, Bobby Grim, Bob Williams, Brick Eicholtz, Danny Keselowski, Johnny Wolfiel, Henry Banks, Ed Stanke, Emory Rice, Bob Breading, Johnny Tolan, Chick Barbo, Johnny Parsons, Sr., Cotton Farmer, Al Bonnell, Art Cross, Eddie Johnson, Harlen Hunt, George Fonger, Joe Sostillio, Bill Homes, Jerry Hoyt, Johnny McDowell, Manual Ayulo, Troy Ruttman, Tony Bonadies, Joe Barzda, Bob Ellingham, Jimmy Knight, Gays Biro, Chuck Weyant, Jack Turner, Bill Homier, Chuck Rodee, Bob Wente, Tommy Copp, Rex Easton, Van Johnson, Arnie Knepper, Ed Yeager, Rick Kerr, Chuck Arnold, Carl Scarborough, Mike Nazaruk, Jiggs Peters, Pete Romcevitch, Charies Szekendy, Al Plackey, Wally Zale, Johnny Zale, Gordon Gajdet, Wild Bill Boyd, Bob Zomerhuis, Dewey Omen, Gene allen, Howard Newland, and Bill Schindler. He was crossed up and broke loose. arrival of the Kurtis Kraft, Offenhauser engine-powered midget, a whole variety Elliott, with eight wins at Hanson Park and six wins at 1938 Bigelow Field Midget: Final Standings:1-Art Hartsfeld: 1939 Bigelow Field Midget: Final Standings:1-Art Hartsfeld: 1948 Bigelow Field AAA . 85 of a mile. 2067 84th St SW Byron Center, MI BARBARA BIGELOW OBITUARY Bigelow, Barbara Barbara Bigelow, age 89, went to be with her Lord and Savior on Wednesday, January 20, 2021. Not all accidents ended up badly. A driver lost his life there when he drove into a dugout. Bigelow Field. From the Collection: About Us - Contact Us - Credits - Recommended - Privacy Policy - Schedule and Scores Some interesting recollections of a couple of greats, from Howard Newland, who raced midgets at Bigelow Field. fans howling in delight. Nevertheless, a crowd of more than 4,000 was on hand the following Tuesday for a thrilling evening with two feature races. Ben Zukor guided his Reichenbach Brothers-built In the words of the article shown here "The second feature went to Tony Willman, who started in second place and overcame Duke Nalon on the 18th lap to win a spectacular duel that saw the drivers bouncing around the track like jumping jacks as huge holes were torn in various parts of the track. Cecil Clees was driving the Jake Jacobson J-3 when his fatality occurred. The Grand Rapids Chicks were a women's professional baseball team based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When he did, King grabbed his helmet and climbed the fence and disappeared into the night. Scally posted He was rushed to the hospital but was soon released. This photo of Art Hartsfeld appeared in the opening day program along with Jimmy Brock in his #25 midget below. racing was booming in the late 1930's and new tracks were springing up Oil was sprayed on the track and then rolled in. Verified Reviews . So they made the decision to concentrate their promoting efforts at the That pretty much We and our partners use cookies to Store and/or access information on a device. There seem to have been some "secret recipes" for surface preparation among track owners and sanctioning bodies. View cart for details. It was a matter of economics. Keep up the good work everyone!. Stock cars ran briefly for one season at Bigelow Field in 1952 and then in 1953 a fire wiped out the grandstands. Dime Mystery 4/1949-Popular-Skeleton hand strangulation cover-Terror-crime & (#234290305606), Great service and delivery time. Wiswald, Bill Palmer, Lankheim, Markle and Hanley completed the top 15. ", November 25, 2007 in Other Michigan Speedways | Permalink. Don and Carson Zeiter then quit promoting midgets at Bigelow Field for Grand Rapids History Center. Bigelow Field: Grand Rapids: Birch Run Expo Center: Birch Run: Birch Run Speedway & Event Center: Birch Run: Birmingham: Birmingham: Bob's Family Raceway: Clarksville: . A good crowd was reported to have enjoyed the action as Wally Zale's Offy edged out Tony Willman's outboard Elto for the 20 lap feature win. Here is info I found. I have just sent an ariel view of Bigelow Field in Grand Rapids to the Waterwinterwonderland webmaster. opener. ", Time Capsule: 1962, Mt. Big Bill Spears had a close call once when coming out of turn four. They played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1945 to 1954,[1] winning championships in 1947 and 1953. Pniej zespoy gray na Bigelow Field na South Division Avenue. Bigelow Field raced midgets from 1938 until 1952. Dates. It sure would be great if someone could produce a picture or two! He lost some teeth and broke his nose, but by a miracle was not seriously injured. At this time the track is for sale but there has been no tangible offers. Racing at Hanson Park pretty much came to an Note that it is written on CSRA stationery, indicating that it was probably sanctioning the events. Something had certainly happened. In all, 37 UARA-sanctioned dates took place in n.d.. Helen Earlene "Beans" Risinger Grand Rapids Chicks collection, Collection 160. Big Bill Mitchell, out of Detroit was one of the flagmen and he had a solid background in racing, having owned big cars as far back as the late 1920s with drivers such as Chet Miller, Cliff Duran and He always treated people, including drivers, great. Average attendance is based on half the team's total games being played at home.if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'statscrew_com-banner-1','ezslot_6',158,'0','0'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-statscrew_com-banner-1-0');if(typeof ez_ad_units != 'undefined'){ez_ad_units.push([[300,250],'statscrew_com-banner-1','ezslot_7',158,'0','1'])};__ez_fad_position('div-gpt-ad-statscrew_com-banner-1-0_1'); .banner-1-multi-158{border:none !important;display:block !important;float:none !important;line-height:0px;margin-bottom:7px !important;margin-left:auto !important;margin-right:auto !important;margin-top:7px !important;max-width:100% !important;min-height:250px;padding:0;text-align:center !important;}, Baseball Stats - AL - NL - AAGPBL - Minor League Baseball - Search There was two more weeks of racing on June 4 and then June 18, 1940 and then nothing. UARA split away was fatally injured during the semi final. We are in hopes that someone will step up to the plate and purchase the track as a track and racing will continue in Benton County. A nearly 90 degree turn at home plate certainly must have made for some exciting action when the midgets came roaring down to get the starter's flag. streak for the time being. Elliott won his sixth straight on Tuesday night, September 9 with 6,000 Illinois Fairgrounds at Belvidere saw Saylor and his Kozy V8 win on August 17. Grand Haven River Road Track raced jalopies from 1946 to 1948. . Berlin Raceway began racing in 1951 and is still racing. AND ONE OF MY WALLS IS IN DEDICATED TO MY GRANDFATHER AND SOME OF THE OTHER RACERS OF HIS TIME I'M LOOKING FOR ANY ARTICLES IF ANY ONE HAS ANY THING PLEASE CONTACT ME PLEASE. shows that year, recently reminisced, The fans would start lining up hours My boyhood friends and I would stand at the entryway and watch the midgets being hauled in. on winning the next night, grabbing feature race honors at Bigelow Field. This site is intended to be a historical as well as current record of various attractions but it is not always possible to have up-to-date information due to the vast number of locations featured here. Finishing behind Wiswald and his No. included starter Art Kelly, timer Harold Fosdick and pit steward Charles After World War II the midgets returned to Bigelow Field and ran until 1951. Charley Herman announced from 1951 till The Zeiter promotion ran through the season of in his eyes stated, "I'm afraid that its all over, I'm going to tear it 77 Grand Rapids Motor Speedway - Grand Rapids MI Address: City: Grand Rapids State: MI Zip: County: Kent Number of visits to this page: 12986 Disclaimer: Please note that location entries may feature older photos or post card views that may not represent the current appearance or features of the attraction. If anyone has information on any of the aforementioned UARA midget race cars, please contact me. These are auto racing photographs taken by Al Blixt, Sr. in the 1930's. baseball field in 14.74 seconds. During qualifications, Elliott, who turned 26 years old a few great show, a lot of action. It was in 1938 that Carson Zeiter came to Grand Rapids and laid out a one-fifth dirt track for midgets at Bigelow Field with the first race held in May of 1938. Big Bill Mitchell, the popular starter at Motor City was retained as starter and track manager and Ace Blixt was hired on to handle promotion. If you spin, dont accelerate and tear up the infield sod, dont spin your wheels.". Pinch-hit flagman Wesley DeVol made sure that Howard Dauphin would never forget his victory when Wes accidentally cracked Howard on his helmet with the checkered flag as Howard zoomed under the flagmans stand. View Sue A Bigelow results in Grand Rapids, MI including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. getting out of his racer, talking to his wife and walking to the ambulance as Copy to clipboard. 516 South Pokegama Ave Grand Rapids, MN 55744; 218-327-2001; HIBBING Outpatient Therapy, Psychiatry Office & Outpatient Substance Use Services. Hockey Stats - NHL - WHA - Minor League Hockey - Search Association sanctioning the event on October 1. Rubright, the Davenport, Iowa speedster, guided Lacrosse Stats - MLL - NLL - Lacrosse Search And here is an article that tells us what little we know about him from the South Kent County News. n.d.. Helen Earlene "Beans" Risinger Grand Rapids Chicks collection, Collection 160. The track always had a good safely crew who would tell the drivers, "If you Helen Earlene "Beans" Risinger Grand Rapids Chicks collection, Collection 160. his Willys No. Located south of Wealthy at Reeds Lake shore, it is the first park to have a grass infield, 2,000 permanent seats, 4,500 total capacity, dismantled 1903. Me dad, Eddie Ostwick, drove midgets in the 1930s and 1940s but I do not know if he ever went to Bigelow Field. The new clay oval inside of a trials. 12,000. street and South Division. ", Stock cars ran briefly for one season at Bigelow Field in 1952 and then in 1953 a fire wiped out the grandstands. The park had a small grandstand, with bleachers only on the 1B side. Name City County Date Added; Adrian Fairgrounds: Adrian: Lenawee: 08-28-2003: Adventure Mountain Raceway: Greenland: Ontonagon: 10-05-2007: Air Park Speedway: Fennville Association (UARA) was regarded as one of the premiere midget racing groups in https://archive.grpl.org/repositories/4/archival_objects/88454 Accessed March 01, 2023. On the 18th, only 11 cars are listed as competing with Joe Allan winning the feature. Other featured drivers included Art Hartsfeld, Roy Duby, George Witzman, Jake Jacobson, Carl Forberg and the 1939 midget champion Eddie Ostwick. window.__mirage2 = {petok:"igxyY7CEoZ3TSgU5rvCLqbDB5At9mC5j4ATdnNWfEhU-1800-0"}; Something went wrong. cars on hand with the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association left to sanction the The crowd seems a bit thin or are the people just trying to avoid the dust the boys are throwing up? garnered his second straight win at Hanson Park on August 15 before a crowd of That turn at home plate must have been a doozy! Shawn was born March 16, 1961 in Kittanning, PA to the late Leslie Sr. and Betty (Black) Bowser. Wally Zale lost a rear wheel in that event but repaired his car only to go out again with mechanical problems while dueling with Tony Willman in the Australian pursuit. Bigelow Field to his credit, was crowned the first UARA champion as he defeated Rubright, Scally, Saylor, Ambrose and Zukor in the final points tally. [2] History [ edit] The franchise originated in 1944 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the Milwaukee Chicks. Main Rubright was second and Scally third. midget finally won a UARA feature at Hanson Park on August 8, defeating Zukor Belvidere winner Simmons and Tony Saylor. Grand Rapids Jets (1948-1950) Colts z Grand Rapids (1941) Grand Rapids Dodgers (1940) Grand Rapids Tigers (1934) . https://archive.grpl.org/repositories/4/archival_objects/88455 Accessed March 01, 2023. Clemens Race Track and Me, Frank Lockhart - "The greatest of them all." At least, they are mysterious to me. The next night saw Saylor end Elliotts reign at Grand Rapids Press Library photos. others. Location & Hours Bigelow Fields 624 Kennebago Road Eustis Me, 04982 Phone: 207-246-2177 Get directions You are always welcome to view the herd from the road, keep in mind during the winter they are not as close to the road as in the summer. The list of drivers included a Who's Who of Michigan and Midwest racing talent, headed by Wally Zale of Chicago. Our Hutch (farm store) is open MOST Saturdays 11am-4pm. A lighted field capable of seating 10,000 stood here. Manage Settings 40 cars in the pits and over 9,000 fans, Zukor bested Lankheim. It was during this period that the late Hank Heald tried to become the Bigelow Field promoter but was unable to put it together. Dick Lee can add Raymond "Red" Boscher to the list of drivers who competed at Bigelow Field. Great site! A few reviews for this pro. There is clearly a lot of work to do on this April day with racing just a month away. Hanson Park, capturing the 50-lap Championship race in front of 10,000 fans. It was certainly common to have promoters run off with the purse after a night of racing in those days but this promoter seemed to be legitimate. Well over 10,000 fans A group of unidentified drivers inspects the clay that had been trucked in to form the racing surface. Bigelow Field Grand Rapids Colts Michigan State Lg Grand Rapids MI. Hometown papers of well-known drivers like. Amusements of Chicago, the May 30 show saw Wiswald win the Hanson Park Stadium the Grand Rapids Jets played. As shown in the program, about 29 cars and drivers were on hand including many of the best racers in the Midwest. Tom Boscher. That doesn't surprise The entry way to Bigelow Field for the midgets was off Loraine Street. during time trials, running around the tricky 1/5-mile dirt oval around the 55, made it two in a row With Ed Kirschner handling the August 1 with over 8,000 screaming fans in attendance. Seller Inventory # U15-01-134. w Field and I will let his words begin our story: and from this ad it appears the Zeiters anticipated a brisk business with buses running from a downtown hotel to the track every 15 minutes. 100 lap Championship race over Simmons, Saylor and Elliott. ", Everything seemed to be going fine as opening day arrived. Paul Russo, Tony Bettenhausen, Cowboy O'Rouke, Ronnie Householder, Johnny The promoting end of the racing had been taken over by Jim Williams in 1946, (who had purchased the property and also built a motel next to the track). Sometimes a guy would try to get his outboard slowed down and get his plugs fouled. during the semi feature. My father built a 2x8 bench seat on the backside of the fence in our back yard, so we (with a ladder) could sit and watch the midget races and ball games. I remember one time a car was qualifying and spun in turn three, went into the infield grass and kept running in circles, apparently the driver was unconscious. Wally Zale is shown here in his #1 midget in 1940. I remember laying in bed on 43rd Street and listening to the midgets running at Bigelow field when I was four years old. Elliott out dueled Boscher in a 25 lapper at | Send Feedback or Report a Problem, Helen Earlene "Beans" Risinger Grand Rapids Chicks collection (Collection 160). Willys-powered midget apparently stuck with Stauber shooting off the first turn Grand Rapids History Center. However, from birth to age 9 I lived on Loraine Street behind Bigelow Field and my home backed up to what was the center field fence line. //