Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Anybody know anything about the Belleville KS fairgrounds track?  

Seems like a track with a lot of history but in modern times seems to have a spotty schedule.  Does the track even run anymore?  Is/was it leased or did the fair run it?  Nice facility?  Seems I remember it having a little museum or somerthing at the track.

Looks like an interesting track with history, just dont seem to hear much about it.  

Run races every year. Have 305 Nationals in late July or August. Midgets don't run there anymore. Highbanks.org  It is a spotty schedule but when they have a race it is a good one.

One of the absolute coolest race tracks and race locations I have ever been too and I have been to most (in the US).  I was fortunate enough to be at the Belleville Midget Nationals the first year Jerry Coons won it. Dave Darland won the Friday night race.  The team they raced for dominated that year.  It's in the middle of nowhere but the track itself is located right in the middle of the town.  I really felt like I was sent back in time.  The drive from airport was beautiful too (forget which airport I flew into).  Cars were flying! Scary fast.  It was two or three day show so during the day all the teams used the yards and driveways of the homes to tear down the cars and perform maintenance.  All the top teams basically strip the cars down to nothing, clean, maintain, and put back together.  It was like instead of having park or ball field in a nice neighborhood there was a racetrack!  It was awesome! 

Great atmosphere for the midget Nationals, truly like a carnival or fair type atmosphere. I'm very glad I went in 2015 before the Clauson tragedy put a damper on all of it. They probably should shorten the track, I bet you'd get more sanctioning bodies to come to a 4/10th Belleville than what it is now. 

USAC is scared now

WoO is boring there

305s are a joke there

Member of this message board since 1997

I love Belleville but I also understand why the Midget Nationals aren't held there any longer. The Nationals were always run during the North Central Kansas Free Fair and the Fair lended a charm and festivity with a bit of small town midwestern excitement thrown in to the atmosphere as a whole.

The community is four square behind the track. People turn their homes into bed and breakfast facilities during the Nationals and welcomed drivers, teams and spectator's alike into their homes for that weekend.

I live less than 2 hours from a huge urban population center and the overall level of courtesy and respect for one another at a place like Belleville, Kansas is starkly evident from the moment you step out of your vehicle. Even the young people show a level of regard and respect for others that we rarely see and experience in our area. It caused one to look around and think the whole country could learn a lot in regards to how we treat each other from the folks who call Belleville, Kansa home. The event was a joy to attend in addition to the racing, which was very good more often than not.

The 305 sprint cars that replaced the Midget Nationals seem to have caught on a bit and I really hope they make a go of the 305 Nationals for decades to come. That area of the country and more specifically the town deserve it. 

I've heard the same over the last 5-10 years-----I've never been there.  It seems to me a complete track re-configuration is in order.  When that happens, all of the "purists" will have a fit because something that has been around for over 100 years shouldn't have to adapt to today.  (i.e. Eldora being altered to improve the product)

I have attended many High Bank Midget Nationals at Belleville including the one that cost BC his life.   As others have stated that the midgets on the track are breath taking.   The feeling of watching the midgets on the track, watching their speed, being amazed by them throwing sliders at each other is incredible.   I doubt that any other track can manage to duplicate their excitement.   This is why so many people love this track.

The community, the free fair, the carnival rides, the midway food, it was all amazing.   As others have stated, during the day you could see midgets rolling around town in all kinds of conditions.  

However, Belleville is also trapped by its history and mystic.   It has for years tried to change up its schedule.   It tried being a Co-Sanctioned event, a USAC event and even an outlaw event.   There were/are many of the POWRi midget teams and regional teams that did not feel comfortable running Belleville.   Whether they were uncomfortable with the track not having any true straight aways, the damage that the track can do your equipment, or the sheer speed and danger.   Many teams stayed away and it was getting harder to find a full field.   A group of local supporters started a sponsorship program to get the numbers of drivers attending the race to increase.   Unfortunately, some of those teams were not ready for Belleville and cause a Start/Park strategy.    The track tried to bring in the USAC Silver Crown cars the same weekend as the midgets, but that was not successful either.  

They continue to have the 305 nationals as their new "signature" event.    They have tried to book other series/classes at the track.   Now that they do not run the midgets there, I would like to watch a WOO Sprint or a Late Model race at the track.   However, the reviews for these races are never as good as the midgets.   They face the same issues as the midgets, but are going even faster which makes the racing more of a follow the leader event. 

Because of the BC death, I do not think that the midgets will ever return.   They did run the race the next year in order to have the 40th annual High Bank Nationals, but have not had it since.   Without the midgets, the track does not have the same magic.   If they cut it down, add straights, reduce the bank it will no longer be the Belleville High banks but rather just another track.   I truly believe that it is a track that is caught in its history. 

NOTHING compares to midgets on the Highbanks...Nothing, notta, zilch. If you never saw them there, you missed something special.

Member of this message board since 1997

It's not as much the history as it is the fact that racing and speed technology and the speeds that technology allows rendered a track of the configuration and size of The High Banks both too scary and economically impractical. I'm not in the business of racecar and/or track ownership but it's really not all that complex to understand that a track like the High Banks costs more to field a competitive car than the potential return on investment. Belleville is also well beyond the mileage radius that most teams are financially comfortable travelling given where most of the midget teams are located.

I don't pretend to be smart enough or forward thinker enough to even begin to come up with what direction a place like The High Banks should extend their efforts. What I do know is that it's a very sad situation for Belleville, Kansas, the surrounding community and racing in general, through no fault of their own, that a truly great event has essentially imploded onto itself and I still hope the 305 event is a rousing success for the foreseeable future. Belleville deserves it.

It seems  to me that Bellville would be a decent track for the silver crown cars. I wonder why it wouldn't /doesn't work.? I'd like to see the place sometime, its another bucket list track.

They tried it three years in a row (2013-2015).   It was always the same weekend of the midgets.  I forgot the details, but I think that they would always run on Fridays.   I never was interested in the silver crown car, so I never watched them at Belleville.  

beezr, at the time that the USAC Silver Crown cars were scheduled at Belleville during Nationals weeked the Silver Crown division was on life support. Silver Crown car counts were very low at every venue they raced. I'm not saying they would draw 35 to 40 cars like they do now for Springfield and Du Quoin but they would undoubtedly draw many more cars than they did the years they race out at Belleville. The vast majority of Silver Crown teams are based in and near Indiana and it's an expensive 12 or 13 hour pull out to north-central Kansas. Given today's circumstances the Crown cars would probably put on entertaining races at The High Banks but the logistics and the purse limitations just aren't favorable enough to warrant a return.

I loved the Silver Crown cars on the Belleville Highbanks,  it was a great track in length, shape and banking for the fat bottom girls to dance around. 

The problem is that it was a stand alone show (2 out of three tries a 2 night show with practice and qualifying on Thursday and the 50 lapper on Friday) and a 1400 mile round trip for almost all the teams.   If they could have matched it up with Knoxville 360 Nationals on Saturday to give the teams another chance to make a little money. 

305 put on the best show there compaired to the woo ascoc.  Right now 305 are the thing so what Rick Salem and Belleville are doing is the best for the Nationals