Forum: Oklahomatidbits.com General Forum (go)
Moderators:  /  David Smith Jr

To keep the tune of tidbits from Oklahoma Racings Past, herre is a question fer ya.

Was Sun Valley Speedway (1981),(1986) the same as Ada Raceway (1972-1980), (1985-1987) and Echo Ranch Speedway?

Also, it was discussed on earlier thread about Elmwood Speedway in OKC (5/18/47-6/08/47), was this located on Shields where the trailer parks are now and was that the old amusement park?

At the Chandler Fairgrounds, they had a dirt oval there in the 1950's. Any of you veteran racers compete there?

I can kinda picture this in my mind, but did you know that Chickasha had a 1/2 mile dirt oval from 1925-1935?

Did you know that there was a Buddy Cagle Speedway located in Vera in the late 1970's?

In Lawton, where was the old Lawton Bowl located at from 1934-1941 and then from 1946-1952? It was a half mile dirt which was also a horse track.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

No knowledge about most of your questions, but Elmwood was at the amusement park. What most people tend to remember about the place was the enormous swimming pool. They ran mostly stock cars and junk cars there, since the Lavelys slapped a restriction on "their" drivers racing within something like 25 miles of one of the "their" tracks. Hmmm....not the only ones to ever do that, eh? They did run midgets once, I believe...local drivers in Fords, Jeeps, and Continentals who weren't competitive with the Taft crowd, anyway.

Did see an article about racing at the Fairgrounds half mile in Guthrie in the late '30's. Stock cars and junk cars again. Guess Cottonwood Creek had a bad habit of swallowing that operation on a regular basis.

Buddy Cagle Speedway? Hope he didn't do his own announcing, or if he did, there was no curfew. If anyone is ever at a function where he's the guest speaker, ask him about baby sitting Jud Larson and Troy Ruttman at Indianapolis. Great story.

Nobody's mentioned Black Widow Speedway yet. Any old micro campaigners out there?

Hey David - Talk to Morris Woodall next time you see him - I think he either promoted or owned Echo Ranch in the end ... It was a cool ol' track - They used to run a 20 lap Figure 8 for the last race every Sat. {There were actually a few real racecars ran in it!} It was also the 1st racetrack I drove at when I was 15 - - Dutch, Glenn Owens, & Paul Ott were there, so it didn't take too long for me to go straight to the back when the green flag waived in the A Feature !

Buddy Cagle Speedway -

http://www.terraserverusa.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=15&X=1202&Y=20183&W=1&qs=%7cvera%7cok%7c

Speedway in Ada (I believe Echo Ranch)

http://www.terraserverusa.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=14&X=3588&Y=19221&W=1&qs=%7cada%7cok%7c   David, according to the book "The History of America's Speedways - Past & Present" who are the same folks each year who publish the Speedway Directories. The different named Ada tracks you mentioned are all one and the same.

I went to Oklahoma Sports Park in Ada 2 years ago and I was talking to a guy with the bank that owns the land where Echo Ranch was and he said the stands there are still in good shape and they wish they could find a buyer for them.

David , Echo Ranch ran from '85 to '89 , Bubba Todd was the promoter , we ran a 100" Modified down there in 88 and 89, Was by there about 8 months ago and still has most of the stands and stuff and lots and lots of weeds. Morris Woodall only owned the old Ada Raceway ,SE of Ada on 3W. Echo is on 99 South of Ada.

As for the Lawton Bowl , That is new to me, Do know about the old track that ran out east of Lawton at the L O Ranch Arena back in the early 60's , It is where Garland Newsom (Dad of former Hobby Stock driver David Newsom) was impaled in the stomach by a 2 x 4 I believe when he ran into the fence.

Don Cherry of Lawton ran a trailer business. His dad had a picture with the horse track mentioned posted on the wall. I saw it twenty years ago. Seems to me it would be in the middle of town by now.

DLee and JD, that was where I got my information from is the History of America's Speedway. They also question about whether those Ada tracks are the same or not (which JD answered as I thought he would know). It also told about the old Lawton half mile (horse) race track.

I just wish that Dutch had this new board (he was use to signing in on the old one of a few years ago) because he would tell of all his old stories from this area. Listening him tell about him being arrested and handcuffed on the front stretch is freakin hilarious.

I know that Paul and Linda Ott at one time frequented this website so hopefully they will chyme in also.

I will post more later, thanks guys (and gals).

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

Galen I remember Black Widow. Went out there a couple of times. It was right next door to a VW salvage. They even hosted a national race out there once for the micros. It was a cool little track for the mircos. I do know that quite a few of the older sprint car guys started out there.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands 
in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he 
stands at times of challenge and controversy." 
Martin Luther King, Jr. 

Erich Petersen 

The Black Widow Spider made from a VW is still out by highway 77 and the flag stand still stands and banking in the turns are all that remains, drive by the place everyday.The VW salvage no longer exists Wilson passed away and I think has sold it , it is now a used Car/RV lot now.

I thought there was more than just Echo Valley in Ada. I kind of thought there was a short period of time when 2 tracks in Ada ran at the same time. That satellite picture I posted above is Echo Ranch though, correct? The History of America's Speedway book is excellent. There were several items not quite accurate in it (about both Oklahoma and Arkansas tracks) but overall great reading.

I think the pic is of the Ada Raceway SE of Ada on 3W ,reason is there is the 3W highway that runs by it on the south and the old highway that runs back behind it on the north , which both would take you to Stonewall,Ok. and also looks like the concrete solid bleachers and they still stand at the old Ada track today was by there as recently as this last Monday and Echo Ranch did not have concrete bleachers plus they sat back away from the race track and only Hwy 99 ran by it, The City of Ada forced Morris to shut down Ada Raceway in 84 or 85 , I went to the one and only $1,000 to win show he put on there back in the early to mid eighties for 100" cars, There were actually 3 tracks at Ada , the 2 talked about already and also one on the north end of Ada. It had a covered grandstands , I have some photos of it in an album somewhere and I don't believe there was ever a time when 2 tracks ran at the same time in Ada, but I can ask someone that would know.

Would this be Echo Ranch Speedway?

http://www.terraserverusa.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=14&X=3579&Y=19209&W=1&qs=sr-99%7cada%7cok%7c&Addr=SR-99%2c+Ada%2c+OK+74820&ALon=-96.6348414&ALat=34.6944991

I was there and I can't tell by that pic. If you find an old concession stand with flypaper hanging everywhere that'll be it!LOL By the way I found THACKERVILLE. If you are on I-35 just north of Red River where 77 intersects under I-35 look close and you will see a for sale sign for the track. Been tempted to go down there and look around. I went there in '78 and there were a few Modifieds there. One was a narrowed down '57 Chevy on an old Edmunds style car! Track is on the west side of I-35 just south of SH77 crossing under.

JD is correct. There was an Ada track on the north side of town near George Smith's salvage yard (mid - 60's anyway). Echo Ranch was a 1/4 mile on 99 wasn't it? When they built that new Ada track, it was a high banked 3/8ths on 3 headed toward Stonewall. Watched a "big money" supermodified race there one time. Rusty Gilmore and Joe Wood got together and flipped into the fence/front row of the bleachers. I wondered why no one was sitting there when we rolled in late. That may still be the fastest I've seen my wife ever move.

There were several short lived tracks in the Ada area. Stonewall and Konawa both had tracks. Sasakwa had a track. For a time, any farmer that wanted to race or see some racing would cut a track into one of his fields and we'd be racin'. Those old flat tracks were good for the Chevys, hard on the flathead Fords. Give the Ford some banking and the RPMs and cubic inches took over.

If your talking old Oklahoma tracks, don't forget that we used to race at Chickasha and Anadarko on their old fairgrounds. Chickasha's track is now the rodeo arena. I haven't turned north in Anadarko in a long time to see what is left of the fairgrounds there. Carol Lister was always my favorite when we'd go to Anadarko. Now, I think his descendents are regulars at I-44 racing mini-sprints.

Someone on a different thread was talking about tracks in Goldsby. There were two. Harold Ham, his brother Ray and 3 of the 4 Jennings brothers (Earnest Lee, Darrell and John) built the "original" "Norman Speedway" in late 1963 ('64 was the first full season). I remember watching many a full bodied modified drift off the back of turn 3 only to come flying out of the creek bottom in turn 4. And then in the early 70's, "I-35 Speedway" was built on the west side of the road. That's a lot of racing for one mile long stretch of highway 74. I-35 was a great little track when the sun finally set. The bleacher faced west and the fans had to look into the sun until the features.

And ... Wait a minute! Why am I telling you all this for FREE! I gotta get this into a book and charge you for it!

You need to save it for when the Oklahoma Racing History Tidbits page is up and running. My server guy is still doing other stuff with this and all the message boards but he is laying the groundwork for the page.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

Buddy Cagle Speedway in Vera, OK brings back memories I worked there for Jon Brook and Buddy and Mike Brown of American Safety Systems was also a part of that deal. I remember Charlie Wells winning a race there.

Helper Monkey , The track north of Ada was out by the Airport east of Hwy. 99 and the stands that are currently being used on the very west and very east end that are covered at Okla. Sports Park came from the track north of town,The middle section that is not covered did not, I know this because my wife's late brother ran at both places in an in- line 6 cyl . in the late 60's at the track north of the airport in Ada and also Echo Ranch in the early 70's south on Hwy.99 and I also ran a 100" car there back in 89 when Bubba Todd was promoter at Echo. Have pics of both places from when here brother ran in the late 60's and early 70's and have pics of when we ran my car at Echo in 89. Got pics of Owens , Havill , Allison, Brundridge , Meeks and lot more pics of dove tails,box tails Modifieds back in the late 60's and early 70's, Pretty good stuff.