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

Just got to thinking the other day about who actually owns Williams Grove.  Tried to look up interviews or article with/about the owner and came up with basically nothing.  So who owns the place?  Would think with a track like that, the owner would receive more publicity.  Is it just leased out?  Found in an earlier forum on the net that the owners are more amusement park people, just happens to be a race track on their property.  Not sure if that is true or not.

Anybody know about the Grove?

Morgan Hughes' daughter Kathy took ownership after he died. I dont know too much about Morgan only that he owned the joint. As far as the amusement park goes it just sits there idle, which is a good thing (I like history). It closed down when I was a kid. Maybe late 90s early 2000s? They open it up for overflow parking when needed and it's cool to see that death trap of a rollercoaster still standing there. Had a lot of good times on that thing. I think Kathy does a good job with the track and gets way too much flack for stuff she doesn't control. I did hear something along the lines of, "She can't sell it for the first 10 years and then it's up to her" Not sure when that ten years is, or if it's even true at all. Maybe someone here can lace me up on that.

+1 on the "good job...gets way too much flack"

 At last count, still the most sprint car racing nights in the country.

Despite the sometimes negative sentiments, I don't think you can declare that sprint car racing is officially "open" until The Grove is.

Kathy participated in an EMMR Roundtable discussion about a year ago.    

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=st0cwd58rig

The Hughes family bought the track in 1972.   There is lots of good history in the video but I couldn't pay attention for more than 5 minutes  (like history class....)

This Roundtable video is on the weak side but most of the EMMR Roundtable videos are great and very thorough thanks to Dave Hare.