INDIANAPOLIS — Over the course of a lifetime there are conversations or remarks that stick with you for years.
The likelihood that an interaction will produce a lasting memory is in part a function of the person, the subject and context. In 2017, during the final USAC-sanctioned Belleville Midget Nationals, a North Central Kansas Free Fair board member and I chatted about the future of the famed High Banks.
At that moment, the picture was bleak. Equally grim were the proposed remedies. The most commonly expressed idea was to retrofit the entire complex into a quarter-mile configuration. Looking me in the eye, the board member said with a degree of resignation that if that should come to pass the Bellville High Banks would no longer be special. It would be in his estimation just another race track in the middle of Kansas. He was 100-percent correct.
Five years ago, desperate to return to my home state and one of my favorite race tracks, I attended the second annual 305 Sprint Nationals. I came away impressed with the overall event and was hopeful it could sustain racing at the hallowed ground.
Then, in 2023, I came back with USAC and was enthralled by the compelling Silver Crown battle between Justin Grant and Brady Bacon. At the conclusion of that weekend, I surmised that this race alone may have saved the High Banks. It may have been a slightly hyperbolic pronouncement, but I believed it to be true.
This year, I returned to the 305 Nationals for the second time. I was interested in how this race had evolved, the overall quality of the field and the response of the crowd.
There was perfect synergy here. Salem, who had skillfully guided the United Rebel Sprint Series, was back for two reasons. First, he was inducted into the High Banks Hall of Fame on Saturday afternoon and, secondly, that evening he was the grand marshal for the seventh annual 305 Nationals.
If there was anyone that deserved a moment in the sun in this community and at this race track, it was Salem.
I believe the return of USAC with the Silver Crown series mattered greatly. It is also good the national midget series also makes the trip. There is one caveat — the midgets use the short track.
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