Auto racing at the Bloomsburg Fair, the largest fair in Pennsylvania, dates back to the roaring ’20s. Many notable drivers, especially those who raced midgets, have competed there, including household names such as Mario Andretti.
Racing at the fair came to an end when a car landed on a vendor’s stand in the mid-’80s. No one was injured, but the fair’s board of directors decided racing was too much of a liability to continue. Some of the ARDC midget drivers who competed there also felt that half-mile tracks like the one at the fairgrounds generated too much speed for a midget.
Hometown hero John Heydenreich, a four-time winner of races at the Bloomsburg Fair track, won the last race on its half-mile cinder oval in 1987. That event was promoted by another hometown hero and driver, Randy Mausteller.
A new era will dawn this spring, however, as a new three-eighths-mile dirt oval known as Bloomsburg Fairgrounds Raceway will open at the fairgrounds on May 29 with a USAC Eastern sprints and ARDC midgets doubleheader. It will be the first race at the track in 34 years. Heydenreich plans to compete there this year in selected events and he and many other drivers and fans are more than a little excited about racing returning to Bloomsburg.
There are eight events on the track’s schedule. Brian Wawroski, a member of the fair’s board of directors, said the intention is to run 12-15 special events each.
The promoter will be five-time National Sprint Car Hall of Fame Promoter of the Year Steve O’Neal, who is taking on these special events in addition to his work at Port Royal Speedway.
“Port Royal and Bloomsburg want to work together,” Wawroski said. “We’re not wanting to compete with Port Royal, and by having Steve on board as the promoter, he won’t allow that to happen. We’re doing special events only, too. We don’t want to make it a weekly event.”
The new clay track is being built inside the old half-mile cinder track, which will still be used for horse racing during the fair. There will be about 10 percent banking in the turns and slight banking on the straightaways of the new track.
The existing grandstand that seats 5,500 will be kept. All of those seats have backs. The red seats, which account for about a third of the seating, are individual seats and the remainder are bleacher seats. Additional bleachers will be brought in and a dirt viewing mound for the pit area is also being contemplated. Musco lighting is being installed.
Construction cost is an estimated $1 million, which is being undertaken by the fair and its sponsors.
The revitalization of racing at the fair was spurred on by discussions last summer.
“The Armory Group and USAC were in town for our Monster Truck Jamboree last July,” Wawroski explained. “The Armory Group builds an infield track at the fair for the jamboree. We were all talking about how nice it would be to have racing again at the fair and we all agreed we wanted it to be top-notch. So we started talking about it seriously, and things progressed.”
The Armory Group is doing the construction and USAC’s Levi Jones is a consultant on the project.
“He helped design the track and sent us in the right direction,” Wawroski said. “We added banking to turns three and four, and when that’s done, he’ll come in and test it. He has in mind a track that will be able to host several different divisions of racing, such as late models and modifieds, and not just midgets and sprint cars. Our first race will be a USAC event. Having USAC come in is a huge thing for the Bloomsburg Fair Raceway and for the community.”
The USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series will visit the track June 20 and the USAC midgets have an Aug. 6 event there.
The URC sprints have two dates, as does the ULMS late model series. The Short Track Super Series modifieds visit July 14 and the Pa. Sprint Series 305 sprints share the card with them on July 25. Details have yet to be announced for the card on Oct. 2, which will be a highlight of the 166th annual fair that runs Sept. 24 through Oct. 2.