With the racing world paused amid the COVID-19 outbreak, SPEED SPORT is highlighting race tracks around the United States. This is part of that ongoing series.
Track of the Day: Fairbury Speedway
Address: 600 South Third St., Fairbury, IL 61739
Website: www.fairburyspeedway.com
History: When the Fairbury Union Agriculture Board decided to clear some trees to build a horse racing track, they couldn’t have imagined what would be taking place at the location more than a century later.
The property is now home to Fairbury Speedway, a quarter-mile dirt oval. The idea of auto racing started being considered in the 1910s when local officials covered the then half-mile horse track with wooden planks in an effort to entice amateur auto racers to compete at the venue.
From 1922 to 1927 auto racing was a regular fixture at the track, with Eddie Worrick taking the first recorded checkered flag at the track on Sept. 15, 1922. The track went dormant during The Depression in the late 1920s through most of the 1930s, but was revived by local car dealer Spud Schlipf in 1938.
Schlipf remained in charge of the track for 30 years, serving as race director at the venue as racing thrived in the years after World War II. During the late 1980s, it was decided the track needed a fresh look and redesign, so the track was leveled and a quarter-mile surface was installed to help improve the quality of the racing.
The project, which included a new lighting system, cost roughly $500,000, but it was money well spent. In 1990, in an effort to show off the new facility, officials created a marquee event known as the Prairie Dirt Classic.
The Prairie Dirt Classic remains the track’s marquee event to this day, with dirt late model drivers from around the country visiting the track every year in pursuit of a $30,000 winner’s share.
The track remained in the ownership of the local American Legion post through most of its existence, but in 2018 Matt Curl acquired a majority share of the speedway and took over ownership, a position he still holds.
The track annually hosts visits from a number of touring series, including the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series, which sanctions the Prairie Dirt Classic.
