Jake Gumberts provides us with more information on racetracks in Hancock County.
According to Gumberts, a racetrack exited east of Stanley Chevrolet on State Route 67 in McCordsville.
A soccer field has been built on the site. The drive into the entrance of the soccer field was the driveway onto the racetrack.
There is an old light pole in this area that has been there for years.
Jake adds, “The track was called the dog track, and I don’t know why. In the late 1940s after WWII, my dad used to take me there to watch midgets racing. As I remember, it was a short flat asphalt track. Two drivers I recall were Harry McQuinn and Len Duncan. For years, it was grown up in weeds, and people dumped trash on it. This should not be confused with the dirt bike track that was along 67. This was built in the later 1970s and close to the old Plantation Club.”
Do any of you remember the dog track? Thanks, Jake.
Good old Darrel Deck also reminds us not to forget the horse racing track in Shirley called Alfalfa Downs.
Also, the track in Warrington was the home of the Driving Park Association Race Track, and people came from miles around to enjoy the racing.
It was supposedly the best half-mile track in the area for horse racing. This was about 1894-95, and there was an amphitheater constructed, and five or six races were held at the track each summer.
Cindy McKoy writes and wants to know about the 57-car train derailment and the subsequent chemical spill. It happened Sept. 23, 1956, and the south side of town had to be evacuated. The location was the tracks near the old American Legion.
What do the rest of you remember about this event? Did it have any consequences for the north side of town?
Walter Worland knows much about Hancock County. He tells when Jimmy Allen was mayor of Greenfield a new city hall was constructed. The site was at the location of the current Veterans Park. A cornerstone was placed in the building on Aug. 4, 1956, by the Grand Lodge.
During the dedication, Grand Lodge officers and the Greenfield High School Band marched from the Masonic Building to the city hall location.
This old city hall had been torn down, and the cornerstone has not been opened yet. It is stored in the street department. When are we going to open it? Custom dictates 100 years, but the building is gone.
Thanks, Walter.
Enough. I have told everything that I know and some things I don’t. Talk to me.
You can write to Joe Skvarenina at [email protected] or in care of the Daily Reporter at 22 W. New Road, Greenfield, IN, 46140.
