User:Ohiosprint/Fremont Speedway

Fremont Speedway is a semi-banked 1/3 mile clay oval speedway located at the Sandusky County, Ohio fairgrounds in Fremont, Ohio, USA. Races are typically held on Saturday nights at the "The Track That Action Built" and regular events include 410 cubic inch sprint cars, 305 cubic inch sprint cars, and dirt trucks. In addition, Fremont Speedway also plays host to the American Late Model Series, All Star Circuit of Champions sprint car series, and Ohio Sprint Speedweek.

History
The first automobile race was held at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds on Sunday, June 7, 1936 when the International Speedway Association leased the then half-mile horse track for a Big Cars race. Big Cars, as they were then known, were the forerunners to today's sprint cars. An estimated 7,000 people packed into the grandstands or perched on rooftops to witness Clay Corbitt pick up the feature win in Fremont’s introduction to auto racing.

Despite the success of the first race, it would be 12 years before Fremont hosted another auto race. On September 19, 1948, the Tri-State Racing Association leased the fairgrounds for a racing program billed as the Tri-State Racing Association's Championship. Over 4,000 fans flocked to the fairgrounds that day as Red Bales bested the 22 car field and picked up the checkered flag.

Three years later, in the fall of 1951, Joe and Dorothy Stelter and Harry Maynor of Toledo, Ohio founded Fremont Speedway. Their original track was just over 1/10 of a mile in length and nearly flat. On September 30, 1951, a crowd of 1,500 attended Fremont Speedway’s first race. Thirty-eight drivers were on hand as Leo "The Gobbler" Caldwell of Perrysburg won the 20-lap feature.

In 1952, Maynor sold his interest in the speedway to Frank Jensen of Toledo, and Wayne Wall of Toledo purchased an interest in 1953. Wall sold out in 1954 and Joe, Dot and Jensen operated the track until 1957 when a local Fremont businessman, Don Emick, purchased Jensen's stock. This operation continued until 1960 when Emick sold out, leaving Joe and Dot as the sole owners. After Joe's sudden death in 1962, Dot decided to continue and became one of the few women promoters in the country. Dot later married Paul Szakovits and he helped to operate the track. Dot promoted the speedway until 1976 when longtime announcer Gary Kern purchased the facility.

During the 1990s, the facility changed hands many times. In 1994 Joseph Darr became a partner with Kern. Delphos, Ohio resident Ken Langhals operated the speedway in 1995. In 1996 Kelly Applegate purchased the speedway, followed by Ken Meggitt in 1997. The track then sat idle for two years and was in threat of closing forever before Jim Ford, a former driver and sprint car owner from Elmore, Ohio, leased the track from the Sandusky County Fair Board. Ford reopened the track in 2000 with many improvements including being one of the first dirt tracks in the country to incorporate soft wall technology. In 2007, Rich Farmer and Andy James became co-promoters of Fremont Speedway after Ford stepped down due to health issues.

Over the years, "The Track That Action Built" has hosted many racing greats including “The Ohio Traveler” Rick Ferkel, Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Brad Doty, Doug Wolfgang, Jeff Gordon, Dave Blaney, and Kasey Kahne. Fremont Speedway has also hosted 90 All Star Circuit of Champions events, earning it the nickname "Home of the All Stars."

Hall of Fame
The following people have been inducted in Fremont Speedway's Hall of Fame.


 * Johnny Auxter - Auxter was one of the first drivers to compete at Fremont in 1951. Auxter was the 1972 track champion and has nine career feature wins at Fremont Speedway. He has competed at over 200 different race tracks during his career, including the sands of Daytona Beach. Auxter was also inducted into the Little 500 Hall of Fame in Anderson, Indiana.
 * Art Ball - Ball has the most feature wins in the history of Fremont Speedway. Ball’s driving career has spanned nearly 50 years and he has accumulated nearly 300 victories. He is still racing dirt trucks at Fremont, and recorded his 70th career victory in 2009. He was Fremont’s 1973 and 1975 late model champion.
 * Rollie Beale - Beal is 11th on Fremont Speedway's all-time win list with 31 victories. He was the 1963 super modified track champion. He was the USAC sprint car championship in 1973. He was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1996.
 * Harold Billow - Billow had one of the first race cars in the Fremont area and one of the first to compete at the Sandusky County Fairgrounds. Billow was one of the founders of Sandusky Speedway which was a sand surface the first year. Billow was also very instrumental in getting tracks started at Fremont and Attica.
 * George Fosco - Fosco recorded 14 career wins at Fremont Speedway and was the super modified track champion in 1957.
 * Alvin Franks - Franks is 9th on the all-time feature win list at Fremont Speedway with 34 victories. He was the super modified champion in 1966, 1968 and 1971.
 * Jim Ford – Ford is a former race car driver and car owner, but his greatest racing legacy began in 2000 when he convinced the Sandusky County Fair Board to allow him to promote Fremont Speedway which was in danger of closing for good. Ford brought Fremont Speedway back to life, and he retired from the promotion of the speedway in 2007.
 * Darl Harrison - Harrison has 19 career feature wins at Fremont Speedway and was the track's super modified champion in 1960, 1961 and 1962. He won the Little 500 three times and was the United States Auto Club rookie of the year in 1971. He was IMCA champion in 1969. He is also a member of the Little 500 Hall of Fame.
 * Gug Keegan - Keegan won 62 career wins at Fremont and is second on the all-time win list. He was the 1954 strickly stock champion,1955 sportsman division champion and the 1967, 1974 and 1975 super modifieds/sprints champion.
 * Jim Linder - Linder has 58 victories at Fremont Speedway and sits fourth on the all-time win list. He was a seven time super modified/sprint car track champion. At one time in the mid-1970s, Linder had won so many features at Fremont Speedway, a "bounty" was put on his head for any driver that could beat him.
 * Jim McCune - McCune was the 1958 and 1959 super modified track champion at Fremont Speedway and has collected 45 victories at the track.
 * Harold McGilton - McGilton is eighth on the track's all-time win list. He won Fremont's super modified championship in 1964 and the sprint title in 1970.
 * Gene Notestine - Notestine won three feature events at Fremont Speedway and was the track's strickly stock champion in 1953. He is best known forbeing the track's flagman, starting in 1964 and continuing through the 1970s.
 * Herbie Robison - Robison was Fremont Speedway's six-cylinder sportsman champion in 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962 and 1963. He has 54 career feature wins at the track and is fifth on the all-time victory list.
 * Dorothy Shilling - Known as "the first lady of racing," Shilling and her husband Joe Stelter, along with Harry Manor, founded Fremont Speedway in 1951.
 * Wendell Smith - Smith recorded 16 career feature wins at Fremont Speedway and was the track's first six-cylinder champion in 1957.
 * Paul Strasser - Strasser collected 20 feature wins at Fremont in the six-cylinder sportsman division.

All-time Win List
The following drivers sit at the top ten of Fremont Speedway's all-time feature win list (as of December 31, 2009).