MUSEUM CORNER May 2022

We’re off to the races

By Becky Buher, printed in the Times-Mail newspaper May 2022

The Kentucky Derby on May 7, 2022, The Indianapolis 500 scheduled for May 29, and successful local NASCAR driver, Chase Briscoe, driving in the NASCAR Cup Series races, indicates community interest, and races in this community are not new.

 In 1896, the Big Bedford Fair promoted their race events as the “Greatest Racing in Southern Indiana.” Racing of all kinds was to be good quality and interesting to lovers of racing—The Daily Mail newspaper, July 15, 1896.

 Winners in the harness trotter and pacer horse races garnered $150 each. The free-for-all pacer race winner earned $200, but the humble mule race winner received just $10.

 Not to be outdone by the equine races, gentlemen had a one-half mile bicycle race with the winner pulling down a $20 award. The ladies’ bicycle one-half mile dash winner got $15—no equal pay on that occasion.

 The year before, in 1895, an epidemic of diphtheria had caused that year’s fair to be cancelled and racing fans had been very disappointed. So, fair officers planned for a successful fair Aug. 5-8, 1896. Railroad companies promoted half-fare rates so out-of-towners could attend this popular event. Monon’s B. & B. (Bedford & Bloomfield) branch promoted excursions from Bloomfield to Bedford.

 The fairground was located on the east side of Lincoln Avenue in an area bounded on the south by Shaw subdivision (appears currently to be the east/west alley between 4th and 5th Streets) and on the east edge by O Street. So, the fairground was located a good distance from the railroad station and the courthouse square. Both Lincoln Avenue and L Street were kept sprinkled with water every day of the fair so that dust would not be a problem for fairgoers.

The racetrack was put in first-class condition and buggies were not permitted on the track until after the fair. Some 100 racehorses arrived in Bedford, and more were to come. The races were well filled. The newspaper published all the trotter and pacer horse race entries for each day of the fair.

 Like sporting events today, people got thirsty. Joyce Shepherd wrote in the museum publication, Seedling Patch, No. 64: “Pop ale men were selling a brew, believed by some to be ‘Intoxicating,’ at the Fairground. They closed their stand on Thursday—at the suggestion of Prosecutor Zaring and the Directors of the Association.”

 The weather in August is always hot but the crowd withstood the heat, and the fair truly was a great success. On Aug. 27, 1896, the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal reported that of all the fairs that had been held in Indiana that year, the Bedford Fair was the only one that had paid expenses. After all the expenses were paid, there was a profit of $16.

 Racing had changed a bit by 1916, when thousands attended the Independence Day celebration events at Lawrence Driving Park southwest of Bedford. Even though it had rained the day before, the track was in excellent condition for two days of trotter and pacer harness racing. In addition to horse races, the event included a 15-mile motorcycle race and a 25-mile automobile race. Participants in the auto race: Mechanician Lanz Special with Harvey Lanz, Cook Jackson Special with R. Jackson, Torphy Regal with N. Koening.

Labor Day events in 1916 at Driving Park included an all-day program of horse, motorcycle and auto racing. Eight hundred dollars in prizes were awarded with the money for each event hung on a wire. Winners had to cut down their prize money from the wire. The horseman’s pacer and trotter races each had a $200 purse. Other races and winners: Gentlemen’s mile road race, Henry Gaines; Boys pony and buggy turn out, Raymond Stipp; Best lady horseback rider was Ruby Kern; and Marion Owens won the half-mile bicycle race for boys under 16.

In the 1920s, another racing venue, Lanz Racetrack, was located on Dixie highway (Ind. SR 37) between Bedford and Oolitic. Races were held there, but by 1927 Nate Koin had leased the Lanz Racetrack in hope of developing one of Southern Indiana’s greatest amusement spots. Before Lake Monroe was created, the Lanz Racetrack land would have flooded seasonally, so my guess is that Koin’s dream never materialized. 

With racing fans’ love of speed, physical rush, anticipation, racing has grown today to be one of the world’s most popular sports. Gentlemen and gentlewomen, start your engines!

Source: The Daily Mail, Bedford, Ind, July 15, 1896, 2019 Seedling Patch, museum publication, Volume III, No. 64

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