Du Quoin State Fair Speedway

Du Quoin (Illinois) State Fairgrounds

By John Nelson, February 12, 2026

Only two one-mile dirt tracks in the United States currently host auto racing. Both are in Illinois. They are the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield and the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds in Perry County, southern Illinois. 

In 1923 William R. Hayes led a group that built a fairgrounds and horse racing facility on the south side of Du Quoin. Betting on horse races was legal in Du Quoin but not in Springfield. The title “Du Quoin State Fair” was used informally from the beginning, becoming official in 1986, when the State of Illinois bought the fairgrounds. The original track was a ½-mile oval adjacent to Highway 51. There are reports of auto racing of the half-mile before World War II, but I have not researched them. The original track is still used for horse training.   

The one-mile oval was built in 1941 with a large covered grandstand. This provided an appropriate setting for major-league horse racing. The Hambletonian, regarded as the “Kentucky Derby of harness racing”, was held at Du Quoin from 1957 to 1980. When the Hambletonian departed for New Jersey, Du Quoin offered the World Trotting Derby from 1981 to 2009. 

Big-time auto racing arrived in Du Quoin in 1948, when the American Automobile Association (AAA) booked two dates on its Championship tour. During this era, the Championship Series comprised the Indianapolis 500, the Pikes Peak Hill Climb, and 10 to 12 races of 100 miles or longer, all on one-mile dirt tracks. During the second AAA race at Du Quoin on October 10, 1948, Ted Horn, who had already clinched his third consecutive AAA National Championship, crashed fatally. The annual Labor Day 100-lap classic has been titled the Ted Horn Memorial ever since. 

When the AAA withdrew from auto racing at the end of the 1955 season, the United States Auto Club (USAC) was founded to take its place. Through 1970, Du Quoin (and Springfield) remained on the USAC Championship tour with Indianapolis. Thus, top Indy-car stars such as A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Al Unser, Sr., raced and won at Du Quoin. In 1971, USAC split the Championship trail into the Gold Crown Series, which raced mid-engine cars on paved tracks, and the Silver Crown Series, running traditional upright cars on dirt tracks. The Silver Crown Series continues today with a schedule of mostly 100-lap races on dirt ovals ½-mile and larger. 

Stock cars made their debut at the Du Quoin State Fair in 1950 under AAA sanction and continue their annual Labor Day weekend race to the present day. USAC assumed sanction of stock cars in 1956, continuing until 1985, when the mantle passed to the Automobile Racing Club of America, ARCA. (USAC and ARCA had co-sanctioned several races at Du Quoin previously). Stock cars of these three organizations similar to NASCAR’s Cup Series. Under the AAA, the cars were “strictly stock”, with minimal modifications allowed for safety. USAC gradually allowed upgrading the cars for durability and speed, although bodies and engines had to match manufacturer’s offerings. By the 1980s, few “stock” components remained, although  bodies resembled production models. Today’s ARCA cars, as in NASCAR, are pure racing machines built to a tight formula. Graphics provide the only resemblance to the brand names they wear. In fact, ARCA became a subsidiary of NASCAR in 2018, and many of its drivers seek to advance to its senior partner. They are occasionally joined by retired NASCAR veterans such as Ken Schrader and Tony Stewart, stars of open-wheel racing such as Logan Seavey (the 2018 winner), and dirt Late Models such as 2022 victor Ryan Unzicker. 

Sprint Cars, Midgets, Supermodifieds, and dirt Late Models all have raced on Du Quoin’s “Magic Mile”. These cars, however, are designed to race on shorter courses and are not at their best on the mile, where they tend to string out and do not provide a good show for the spectators. Fifty or 100 laps on this big track is an endurance contest for which Silver Crown and full-bodied stock cars are ideally suited. For the last quarter century, only these cars have appeared at Du Quoin. Bolstered by long tradition against the backdrop of the State Fair, their future appears secure. 

Numerous sources of information have been consulted. Principal sources are Area Auto Racing News, National Speed Sport News, racing programs in the Archives of the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville, Iowa; race results compiled on  http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/, and online newspapers on https://www.newspapers.com/search/. 

Du  Quoin Website