Illinois State Fairgrounds – Springfield 

John Nelson – February 20, 2026

The Illinois State Fair dates to 1853 and was first held on its present site in 1894.  A one-mile track and grandstands were constructed in 1895. Topographic maps reveal that straightaways on the original track ran west-northwest. In 1927 the track was reconfigured with its straightaways running north-northwest and new grandstands on the southwest side. 

Racing before 1930. Many automotive events took place on the Springfield mile between 1905 and 1929, but accounts of these events are sketchy and frequently conflict with one another. Motorsport.com (2010) states that in 1905 “Barney Oldfield, who became a household name through his exploits across the country, added Springfield to his list of barnstorming stops”. The lengthy appendix in William Nolan’s (2002) book on Oldfield does not confirm this appearance. Many auto races and exhibitions at Springfield between 1910 and 1929 have been ferreted out of newspapers on www.newspapers.com. These often included nationally known drivers such as Bob Burman, Leon Duray, Fred Horey, Tommy Milton, and Sig Haugdahl. Especially in the early years, these events seldom followed a recognizable format of time trials, heat races, and a feature event. Rather, drivers circled the track trying to break records (frequently touted as world records) and engaged in short match races and side shows such as auto versus airplane. After the International Motor Contest Association was founded in 1915, the races at Springfield began to involve more wheel-to-wheel competition among multiple drivers. However, the format during the State Fair varied from year to year, sometimes involving organizations other than the IMCA.

Events in 1929 almost put an end to auto racing at the Illinois State Fair. Three cars tangled on the third lap of the main event, leaving two drivers critically injured. On lap four another driver, blinded by dust, crashed through the front stretch fence, killing one spectator and injuring eight.  These accidents “brought many lawsuits and hassles which resulted in the fair board dropping auto racing in 1930, 1931, 1932, and 1933" (Larry Sullivan, 1981 official program). 

Motorsport.com (2010) wrote, “Resolution of the suits, the passage of time, and the Great Depression seemed to soften the stance of the [Fair] board and the locals against auto racing by the early 1930s. Once again, racing was seen as a way to draw crowds and their money onto the fairgrounds. By 1933, a racing program for the Fair was in the planning stages, but this program would be substantially different from any presented in the past.” 

AAA and USAC Championship Racing. For 1934 Springfield moved to the top level, booking the American Automobile Association (AAA) Championship circuit for a 100-mile contest on the mile. During the 1930s the AAA Championship circuit comprised four to six races per year, including the Indy 500, several races on 1-mile dirt ovals mostly at state fairgrounds, and in some years a road race. Thus, spectators at the Illinois State Fair witnessed the same drivers, and in many cases the same cars, that raced at the “brickyard”.

With time out for World War II, AAA Championship races on the Springfield Mile resumed in 1947. 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, 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 on the Springfield Mile. In 1971, USAC split the Championship trail into the Gold Crown Series, which raced mid-engine cars at Indianapolis and other 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 and paved oval tracks mostly ½-mile to 1 mile.

Since 1961 the Championship/Silver Crown race on the Springfield Mile has been titled the Tony Bettenhausen Memorial. A three-time victor on the mile, the “Tinley Park Express” captured the AAA national championship in 1952 and the USAC title in 1958. He crashed fatally at Indianapolis in May 1961 while testing a car. His three sons Gary, Tony Jr., and Merle all went on to exemplary racing careers of their own.

Silver Crown cars resemble USAC Sprint Cars, but there are significant differences that haven’t changed much over the years. The specifications below are from the 2026 USAC online rulebook.

The goal of these rules is to rein in speeds on the big tracks while enabling teams to make pit stops without the delays and potential accidents involved in push-starting. The current one-lap record for Silver Crown at Springfield was set by Tracy Hines in 2006 with a lap of 29.305 seconds at 122.846 mph. By comparison, in a World of Outlaws (winged 410 Sprint) event on July 7, 1998, Sammy Swindell turned a qualifying lap in 24.719 seconds at 145.637 mph. This was heralded as a world record for any type of car on a dirt track. (I personally attended this race.)

         As of 2026, the Silver Crown schedule includes paved tracks at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Gateway at Madison, Illinois; Winchester in Indiana, Iowa Speedway, and Toledo, Ohio. Dirt ovals are the Kansas State Fairgrounds, Port Royal in Pennsylvania, Terre Haute in Indiana, the Illinois State Fair and Du Quoin State Fair, and Eldora in Ohio for the Four Crown Nationals. Track lengths range from 0.5 to 1.25 mile. 

Stock Cars. Stock cars made their debut on the Springfield Mile in 1950 under AAA sanction. They returned in 1952, and did not appear again until 1961, now under USAC governance. Stock cars have raced at Springfield every year thereafter, being rescheduled on rare occasions when bad weather intervened. USAC continued through 1984, after which ARCA, now a subsidiary of NASCAR, took over.

         Beginning in 1963, the Springfield stock car race was titled the Allen Crowe Memorial. A Springfield native, Crowe began his racing career in stock cars on short tracks, moving on the Sprint Cars and then the USAC Championship Series, including two starts at Indianapolis. Crowe died of injuries sustained in a Sprint Car crash at New Bremen, Ohio in June 1963.

The AAA, USAC, and ARCA stock cars that raced at Springfield were generally similar to NASCAR stockers of the same eras. 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.

For 2026, ARCA’s Menards Series has a schedule of 20 races. 16 are on paved tracks that range from 0.25 to 2.5 miles around, two are on road courses (Lime Rock and Watkins Glen), and two on the dirt miles at Springfield and Du Quoin, Illinois. 

Sources. 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/. A lengthy account titled “90 Years of Racing at the Illinois Fairgrounds” was found at http://www.motorsport.com/magazine, accessed on January 6, 2010.