7 minute read
Clarksville’s Racing Scene
BY JIMMY TRODGLEN
CLARKSVILLE’S RACING SCENE THEN, NOW & NEXT
Eddie Pace takes the checkered flag in his No. 31 car
From the dragstrip to the dirt track, Clarksville has a storied history with auto racing. Clarksville Speedway has produced local legends like Tony Albright and national champs like Jeff Purvis, and a passion for the sport continues to be passed down through generations.
Only a handful of institutions have existed for an interval equal to dragstrip and dirt track racing in Clarksville.
Dating back to the 1940s when dirt track racing was held at Clarksville Fairgrounds – now the current location of Austin Peay’s Hand Park, the baseball home of the Govs – the sport has captivated car enthusiasts who wanted to test their driving prowess, utilizing more horsepower on a clay surface with tight turns or on a straight paved track to test speeds and time. A horse racing track once existed on the flat land between Dunbar Cave and Idaho Springs, and there is speculation that early unsanctioned auto races occurred there; but the verifiable history of racing on a dragstrip and a dirt track dates to nearly the time when Fort Campbell was established, and long before Austin Peay started playing sports at the Division I level. It has sustained itself at three locations, with its popularity continuing to accelerate.
THE EARLY RACING INNOVATORS
When dirt track racing left the former Clarksville Fairgrounds location, Pete Carpenter recognized a need to find a location for a dedicated dirt track. Carpenter, partnering with Wayne and Laurence Darnell, developed a track on a piece of property on Dover Road near Averitt Lumber Company. The track started to form in the early part of 1952, with the green flag dropping that June. The track was named Buena Ventura, and drivers from across Kentucky and Tennessee frequently made up the starting lineup. Barry Carpenter, the son of Pete Carpenter, said crowds of more than 2,500 people watched the racing action.
The racing at Buena Ventura met an unexpected end toward the end of the 1950s when they discovered the track was situated in a protected environmental area where the property could not be used for commercial purposes. The last year of dirt track racing at Buena Ventura was the summer of 1960.
A young Jeff Purvis and his No. 15 stock car
The first stock car in Clarksville, TN owned by Brad Martin and driven by K.T. Grizzard Jr., 1950
Tony Albright in Victory Lane
FROM BUENA VENTURA TO NEEDMORE ROAD
Needing a new location for a track, Pete Carpenter and Doug Greenfield were the catalyst for building a dragstrip and purchasing property large enough for an eventual dirt track. The Clarksville Dragway and Recreation Park opened in 1960, but driving on a dirt track would not return to Clarksville until 1963.
Before the dragstrip, Carpenter said racing on Clarksville streets was a common sight, including a popular stretch on Trenton Road where Northeast High School is now located. The Clarksville Speedway dragstrip allowed the action to move from the city streets to a designated and more secluded location.
Greenfield oversaw the operations of the dragstrip, with John Ardinger setting the stage for the return of dirt track racing. Racing on dirt made a long-awaited return when Ardinger, who was president of Clarksville Speedway, Inc., announced surveys were underway for the purpose of building a clay oval track.
SAVING THE TRACK’S FUTURE
Along with their family business, Greenfield Trucking, the Greenfields went into track ownership, first operating the Clarksville Speedway Dragstrip, before taking over the ownership of Union Hills Track, now Music City Raceway. The Greenfields owned the dragstrip for 22 years, but never had an interest in the speedway’s oval clay track. Ownership of the dirt track exchanged hands multiple times in the 1970s before Tommy Jerles took over.
Jerles owned a construction company, so his daily itinerary became crowded with the operations of two businesses. His wife and two daughters became instrumental in the racing action on Saturdays. In the 20 years the Jerles family owned Clarksville Speedway, his daughters had the significant responsibility of handling the payouts to the drivers – and there was never an incident of a payout discrepancy. Jerles was also the public address announcer for the Saturday night races and said it took 15 to 20 people, counting his wife and daughters, to run the show. He stepped away from track ownership in the early 2000s, but his appreciation for the track’s history has never wavered.
“If we lost the racetrack there, it was always in my opinion we wouldn’t be able to get another one in Montgomery County,” Jerles said. “The racetrack was there, and if you go buy a house that’s close to the track you should expect some inconveniences if noise bothers you.”
SCOGIN TAKES OVER
Jerles knew when it was time for someone else to take over the track’s reins, and William Scogin became the track’s owner in September of 2002. John McConnell was a partner in the track’s ownership from 2006-2008. Scogin leased Clarksville Speedway in 2001 and purchased the track a year later. He remembers wondering early if he had made a mistake.
Mickey Jerles and his No. 12 car, “The Orange Blossom Special”
Dirt track racing at the Speedway, 2000
“My very first night, I thought I was an idiot. I ran way too many heat race laps, and it rained out the last heat race,” Scogin said. “I figured I lost $10,000 and I had to pick up trash in the rain.”
Clarksville Speedway isn’t home to only the dragstrip and the clay oval track. With the county fair, Christmas lights, toy run and other community events, Scogin said he has more than 300 events on the calendar each year.
Even though the racing lineup is consistent from week to week, Scogin said nothing else is ever consistent.
“Every race day is different from the one before, and different from the next one,” Scogin said. “You could have everything planned to a tee – it’s never, ever going to go that way. It’s going to go the way you didn’t see it coming.”
Scogin’s responsibilities each Saturday prevent him from watching any of the races, and he rarely knows who won. He has observed enough to know racing at Clarksville Speedway is dramatically different from when he took over the track.
But Scogin has maintained the track’s legacy – both the dragstrip and the dirt track – and has allowed racing to exist eight decades after it became part of the Clarksville landscape.
The long-anticipated, high-octane exhibit Start Your Engines! A Celebration of Racing in Montgomery County is open now at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center. The exhibit is sponsored by Tri-Star Beverage and MPG Transport and spans across several galleries within the Museum.
Recognizing the history of auto racing in Montgomery County, Start Your Engines spotlights the local legends that formed the sport in our area, including Jeff Purvis, Tony Albright, Eddie Pace, the Greenfield family and numerous other veterans of dirt track and dragstrip racing. Many racing vehicles will rotate throughout the Museum for the duration of the exhibit; the famed No. 9 NASCAR stock car driven by Kasey Kahne, Barry Carpenter’s epic 1968 drag rail, Mickey Jerles’ prized crate late model and more.
“This exhibition has morphed and grown over time since its inception – like our city,” said Terri Jordan, Curator of Exhibits. “We are thrilled to bring an exhibition to the public featuring an iconic and historic location in Clarksville – the Clarksville Speedway and Fairgrounds – and the stories, artifacts and memories of its family, its patrons, the pit crews and drivers.”
Additionally, a three-part documentary series was produced by Goodwin Productions for CDE Lightband’s Clarksville Community Network, complete with interviews from local drivers, track owners and racing influencers.
Start Your Engines! A Celebration of Racing in Montgomery County is on view at the Customs House Museum & Cultural Center through December 31. Discover more stories from the Clarksville Speedway in the Start Your Engines commemorative magazine, available for purchase at Seasons: The Museum Store.
