Auto racing returns to Bloomsburg Fairground BY: SHAWN WOOD, FOR INSIDE MOTORSPORTS
10
Inside PA Motorsports | April 2021
I
t began as a casual comment from Bloomsburg Fair board member and motorsports coordinator Brian Wawroski during the Monster Truck Show at the Fairgrounds last year. He was speaking with The Armory Agency and members of the United States Auto Club. “I said ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we built a racetrack here just to see what they would say,’ ” Wawroski said. “We wanted to build a track anyway, and they said, ‘let’s do it.’ ” The last time racing took place at the fairgrounds was 35 years ago. “The word on the street was that people were hoping to see racing come back to the fairgrounds and those were some of the biggest days (attendance-wise), for the fair,” Wawroski said. “There are a couple of us on the fair board that have an interest in racing and the board of directors bought into the fact that racing would be good for the Bloomsburg Fair. “We were not going to just go out and get a backhoe and build a track, everything we were going to do with USAC and The Armory Agency is going to be top-notch. We want it to be the best facility in the country when we are done,” he added. The fair board brought on Steve O’Neal to be the promoter of the track. O’Neal is the current promoter at the Port Royal Speedway. The track will be 3/8th-mile in length and will be constructed on the inside of the half-mile cinder track while utilizing part of the frontstretch. The fair will continue to run horseraces on the cinder track and has hopes of being able to hold auto racing after the fair is over in the future. The year marks the 166th edition of the fair, which began in 1855. According to an article in a Wilkes-Barre newspaper, race cars first appeared at the fairgrounds in October of the 1922 fair. The article notes that it’s the first time that race cars had ever been seen in Central Pennsylvania. Among the notable cars of the eight drivers that were entered in the race was the French Peugeot car which was driven by Howard Wilcox to win in the 1919 Indianapolis 500. British driver R. Burr Lampkin was behind the wheel at the fair race. The schedule for the first year will feature a special-events calendar with eight dates from May 27 to Oct. 2.
“I said ‘wouldn’t it be cool if we built a racetrack here just to see what they would say,’ We wanted to build a track anyway, and they said, ‘let’s do it.’”
continued on page 12
Brian Wawroski
E L T L S E U R A ’S M TOWING & SERVICE CENTER Bloomsburg, PA
570-784-5821 570-336-0367 24 Hours a Day
