MICHIGAN RACEWAYS

from DBusiness | May - June 2023

by Hour Media

Pull of Gravity

Dirt Tracks

Butler Motor Speedway, Quincy (3/8-mile oval, 1952)

Crystal Motor Speedway, Crystal (3/8-mile oval, NA)

Hartford Motor Speedway, Hartford (oval)

I-96 Speedway, Lake Odessa (1/2-mile oval, NA)

Manistee County Fairgrounds, Onekama (oval)

Merritt Speedway, Lake City (oval)

Mt. Pleasant Speedway, Mount Pleasant (3/8-mile oval, NA)

Silver Bullet Speedway, Owendale (1/4-mile oval, 1955)

Thunderbird Raceway, Muskegon (1/3-mile circle, NA)

Tri-City Motor Speedway, Auburn (1/4-mile oval, 1947)

Winston Speedway, Rothbury (3/8-mile oval, NA)

Paved Tracks

Auto City Speedway, Clio (1/2-mile and 1/4-mile paved ovals, NA)

Berlin Raceway, Marne (7/16-mile paved oval, 1950)

Birch Run Speedway and Event Center, Birch Run (1/3-mile paved oval, 1948)

Corrigan Oil Speedway, Mason (1/4-mile paved oval, 1956)

Flat Rock Speedway, Flat Rock (.25-mile paved oval, 1953)

Galesburg Speedway, Galesburg (1/4-mile paved oval, 1947)

GingerMan Raceway, South Haven (2.14-mile road course, 1995)

Kalamazoo Speedway, Kalamazoo (3/8-mile oval, 1949)

M-40 Speedway, Jones (3/8-mile D-shaped oval, 1997)

Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn (2-mile D-shaped oval, 1968)

Mid-Michigan Raceway Park, Fenwick (oval)

Mottville Speedway, White Pigeon (1/4-mile oval, 1950)

Onaway Speedway, Onaway (1/4-mile oval, 1983)

Owosso Speedway, Ovid (3/8-mile oval, 1939)

Tri-City Motor Speedway, Auburn (1/2-mile oval, 1967)

Waterford Hills

Road Racing Course, Clarkston (1/2-mile road course, 1958)

Upper Peninsula Tracks

Bark River International Speedway, Bark River (dirt off-road course)

Kinross Speedpark, Kinross (1/4-mile paved oval, 1995)

Norway Speedway, Norway (1/3-mile paved oval, 1942)

Sands Speedway, Gwinn (1/4-mile paved oval, 1969)

Upper Peninsula International Raceway, Escanaba (dirt oval)

Motorcycle Motocross Tracks

Big Air Motorcross, Newaygo

Grattan Raceway Park, Belding

Drag Strips

Mid-Michigan Motorplex, Stanton (1/4-mile paved, 1975)

Milan Dragway, Milan (1/4-mile paved, 1964)

Northern Michigan Dragway, Kaleva (1/8-mile paved, 1970)

Ubly Dragway, Ubly (1/4-mile paved, 1967)

US 131 Motorsports Park, Martin (1/4-mile paved, 1962)

GO-KART TRACKS

Capitol Quarter Midget Association, Lansing (paved road course for kids)

Jackson Speedway, Jackson (paved road course)

Palmyra Speedway at Hilltop, Adrian (paved road course)

40-acre property in 2015 just to close it down, according to the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

When Fife Lake resident Stephen Batzer purchased the track, he quickly became a villain among the local racing community and a hero to his other serenity-loving neighbors.

“I’m glad it’s gone and I have my peace and quiet back,” Karol Kroupa, whose property lies between the track and Batzer’s house, was quoted in the local newspaper as saying at the time. “I thank my neighbor.”

Although Michigan’s IndyCar and NASCAR races attract national attention and network television time, the majority of the racing activity around the state takes place at smaller dirt and paved short tracks like Birch Run Speedway, where 24 different classes of racing machines compete every Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from April 22 to Oct. 28.

Flat Rock Speedway hosts a variety of races every Saturday starting in May, while Kalamazoo Speedway runs modifieds, late models, semi-trucks, and other

Victory Lane

Michigan’s racing tracks each offer several different kinds of competition. Among them are late models at Flat Rock Speedway (above), modifieds at Birch Run Speedway (left), and sprint cars at Kalamazoo Speedway (opposite page, above right).

speedy vehicles every Friday and Saturday between May and November.

The schedule at Owosso Speedway, north of Lansing, is busy from April 15 through September. It hosts stock modifieds, pure stock, sport compact, trucks, street stocks, dwarf cars, late-model sportsman, mini wedges, and other racing classes.

In 1944 and 1945, the facility served another purpose: It was used as a prisoner of war camp for captured German soldiers. Camp Owosso was one of 25 POW camps in Michigan. On May 30, 1944, 200 veterans of Field Marshall Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps arrived at Owosso. By July 1944, 375 prisoners were held there.

Today’s racing enthusiasts have the option of belonging to private clubs, complete with their own racecourses. M1 Concourse in Pontiac opened in 2016 on the former 87-acre site of General Motors’ former Pontiac West assembly plant. It features a 1.5mile twisty, paved circuit surrounded by some 250 private garages.

The facility also has an events center that hosts numerous programs each year, including the American Speed Festival, and it’s building the Prefix Performance Center, which will offer racing fuels and service for high-performance cars. The center is expected to be finished this summer.

Coming soon, a bit farther to the west, is Motorsports Gateway Howell, which began construction in January. It sits on a 273-acre plot near I-96 and Highway D19, one mile from downtown Howell. Phase 1 of construction, expected to be completed by summer, will include a 2.2-mile performance driving circuit, a paddock, a members clubhouse, track-fronting private garage condos, and a public nature trail. Two additional phases include an automotive innovation park and a mixeduse entertainment zone.

The bottom line, whether someone is driving their expensive car on a club track or just watching a race, is entertainment. According to the Berlin Raceway’s Striegle, there’s no shortage of people in Michigan who look to racing to accelerate their adrenaline.

“There’s something about the fan base in Michigan that makes racing in the state thrive,” Striegle says. “They’re a passionate group of people. They’re loyal. They want to go to a clean, family-friendly facility, and they want a good show when they get there. I think most of the tracks in the state are able to provide that.”

Vip Performance

Motorsports Gateway Howell, a rendering of which is shown below, soon will join M1 Concourse in Pontiac as a regional “country club” for motorsports enthusiasts.