A Google Earth view of the dirt mile at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse.
We may be perilously close to losing one of America’s most historic race tracks. According to an in-depth report in Area Auto Racing News, a respected weekly newspaper that covers regional and national motorsports, the dirt mile at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse may cease to exist after this year. State and county officials have a $50 million plan to build a huge amphitheater and equestrian complex on the site currently occupied by the dirt track and its main grandstand. The intent is to transform the fairgrounds into something of a New York-themed entertainment center. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has publicly supported the proposal, outlined by county officials earlier this month. The plan is for work to be completed in time for the 2016 New York State Fair, which runs over Labor Day weekend.
If it comes to fruition, 2015 will be the final year for auto racing in Syracuse, ending a tradition of national-level racing that stretches back to 1903, with Ira Vail as an early promoter. In 1911, Lee Oldfield’s car crashed through a fence and killed 11 spectators, one of the deadliest accidents in racing until the 1955 disaster at Le Mans. The Indianapolis 500 champion Jimmy Murphy, who became the first American to win the French Grand Prix, died on the mile in 1922. It also claimed the life of another Indy veteran, Jimmy Gleason. In 1975, Gary Bettenhausen sustained permanent injuries when his USAC Silver Crown car was catapulted out of the speedway.
The Moody Mile, as it’s called, is known for being narrow, hard and frighteningly fast. Billy Pauch set a lap record of 144 MPH in a Sprint car at Syracuse that still stands. Since the early 1970s, the track has played host each October to Super DIRT Week, the premier event for northeast-style dirt track Modifieds, which draws huge crowds annually. It’s the only time that traditional Saturday-night racers get to run that fast on a mile track.
We spoke to AARN editor and publisher Len Sammons, who advised us that World Racing Group of Charlotte, which owns the DIRT series, has confirmed that Super DIRT Week will continue after this year, even if the event has to be moved. Super DIRT Week founder Glenn Donnelly had earlier announced plans to build a large dirt track in Brewerton, just north of Syracuse. Two locations in New Jersey might also be alternative sites. One is the Atlantic City Race Course, a one-mile track for horses that ceased operations in January; and another is the 5/8th-mile Bridgeport Speedway, also in South Jersey.
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