Doin It in the Dirt

“Doin’ it in the Dirt”: How Dirt Track Racing in Central Pennsylvania became more than just a Hobby Kurt Gladfelter Fall 2008 Senior Sem Automobile racing today has reached the kind of popularity never before imaginable to those involved in the early history of the sport.1 It is by far America’s largest spectator sport, attracting records of new fans every year. The sport of automobile racing has not always been this way. Today, we see large organized sanctioning bodies such as NASCAR and INDY, but these over-reaching glamorous organizations have humble grass-roots beginnings in the small 1/2 mile dirt-tracks that are speckled all over the nation; most notably in Central Pennsylvania. When we examine how dirt-track racing evolved from a weekend hobby into a sponsorship business in Central Pennsylvania, we are also examining the beginnings of what will become America’s largest spectator sport: automobile racing. The invention and the massive incorporation of the automobile in rural America after the First World War brought about abrupt change to a part of the country accustomed to tranquility.2 The effects of this industrial invention were staggering in rural America during the early twentieth century. Among these changes was a major shift in rural leisure activities. By the 1950s, blue collar culture all over America championed the automobile as the Industrial Revolution’s greatest contribution to modern society. Major American events like the Second Industrial Revolution, the ending of both World Wars (especially World War II) and the economic prosperity that followed allowed for the sport to exist and provided extended periods of growth. These events changed the role that blue-collar Americans had in racing from mostly spectators to the primary participants in the sport. By the 1970s, that participant role began to fade out because the sport changed for a variety of reasons. Dirt-track racing evolved from an industrialized leisure activity to a 1 Dave Brown. Interviewed by Kurt Gladfelter. 04 March 2006 and 18 December 2007. 2 Michael Berger, The Devil Wagon in God’s Country (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1979). 1 commercialized cut-throat business in the span of about 40 years. Dare-devil performances, spectacular speeds, and affordable entertainment during the Great Depression initially created an excitement for the sport. As competition intensified at the tracks in Central Pennsylvania, and sanctioning bodies grew in power, what was once a hobby for young blue-collar men in post- World War II America became a monetarily-driven business by the 1980s. This study of dirt track racing from it’s beginnings in the early 1900s to the mid 1980s will articulate that as societies industrialize in their workplace, this change is reflected in the leisure activities they choose to engage. This study will reveal that as popularity in a sport rises gradually it becomes more organized for profit than for fun. Historiography Historically, a topic like dirt-track racing has not attracted much scholarly work. This absence of research makes a historiography on the subject of dirt-track racing impossible. However, there has been an immense amount of scholarly work done on the automobile. Throughout the years, the automobile has attracted the attention of many different scholars who examined the invention through a variety of perspectives. The first major scholarly concentration of the automobile rests on its production and labor that usually examines the automobile industry from a Marxist perspective. There is no shortage of research about the automobile industry and labor. From the 1920s to the 1950s historians and authors wrote about the automobile using large companies such as Ford and its production and labor struggles for workers. Some examples include books entitled: Automotive Giants of America: Men Who Are Making Our Motor Industry, The Triumph of an 2 Idea; The Story of Henry Ford, The Man on the Assembly Line, and The UAW and Walter Reuther. All of these books were written between 1926 and 1949, and this methodology focusing on large companies continued into the 1950s. By the 1960s authors began to write about the automobile using a different perspective; this perspective looks at the automobile’s effects on society instead of industry and business. Once automobiles became more affordable, and available to the masses in the 1950s, historians began to examine their impact differently. To say that a complete shift of the writing about the automobile went from industry to society would be incorrect. There are still many examples of writings about the automotive industry, but by the 1960s a new element in the discussion of the automobile was present. Research on the automobile’s effects on society became apparent in the 1960s and authors began to write how the automobile affected things like city planning and attendance of religious services on Sunday. Indeed, many books discuss how Americans view the automobile as negative technological advancement since people and families were choosing to go on Sunday drives rather than attend church services. Books like Metropolis: Values in Conflict, The Car Culture, The Insolent Chariots, Wheels, and License to Kill all discuss the automobiles tremendous effect on American society. All these books were written from 1958-1975. From 1975 onwards there was a diverse mixture of research on the automobile. One point that can be made for works on the automobile from 1975 to the present day is that the works become more specific to a certain category that involved the automobile. There are books and articles that only discuss traffic and safety issues, and ones that discuss motor sports. Sometimes with motor sports, the authors wrote more specifically, choosing only to discuss certain aspects of racing such as NASCAR, USAC, or INDY. Three works that 3 demonstrate this are RX-7: The New Mazda RX-7 and Mazda Rotary Engine Sports Cars, Fixin’ to Git: A Fan’s Love Affair with NASCAR’s Winston Cup, and The Indy 500. These three works are very focused studies, and in the previous two chronological periods these specific studies are a rarity. Certainly, there is still a heavy representation of research on the industry itself. In light of the current automobile industry’s struggle, it is advisable that scholars would begin to turn their focus back to the automotive industry itself. Early Racing 1902-1941 The setting is Williams Grove Speedway; the premier race track in Central Pennsylvania. The fans come in droves from all over the nation and world to witness some of the greatest race car drivers go head to head in a sport of intelligence and courage. This is no ordinary Friday night dirt-track racing event in Central Pennsylvania. Tonight, a band of local racers known as the Pennsylvania Posse must do their best to hold off the invading touring racing circuit known as the World of Outlaws. The Outlaws tour the nation every summer stopping to challenge the local drivers at tracks all over the United States. They are accustomed to winning, but they all know that the Pennsylvania Posse always present their greatest challenge. Since the creation of the World of Outlaws in 1978, the Pennsylvania Posse has found ways to round up the Outlaws more successfully than any other local racing group in the nation. On this beautiful July evening, thousands of fans pack every seat in the grandstand and in the infield. The area in turn three, known as “Beer Hill,” is filled with the most die-hard of dirt-track racing fans. These excited fans are united in a single purpose: to watch the Posse take on the Outlaws for racing supremacy in Central Pennsylvania. The extremely fast sprint cars approach the start/finish line and 4 excitement builds on the faces of drivers, fans, and pit crews as the 780 horsepower engines shake the hearts of everyone. Anticipation builds as the green flag drops, and the fans remained glued to the track waiting to see if their hometown heroes have what it takes to beat the best of the best: the World of Outlaws. The previous paragraph illustrates modern day dirt-track racing. Beginning with this period, this paper will examine how dirt-track racing ultimately came to resemble the descriptive anecdote in the previous paragraph. This section primarily focuses on the early period of racing. The examination of this era will help to connect dirt-track racing to national themes. It examines the beginnings of how dirt-track racing became a popular industrialized leisure activity. This section will attempt to connect dirt-track racing to national events like the Second Industrial Revolution and World War I. Looking at early race car drivers like Barney Oldfield and Tommy Hinnershitz, the construction of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the formation of the American Automobile Association will show how dirt-track racing became a popular leisure activity in the Northeastern United states and more specifically Central Pennsylvania. The two major events, the Second Industrial Revolution and World War I, had profound effects on the sport. One obvious contribution that the latter part of America’s Second Industrial Revolution3 created was the technology that was necessary for the sport to even exist. Technological innovations such as the internal gasoline powered combustible engine4 and the automobile itself contributed greatly to dirt-track racing. Without this key invention a sport like dirt-track racing could not exist. The Second Industrial Revolution also had other accomplishments that are not as obvious. The Second Industrial Revolution also fully 3 Mokyr, Joel. “The Second Industrial Revolution, 1870-1914.” Northwestern University, 1998. 4 Lynwood Bryant, "The Beginnings of the Internal Combustion Engine." Technology in Western Civilization. 1 (1967) 648-663.

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