 | |
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| Location | Town of Hamilton, nearWest Salem, Wisconsin,United States |
|---|---|
| Opened | 1957 |
| Former names | La Crosse Interstate Speedway[1] |
| Major events | Oktoberfest (ARCA Midwest Tour, Big 8 Series) |
| Website | http://www.lacrossespeedway.com/ |
| 5/8 mile outer | |
| Surface | asphalt |
| Length | 0.62 mi (1 km) |
| 1/4 mile inner | |
| Surface | asphalt |
| Length | 0.25 mi (0.40 km) |
TheLa Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway is a semi-banked asphalt oval racetrack inWest Salem, Wisconsin.[2] The outer track is 5/8 mile and the inner track is a 1/4 mile.[2] The speedway has progressive banking in the corners, from 5 degrees on the bottom to 11 degrees on the top. The track was built at the fairgrounds forLa Crosse County. It used to host an event on theAmerican Speed Association (ASA) and theASA Late Model Series before the demise of the series. It currently hosts annual touring events on theARCA Midwest Tour andMid American Stock Car Series.[3] It hosts weeklystock car races which are sanctioned by theNASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.[2] It was the first NASCAR-sanctioned race track inWisconsin.[4]
The track opened as a half miledirt track in 1957 inWest Salem, Wisconsin as part of the relocation of the La Crosse Interstate Fairgrounds from the site of Veterans' Memorial Stadium on the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse campus.[5] It originally ran a single annualInternational Motor Contest Association (IMCA) event and it was known as theLa Crosse Inter-State Fairgrounds.[5] The event featured IMCA "Big Car" (now known assprint cars),midgets, and "New Model"stock cars (similar to stock cars raced byUSAC cars andNASCAR'sGrand National Series). The event ran until 1966, and numerous notable drivers competed in these events, includingJohnny Beauchamp,Jim Hurtubise,Dick Hutcherson,Ramo Stott,Parnelli Jones,Johnny Rutherford, andTom Bigelow.[5]
The track was paved in 1970 as a half mile, with the track's current banked grandstand being built at the same time.[5]Jim Sauter won the track's first event on July 14, 1970.[1] Robert Morris and Larry Wehrs were the promoters for the first two seasons before Wehrs became the sole promoter in 1972. Racing alternated between Friday and Wednesday nights for the first five seasons before permanently running on Wednesday nights in 1975. The Central Wisconsin Racing Association (CWRA) Late Models were the featured division at La Crosse from 1970 until 1991. Following the 1986 season the La Crosse County Agricultural Society, the owners of the racetrack, decided to make a change with the promoter. Instead of renewing with Wehrs, the La Crosse County Ag Society went with Midwest Motorsports Management as the new promoter. LongtimeARTGO Challenge Series president John McKarns andRockford Speedway president Jody Deery headed up the new promoter group, with Deery's youngest son Chuck named the track manager. In 1989 La Crosse became the first track in Wisconsin to become a part of the NASCAR Winston Racing Series (now theNASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series), NASCAR's national weekly short track program. The track would run the NASCAR shows on Saturday nights, which would become the main race night starting in 1992. Five drivers (Kevin Nuttleman, Paul Proksch,Charlie Menard, Steve Carlson and Nick Panitzke) would go on to claim either a regional, divisional or state championship. Carlson would capture the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series national championship in 2007, the first for a driver from the state of Wisconsin. Nuttleman would become the first driver in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series history to claim a championship under all three formats (Great Northern Region in 1989, Division III in 2005 and Wisconsin State Championship in 2009), and is one of the 25 greatest drivers in NASCAR Whelen All-American Series history.
LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway hosts weekly stock car races on Saturday nights which are sanctioned by NASCAR, under theNASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series banner.[6]
The headline division at the track is the NASCARlate models.[2] Other classes include Sportsman, Hornets, Street Stocks, Six Shooters, Mini-Vans, the High School Racing Association plus several novelty events throughout the season.[2] Visitng series include the CWRA Late Models, the INEX Great North Legends, the Milwaukee Stock Car Racing Association, the American Super Cup Series and the Upper Midwest Vintage Racing Series. Starting in 2008, the track featured Friday Night Street Drags the second Friday of the month from May to September. The Street Drags were moved to the third Thursday of the month starting in 2023. Starting in 2009, the Street Drags concluded with the 300' Bracket Nationals the Saturday following the Oktoberfest Race Weekend.
The track hosts an annual "Eve of Destruction" event the first Saturday after Labor Day.[7] It features atrailer race where the last car with a trailer left wins, along with Doug Rose's Green Mamba Jet Car, hornets, skidders, monster trucks, and motorcycle stunt riders.[7] A similar event called the "Smash-O-Rama" takes place the third Saturday night in June.
Since 1970 the track has featured the annual Oktoberfest Race Weekend as its season finale, usually the weekend after La Crosse's Oktoberfest celebration concludes.[5] It began as a two-day event, then expanded to three days in 1975 and expanded to its current four-day format (Thursday through Sunday) in 1998. Touring series that race at the event include theMid American Stock Car Series, the Big 8 Late Model Series, the Midwest Truck Tour and theARCA Midwest Tour.[8][9]
The Friday night headliner in theDick Trickle 99, a 99 lapsuper late model event, patterned after the Vermont Milk Bowl atThunder Road International SpeedBowl, with three 33 lap segments. Each driver scores one point for first, two for second, three for third, and so forth based on the finish of each race, and the winner of the meet is the driver with the lowest total score after the three 33-lap races.[10] The length is taken from Trickle's #99 that he had raced in Wisconsin before moving to NASCAR. Past winners include:
The sanctioning body for the main event for the weekend has varied through the years. It began using the Central Wisconsin Racing Association rules between 1970 and 1986.[14] TheARTGO touring series took over sanction from 1987 until 1997.[14] ARTGO was sold to NASCAR and theseries took various names between 1998 until 2006.[14] The 2006 main event was a Wisconsin Late Model event even though NASCAR ran its final Elite Division race that Friday night.[14] TheASA Midwest Tour took over the main event in 2007 and has held it ever since.[14]
Joe Shear is the first driver to have won five main events, but that record was matched by Ty Majeski when he won the 2025 main event.Travis Sauter and Dan Fredrickson are second with four victories each.[15]
(X)--Inactive division or series(+)--All time 5/8-mile qualifying record and Open Wheel qualifying record(#)--All time stock car qualifying record
(X)--Inactive division/series(+)--All-time 1/4-mile qualifying record
43°54′15″N91°06′15″W / 43.9043°N 91.1043°W /43.9043; -91.1043