Opinion : To the Editor: Motorcycle club member recalls dirt track bike racing in '53

By Bob Kimm, former Vinton Motorcycle Club member

Quite an article today on the 4th of July racing out at the fairgrounds. It brought back some memories for me from way back in 1953. Yeah, 62 years ago.

The old ½ mile horse-track had been shut down and the new ¼ mile was just finished. There was a stock-car race there on Saturday and on Sunday there was a motorcycle race, the first ever, on the new track. I was a first-year novice racer and took part in that event, which was sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association. Other competitors with Amateur and Expert rankings came from as far away as Rockford, Illinois, Kenosha, Wi, as well as several from the Blackhawk Club in Waterloo.

I was fast enough to turn 4th fastest time of the day at 21:96, the fast time being 21:26. I won a heat race, got 2nd in the semi-final and a 5th in the final. Not too bad for a beginner. The program was set up to be a two part event, but after the first final, a thunderstorm came up and rained out the second half.

I can’t help but wonder what times the modern day dirt-track bikes would do out there. What times are the stock-cars turning now?

The old Vinton Motorcycle Club sponsored some scrambles races out there during the next few years, but I had moved away by that time. How many old timers in town remember Claude Pollock, Duane Geater, Millard Smock and Phil Staab who raced bikes there?

Bob Kimm