Bloomington Speedway
Bloomington Speedway

Bloomington Speedway
Bloomington, IN

Secrets of the Red Clay
468
4/19/2025

4/19/2025

Bloomington Speedway


Secrets of the Red Clay

Hidden Secrets of the Red Clay
There have been many people who have taken the helm of the Historic Bloomington Speedway and done their absolute best to keep the torch aflame. It is not an easy task. There was a time when the plant was operated by the board of the South Central Indiana Racing Association, and given this Karl Kinser was a key player. He had many concerns; one was the basic state of the racing surface.
In today’s racing world few things generate more debate than track preparation. It is a vexing problem because different classes of cars, and individual participants, tend to prefer widely differing conditions. Even in the dead of winter unsolicited suggestions are sure to clog every promoter’s email inbox. It turns out that nearly everyone is an expert.
It appears that Karl had a genuine problem that demanded thoughtful consideration. In response he turned to his brother Larry with simple instructions. Decades later Larry can still remember his charge. “Karl told me he would help me if I needed it, “he recalls “but we need to keep the dust down for the fans and the track is too rough to race on.”
Where to start? Larry began by simply digging up a sample of dirt and heading to the Lawrence County Soil and Water Conservation office. It was here that he began to grasp the basic problem. “They told me you have three different kinds of dirt, “Kinser recalls, “and they said if you don’t work it right it won’t ever bond. You need to dampen it, then use the sheep’s foot, and do that over and over.” He devoted at least two full weeks to the project along with friend Steve Rush, and he notes with pride “the track record was in the 15 second range and we got it down to 12 seconds in the same year.”
This wasn’t all that was done. There were huge holes to fill and there was a persistent dip between turns three and four that routinely caused problems. This is where things get interesting. “Well,” Larry says, “there was an old car body under there, maybe more. They put it there for fill and to build up the bank. I guess I finally flattened it with the sheep’s foot. I filled that area and packed it over and over. Finally, one night Bob Kinser came up to me and said he would never have believed it but now he could go all the way around without lifting.”
Then came an interesting proposition. Larry was asked if he wanted to take the lease on the track. “I asked how much they needed, and they said between $1,600 and $1,800 and I turned it down,” he says with a laugh, “Imagine that. I could have had the racetrack at that price, but the bathrooms were awful, and the grandstands needed work. Then Bob Taylor took it.”
The story doesn’t end here. Doug Vandeventer has been around the racetrack his entire life. His parents were involved, and Larry Kinser is his father in law. He can’t confirm that multiple cars were buried between turns three a four. However, what he can confirm is that a 1940 coupe’s final resting place was Bloomington Speedway. Even better --- it’s still there.
There’s more. At another point when the racing surface needed a substantial overhaul, Sheldon Kinser was poised to lend a hand with a road grader. As he toiled on the front straightaway, he suddenly encountered an annoying obstacle. He backed up and tried again. No dice. Soon the mystery was uncovered. Years ago, when the old, covered grandstands, undoubtedly by then a bit of a hazard, were torn down some of the wood was pushed on to the track and covered with new clay. While rotting certainly has occurred, in reality remnants are likely still there, albeit pushed further into the earth. Oh, if the old track could talk what stories it could tell.
For Larry Kinser memories abound. He appreciates Bob Taylor’s role in keeping the track alive. “Bob owned a place called The Pizza Pan that was by the old Bloomington hospital,” he says, “and he would cook pizza with a cigar in his mouth. You were likely to get cigar ashes in your pizza, but it was good.” These days were also fruitful for the rest of his family, and already laughing as he tells the tale Larry recalls, “I had three kids and after the races or the next day they loved to go through the bleachers and see if they could find coins and dollar bills. My daughter found a $20 bill once and was tickled to death. She would watch during the race to see where the drunks were sitting, so she knew right where to go.” Today one of those daughters, Debbie Vandeventer, greets fans at the track’s upper ticket booth.
As another hidden hero, Larry Kinser made an important contribution to the growth and survival of the Historic Bloomington Speedway by turning a rough, rutted, and dusty oval into a place where drivers could truly demonstrate their talent. It led some to surmise that he had drawn from a unique skill set to turn matters around so quickly. It is a feasible hypothesis, but it just happens to be false. “I was an automotive instructor at North Lawrence school,” he says “I had never run a grader or used a sheep’s foot in my life. I just paid attention to the grade and angles.”
It all worked out.
The Historic Bloomington Speedway - - Rooted in Tradition – Focused on the Future.
Dan Sheek Collection


Article Credit: Patrick Sullivan

Back to News

Build your brand with MRP Digital Ads