By Ted Knorr
The Rensselaer Raceway was located at the Jasper County Fairgrounds, one mile west of Rensselaer, Indiana.
PART TWO - THE FINAL YEARS (1970 - 1987)
The speedway did not open for the 1970 season. Meanwhile, in 1966, Ted Knorr had purchased a motel in Indianapolis and moved back to Indiana. His once racing teenage son was now a state trooper with the Indiana State Police and racing under assumed names as his superiors didn’t agree with his driving a racecar. He had been running in the stock car division of USAC and also drove to a late model track championship in 1970 at the former Henry’s Speedway near Lafayette (now Kamp’s Motor Speedway). He was forced into retirement from driving in 1970 under threat of losing his full time occupation when the superintendent of the Indiana State Police was informed he had been racing. A Knorr family meeting took place shortly after this at the Indy motel, whereby the senior Ted Knorr agreed to contact the Jasper County Fair Board to negotiate a three year contract to try and rebuild the Rensselaer Speedway with the help of his sons. The Fair Board signed off on the contract and a new challenge began.
One of the first things done prior to the 1971 season opener was to change the track name to “Rensselaer Raceway” to signify a new beginning. The Fair Board also agreed to tear down the old wooden roofed grandstand and replace it with a new stand that would seat double the amount of fans. The old grandstand was control burned to the ground in early spring and the debris was quickly cleared. St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer agreed to lease their portable visitor football stands to the fairgrounds while the new grandstand was under construction. A new set of car specs and rules were written and the fans and competitors slowly returned. By seasons end and with a new grandstand… Rensselaer was firmly back in the racing entertainment business.
Ted Knorr passed away unexpectedly in early October of 1971. This placed the management of the track with two of his sons…Ted and Gerry. Ted who had the racing background and Gerry (a school superintendent) would handle the business side.
The Rensselaer Raceway continued to grow with many track improvements. The infamous flat north turn was banked about 6 feet with new clay and a concrete wall replaced the former wooden and steel guardrails. Additional lighting was purchased from the closed Sugar Island Speedway near Kankakee, IL. and new restrooms were built by the Fair Board. An earlier starting time of 7:30 pm began with a self-imposed 10:30 pm curfew in effect. This proved to be a positive move for the Sunday evening shows, the drivers, the fans, as well as the nearby residents.
The addition of several special event races began at the end of the 1973 season with the first running of the Northern Indiana Dirt Track 100. That event became very successful and was sponsored for the next 12 years by local Ford dealer, Larry Brooks of Rensselaer. Many of the top dirt track racers from the Midwest would compete. Frankfort, KY’s colorful “Butterball” Woolridge won that first event. The midget racers of Ed Adair’s CORA (Car Owners Racing Association) of Indianapolis were added to several Sunday night programs and provided some great open wheel racing. Future Indy 500 starters Stan Fox and Rich Vogler were some of the drivers who raced with CORA during this time.
In 1975, Ted Knorr took over the management of the former Henry’s Speedway. He also formed the Illiana Clay Racing Club (ICRC) with a three division (LM, late model sportsman, and 6 cylinder) and a three-track circuit. The tracks included Wayne Etzel’s Kankakee, IL fairgrounds speedway on Fridays, the newly named Chase Raceway (named after nearby small Benton County town of Chase, IN) on Saturday nights and Rensselaer with its Sunday evening shows. Each track had its own championship plus an overall ICRC championship point fund. The circuit was very well received by the fans and drivers in the area. Drivers from as far away as the Chicago suburbs began racing in the club. The circuit continued for the next several seasons, but when the owner of the Chase Raceway decided to convert to a pavement track in 1978, the Broadway Speedway (now Crown Point Speedway) was added to the Saturday night circuit in place of the now paved track at Chase. Note: The Henry’s Speedway pavement was torn up after a couple of years and returned to dirt. It is now owned by Bob Kamp, owner of K-Motion Racing in Lafayette.
The final Rensselaer Raceway promotion of the Knorr era was on Sunday afternoon, September 14, 1985. . It remains as the most successful single day event in the 34-year history of the fairgrounds track. The 12th running of the Hoosier Clay Championship for UMP late models was the main event as part of a season ending special. The purse paid out for this show was the largest ever posted at the track. Under near perfect weather and track conditions the largest (standing room only) crowd to ever attend an event at the Fairgrounds was on hand to see nearly 175 stock cars compete.
Ted Knorr sold the Rensselaer Raceway after the 1985 season to three northwest Indiana racers. Raleigh Hinkle, the starter at the track for 15 years and also the promoter of the Corbin, KY speedway, along with his cousin Bucky Hinkle of Gary and Hammond’s Otto Richardson.
In 1986, under new management for the first time in 15 years, the Rensselaer Raceways new owners struggled with weather and other problems most of the season.
Then in 1987 the track opened for its 34th and final season and closed forever after a few events. Others may have to write the final reasons for the demise of the Rensselaer Raceway, as many are unable to understand what happened.
Going to the Jasper County Fairgrounds today, it’s hard to determine where the track of twenty years ago once was. The entire track area has been leveled for the fair demo-derbies, tractor pulls, rodeos and other non-racing events. The concrete front stretch wall is still there with its many scrapes and scars from eager racers of the past. The grandstands sit empty except for the week of the annual county fair. There is a chance….if you were to sit in the stands now on a warm summer Sunday evening. …you would still be able to faintly hear the distant voices of announcers - Cecil Sutton, Howard Bradshaw, Bobby Dean Wilcox and Ross Mackey…..”and here they come out of number four headed for the green flag !” The Ted Knorr family was directly involved in 24 of those 34 bygone racing seasons and if there is such a thing as a legacy at the old fairgrounds….. others will have to be the judge.
To those of us who raced…. To those that helped produce this Sunday night entertainment for all those years and especially to the fans…
Thanks for the memories. TK