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Van Johnson (racing Driver)
Van Dale Johnson (February 4, 1927 – July 19, 1959) was an American racing driver from Greeley, Colorado. Johnson competed in the United States Auto Club National Championship from 1956 to 1959, making six starts. He also failed to qualify or crashed in practice in eleven more race attempts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1958 and 1959. He captured his first and only race win in his sixth race start in June 1959 at the famed Langhorne Speedway. A month later in his next race, Johnson was killed in a third-lap crash in a Non-Championship race at Williams Grove Speedway where his car was either rammed from the side by that of Joe Barzda or the wheels of their cars became entangled. Barzda's car had suffered a reported stuck throttle when entering the third turn and, after making contact, flipped over just as Johnson's. While Barzda escaped with minor injuries, Johnson died of a skull fracture and other injuries or a broken neck. Johnson's Vargo Special was the same racer in w ...
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Greeley, Colorado
Greeley is the home rule municipality city that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Weld County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,795 at the 2020 United States Census, an increase of 17.12% since the 2010 United States Census. Greeley is the tenth most populous city in Colorado. Greeley is the principal city of the Greeley, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area and is a major city of the Front Range Urban Corridor. Greeley is located in northern Colorado and is situated north-northeast of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. History Union Colony Greeley began as the Union Colony of Colorado, which was founded in 1869 by Nathan C. Meeker, an agricultural reporter for the '' New York Tribune'' as an experimental utopian farming community "based on temperance, religion, agriculture, education and family values," with the backing of the ''Tribune''s editor Horace Greeley, who popularized the phrase "Go West, young man". Worster, Donald (1 ...
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United Press International
United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th century. At its peak, it had more than 6,000 media subscribers. Since the first of several sales and staff cutbacks in 1982, and the 1999 sale of its broadcast client list to its main U.S. rival, the Associated Press, UPI has concentrated on smaller information-market niches. History Formally named United Press Associations for incorporation and legal purposes, but publicly known and identified as United Press or UP, the news agency was created by the 1907 uniting of three smaller news syndicates by the Midwest newspaper publisher E. W. Scripps. It was headed by Hugh Baillie (1890–1966) from 1935 to 1955. At the time of his retirement, UP had 2,900 clients in the United States, and 1,500 abroad. In 1958, it became United Press Intern ...
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Indiana State Fair
The Indiana State Fair is an annual state fair that spans 18 days in July and August in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. The Indiana State Fair debuted in 1852 at Military Park in Indianapolis and is the sixth oldest state fair in the U.S. It is the largest event in the state, drawing between 730,000 and 980,000 visitors annually since 2010. In 2015, readers of ''USA Today'' ranked the Indiana State Fair among the ten best state fairs in the country. The Indiana State Fairgrounds & Event Center has been the host site of the fair since 1892. Located about north of downtown Indianapolis, it encompasses , 72 buildings, a 6,000-seat grandstand, and a racetrack. The complex is home to year-round tenants and is used throughout the year for a variety of other gatherings, including trade shows, sporting events, and concerts. History 19th century In February 1851, at the urging of Governor Joseph Wright, the Indiana General Assembly passed an act intended "to encourage agriculture" growth ...
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Great New York State Fair
The New York State Fair, also known as the Great New York State Fair, is a 13-day showcase of agriculture, entertainment, education, and technology. With Midway (fair), midway rides, concessionaires, exhibits, and concerts, it has become New York (state), New York's largest annual event and an end-of-summer tradition for hundreds of thousands of families from all corners of the state. The first fair took place in Syracuse, New York, Syracuse in 1841, and took permanent residence there in 1890. It is the oldest and one of the largest state fairs in the United States, with over one million visitors annually. The New York State Fair begins in August and runs for 13 days, ending on Labor Day. The Fair did not operate in 2020 due to the COVID-19 outbreak. It is held at the Empire Expo Center on the shores of Onondaga Lake, in the town of Geddes, New York, Geddes, near the western border of Syracuse. The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets owns five of the buildings ...
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DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack
DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack is a one-mile (1.6-km) clay oval motor racetrack in Du Quoin, Illinois, about southeast of St Louis, Missouri. It is a stop on the ARCA Menards Series, USAC Silver Crown Series and American Flat Track. History The DuQuoin State Fair was founded in 1923 by local businessman William R. "W.R." Hayes, who owned the fair and ran it. (It did not become run by the state of Illinois as a true "state fair" until the 1980s; it is now officially called the Illinois State Fair in DuQuoin, as opposed to the longtime one at state capital Springfield.) At the start Hayes had a half-mile harness-racing track on his 30-acre site, with wooden grandstands that seated 3000. In 1939 Hayes started buying adjoining stripmined land to develop its potential as parkland, replanting it and turning the strip pits into family-friendly ponds and lakes. He eventually expanded his little fairgrounds into 1200 acres. The DuQuoin "Magic Mile" racetrack was constructed on recl ...
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Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack
Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack is a one mile long clay oval motor racetrack on the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, the state capital. It is frequently nicknamed The Springfield Mile. Constructed in the late 19th century and reconstructed in 1927, the track has hosted competitive auto racing since 1910, making it one of the oldest speedways in the United States. The original mile track utilized the current frontstretch and the other side was behind the current grandstands and the straightaways were connected by tight turns. It is the oldest track to continually host national championship dirt track racing, holding its first national championship race in 1934 under the American Automobile Association banner. It is the home of five world records for automobile racing, making it one of the fastest dirt tracks in the world. Since 1993, the venue is managed by Bob Sargent's Track Enterprises. The Illinois State Fair mile currently hosts the Allen Crowe Memorial 100 ...
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Lakewood Speedway
Lakewood Speedway was a race track located south of Atlanta, Georgia, in Lakewood, just north of the eastern arm of Langford Parkway (formerly Lakewood Freeway). The track held many kinds of races between 1919 and 1979, including events sanctioned by AAA/ USAC, IMCA, and NASCAR. It was a one-mile (1.6 km) dirt track which was located adjacent to Lakewood Fairgrounds. Lakewood Speedway was considered the " Indianapolis of the South" as it was located in the largest city in the Southern United States and it held an annual race of the Indy cars. History In 1916, Atlanta officials chose the Lakewood Fairgrounds as the site for agricultural fairs. They built a one-mile (1.6 km) horse racing track around a lake at the fairgrounds. The first events were held at the track on July 4, 1917. The feature events were a horse race and motorcycle race, before 23,000 spectators.
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Darlington Raceway
Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is of a unique, somewhat egg-shaped design, an oval with the ends of very different configurations, a condition which supposedly arose from the proximity of one end of the track to a minnow pond the owner refused to relocate. This situation makes it very challenging for the crews to set up their cars' handling in a way that will be effective at both ends. History Harold Brasington was a retired racer in 1948, who had gotten to know Bill France Sr. while competing against France at the Daytona Beach Road Course and other dirt tracks in the Southeast and Midwestern United States; he quit racing in the late 1940s to concentrate on farming and his construction business. He began planning a new speedway after he noticed the huge crowds while a ...
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Milwaukee 225
The ABC Supply Wisconsin 250 at Milwaukee IndyFest Presented by the Metro Milwaukee Honda Dealers was an IndyCar Series race held at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin. History Open wheel racing at the track dates back to 1937. AAA sanctioned races in 1937–1939, 1941, and 1946–1955. The track was paved in 1954. USAC sanctioned Championship car races from 1956 to 1979. In 1980, the race switched to a CART/Champ Car race, and continued through 2006. IndyCar started holding races at the track in 2004, and thus for a brief time from 2004 to 2006, the track hosted both a Champ Car race (June) and an IndyCar race (August). Starting in 2007, IndyCar became the lone event. The race was put on hiatus for 2010, stemming from management difficulties regarding payment of sanctioning fees. In 2011, the race returned and continued to be held through 2015. After the 2011 race the promoter withdrew due to losses and the race was again at risk of cancellation. Michael Andretti ...
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1956 Indianapolis 500
The 40th International 500-Mile Sweepstakes was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Wednesday, May 30, 1956. The event was part of the 1956 USAC National Championship Trail and was also race 3 of 8 in the 1956 World Championship of Drivers. The 1956 race was the first to be governed by the United States Automobile Club. AAA withdrew from auto racing the previous August. Another change would have a more immediate effect on the current race. The track had been paved over with asphalt with only about 600 yards of the main stretch still remaining brick. The 1956 race is also known in Indy 500 lore as "Cagle's Miracle." Torrential rains pummeled the Speedway in the days leading up to the race. The track was full of standing water, access tunnels were completely flooded, and the infield was a muddy quagmire. The conditions threatened to postpone or outright cancel the race. Speedway superintendent Clarence Cagle supervised a massive cleanup effort, in which hundreds of thousands ...
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Norristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown is a municipality with home rule status and the county seat of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Montgomery County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the third-most populous county in Pennsylvania and the 73rd-most populous county in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the county was 856,55 ..., United States, in the Philadelphia metropolitan area. Located along the Schuylkill River, approximately from the Philadelphia city limits, Norristown had a population of 34,324 as of the 2010 U.S. Census. It is the fourth most populous municipality in the county and second most populous borough in Pennsylvania. It is the largest non-township municipality in Montgomery County and is located southeast of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown and northwest of Philadelphia, the sixth largest city in the United States. History The area where Norristown sits was originally owned by the family of Isaac Norris (statesman), Isaac N ...
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Bally, Pennsylvania
Bally is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 1,090 at the 2010 census. History Bally was originally called Goshenhoppen, possibly deriving from an Indian word meaning meeting place. Others claim the name derives from German settlers calling the area their haven or Hafen in German, eventually becoming Goshenhoppen. Mennonites and Catholics settled it in the early 18th century. Clergyman Ulrich Beidler erected the first house of worship, the Mennonite Church in 1731. Father Theodore Schneider, a Jesuit priest, came to the area in 1741 and established what would be just the third Catholic mission church in the 13 original colonies. On land received from the Mennonite community, Father Schneider built St. Paul's Chapel in 1743. St. Paul's is now known as the Most Blessed Sacrament Church, and it is the oldest existing Catholic place of worship in Pennsylvania and the fourth oldest Catholic structure in the thirteen original colonies. In 17 ...
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