Angell Park Speedway has a 1/3 mile ()

dirt Dirt is an unclean matter, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Dust: a gener ...

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

located in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. The track has been run by the city's fire department since 1903. Racing occurs every Sunday approximately

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

until Labor Day. Special racing events and the weather may alter the schedule. The races were sanctioned by the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA), the oldest midget organization in the world. Some events are co-sanctioned by the

United States Automobile Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

(USAC). BMARA sanctions several midget car events at other nearby tracks. The

World of Outlaws The World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American motorsports sanctioning body. The body sanctions two major national touring series. It is best known for sanctioning the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late ...

held their first

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

races at the track in August 2016. In addition to the racetrack, the facility features the

National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is an American Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wi ...

, a

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, and the Sun Prairie Firemans Park in the Prairie. The park was built by the Sun Prairie community on September 18, 2007, and was dedicated on October 7, 2007. The project was led by Sun Prairie residents Rebecca Ketelson and Anita Holcomb. Leather's and Associates was the project architect.

History

The part was donated by Col. William Angell to the Sun Prairie Fire Department in 1903. The track is nationally known for its midget car races, which began racing in 1936. As of the 2008 season, it is the only track in the United States to host weekly midget car races. The track was closed between 1942 and 1945, since all racing in the United States was halted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. The Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA) began sanction at the track in 1946 when racing resumed after World War II. Night racing at Angell Park began in 1948. With the lights installed, Kelly Peters of Lake Forest, IL set fast time, won his heat and captured the first feature race run under the lights. From that point forward, weekly Sunday night racing has been held at the facility except for a few shortened seasons for minor contract disputes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The track began hosting its first non-midget car races in 2007 when an occasional touring event was added to its program and by 2010 every race evening featured a class from another track or a touring series. The Angell Park Speedway board and the sanctioning body BMARA had a fall out before the 2010 season. The track ran its own sanction during May 2010. At the end of the month weekly track operation halted for the 2010 season except for special events (two USAC midget weekends and the Fireman's Nationals). The track returned to occasional events in 2011 including BMARA sanction. The track was closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, Hans Lein and SLS Promotions were announced as promoters of the track. In February 2021, Gregg McKarns was announced as the new promoter of the track instead. McKarns also promotes

Madison International Speedway The Madison International Speedway (MIS) is a half-mile paved oval racetrack in the Town of Rutland near Oregon, Wisconsin, United States. With 18-degree banked turns, the track is billed as "The Track of Champions" and "Wisconsin's Fastest H ...

and the

ARCA Midwest Tour The ASA Midwest Tour (until 2022: ARCA Midwest Tour) is a pavement Super Late Model auto racing series based in the Midwestern United States with its headquarters in Oregon, Wisconsin. It was a developmental series of the Automobile Racing Club ...

. Angell Park hosted its first USAC Midget race at the track since 2015 and 47th overall.

Tanner Thorson Tanner Delbert Thorson (born May 7, 1996) is an American professional dirt track racing driver. He competes in the United States Auto Club (USAC) and World of Outlaws. Thorson has also competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, last driv ...

won his seventh race of the season.

Notable racers

Some midget car drivers come from

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and Australia during their country's winter to race during the United States' summer between May and September. The 2008 season featured Michael Pickens from

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

(who stayed at one of the other driver's house) and Matt Smith from

Newcastle, Australia Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area ...

. Several notable racers raced at the track in its regular weekly series: *

Justin Allgaier Justin M. Allgaier (born June 6, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro for JR Motorsports. He is the 2008 ARCA Re/Max Series champion and ...

Tom Bigelow Thomas Allan Bigelow (born October 31, 1939 in Whitewater, Wisconsin) is a former driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. Racing career Midget car racing He began his racing career at the Badger Midget Racing Association at Angel ...

* A. J. Fike * Aaron Fike (2002 BMARA champion) *

Stan Fox Stanley Cole Fuchs (July 7, 1952 – December 18, 2000), known professionally as Stan Fox (''Fuchs'' being the German word for "fox"), was an American open wheel race car driver. Fox was one of the last links between the midget car racing world ...

(1979 BMARA champion) *

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick M ...

(four-time Winston Cup Champion) *

Mel Kenyon Mel Kenyon (born April 15, 1933 in DeKalb, Illinois) is a former midget car driver. He is known as the "King of the Midgets", "Miraculous Mel"< ...

* Michael Pickens (many time New Zealand National Midget champion) * Landy Scott (1947 BMARA champion and BMARA president from 1951 to 1959)

Fireman Nationals

The track's most notable event is its 50 lap Fireman Nationals midget car event. *1982 (overall) Bill Engelhart *1983 Kevin Olson *1984 Dan Boorse *1985

Rich Vogler Richard Frank Vogler (July 26, 1950 – July 21, 1990) was an American champion sprint car and midget car driver. He was nicknamed "Rapid Rich".

*1986 Kevin Olson (USAC) *1987 Kevin Olson (USAC) *1988 Kevin Doty (USAC) *1989 Kevin Doty (USAC) *1990 Kevin Doty (USAC) *1991 Stevie Reeves (USAC) *1992 Marty Davis *1993 Page Jones (

Parnelli Jones Rufus Parnell Jones (born August 12, 1933) is an American former professional racing driver and racing team owner. He is notable for his accomplishments while competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Baja 1000 desert race. In 1962, he became the ...

' son) *1994 Kevin Doty *1995 Kevin Doty *1996 Randy Koch *1997 Kevin Olson *1998 Kevin Olson *1999 Dan Boorse *2000 Jay Drake *2001

Tracy Hines Tracy Lee Hines (born May 1, 1972) is an American professional stunt driver. He was the 2000 USAC Silver Crown Champion and 2002 USAC National Sprint Car Champion. He currently does not have a full-time ride in NASCAR as he competes for Tony Stew ...

*2002

*2003 Davey Ray *2004 Scott Hatton *2005 Scott Hatton *2006 (rained out) *2007 Jerry Coons Jr. *2008 Brady Bacon *2009

Josh Wise Joshua Wise (born February 7, 1983) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an athletic trainer for Chip Ganassi Racing. He began racing in open wheel cars. Wise won the 1999 USAC 3/4 Midget Division, 2005 USAC ...

(USAC) *2010

(USAC) *2011 (rained out) *2012 Caleb Armstrong *2013 Zach Daum *2014

(USAC) *2015 Rico Abreu (USAC) *2016 Carson Macedo (POWRI) / Robbie Ray (BMARA) *2017 Zach Daum *2018 Tanner Carrick *2019 Logan Seavey (POWRI) *2020 not held (COVID) *2021

(USAC)
Reference (1982-2020):

References

External links

*
BMARA (sanctioning body) official website
{{World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race venues Motorsport venues in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Dane County, Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Dane County, Wisconsin Midget car racing