Omaha Speedway was a wooden

board track Board track racing was a type of motorsport popular in the United States during the 1910s and 1920s. Competition was conducted on circular or oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. This type of track was first used for motor ...

Carter Lake, Iowa Carter Lake is a city in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. A suburb of Omaha, Nebraska, it sits surrounding the south and west sides of the region's major airport, Eppley Airfield. It is separated from the rest of Iowa by the Missouri ...

, which was part of

Council Bluffs, Iowa Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States. The city is the most populous in Southwest Iowa, and is the third largest and a primary city of the Omaha–Council Bluffs ...

at the time, near

East Omaha, Nebraska East Omaha is a geographically designated community located in Omaha, Nebraska. Located three miles (5 km) from downtown Omaha, East Omaha is the site of Eppley Omaha International Airport, Omaha's main airport, and Carter Lake. This area was ...

. It hosted AAA Champ Car races from 1915 to 1917.

History

The construction of the timber track on a site began in mid-October 1914 under the direction of Jack Prince, promoter and speedway builder, who employed the "triple radius corner" concept so that cars could enter the straightaways at full throttle. The dedication of the new oval on Thanksgiving Day was marred by the death of a motorcyclist when Roy Milner was killed on a trial run in front of 1,500 attendees. The scheduled motorcycle races were canceled, but an

air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show m ...

went ahead. Work on the track resumed, though, and in mid-June 1915, C. R. Vaughn, the contractor who was assigned to complete the speedway, had almost finished the surface and the underground auto tunnel while the grandstands were still being built. The inaugural event was held on July 5, 1915 when 30,000 spectators watched former

Omaha Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...

resident Eddie Rickenbacker win a 300-mile race with an average speed exceeding . Many fans were left disappointed, however, for only eight of 19 contracted drivers had started the race after several cars had been damaged at the previous meetings at Chicago and

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. The unfortunate situation was addressed in the newspapers in advance of the July 1916 event with the public being informed of the arrangements made to avoid another failure. The 150-mile race, in which Aldo Franchi's mechanician, Dan Colombo, sustained fatal crash injuries, was won by

Dario Resta Dario Resta (17 August 1882 – 3 September 1924), nicknamed "Dolly", was an Italian Briton race car driver. He was the winner of the 1916 Indianapolis 500. Early years Dario Resta was born in Faenza, Italy but was raised in England from the a ...

, and the subsequent 50-mile race was taken by Ralph DePalma, both drivers averaging more than . With the boards beginning to crumble and necessitating occasional repairs, it was decided to demolish the track and sell its lumber after the 1917

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event. Ralph Mulford was awarded first place in the 150-mile race, having averaged above , while Dave Lewis prevailed in the 50-mile race, averaging more than . Mulford's win was protested by the

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team, which claimed the top two positions, but after a review of the lap times the result stood. Another event, a 100-mile motorcycle race, was staged on September 9, 1917 and saw

Ray Weishaar Lawrence Ray Weishaar (September 9, 1890 – April 13, 1924) was a Class A Racing Champion in the 1910s and 1920s. He rode for the Harley-Davidson 'Wrecking Crew,' and helped to popularize the nickname 'hog' in reference to Harley-Davidson by ...

gain the "Western Championship" with an average speed exceeding . The track was dismantled later in the year.

References

{{AAA tracks Defunct speedway venues in the United States Motorsport venues in Iowa Sports venues in Omaha metro area