Early Dirt Track Racing

I grew up in the west Texas desert town of Midland, TX. We didn’t get much rain, but when it did rain… Well, it poured. Flash floods were handled by drainage ditches located throughout town. Essentially, these were raw holes in the ground measuring about a hundred yards long by 40 yards wide and maybe fifteen yards deep. When water levels got above the city’s ability to drain and maintain, these dirt ditches were used as a last line of defense. They were flooded maybe one day a year. So, the rest of the year we used them as our dirt tracks.

I have vivid memories of these races. The Heller Brothers would set up cones to use as a start/finish line and our neighborhood tomboy, Allyson, would set up shop as the track’s time keeper with a Hello Kitty watch. She would throw a football in the air and as soon as it hit the ground, every kid in our neighborhood aged from around 7 to 13 would pedal their BMX bikes as fast as their little legs would allow. We would go round and round that drainage ditch until Allyson claimed a winner or until someone skinned a knee. It was glorious racing. The most natural kind.

In the 1940’s and 50’s, dirt track racing wasn’t all that different. A bunch of kids on a make shift track with make shift cars killing time by going as fast as their ingenuity could muster. Recently, some guy on YouTube has been uploading his collection of vintage film footage that covers this wonder. Here’s my favorite:

You can see the entire collection here.