For more than 60 years, there has been racing at the Shawano Speedway — the legendary half-mile track at the Shawano County Fairgrounds.
That slogan may have to be reworked if the track is shortened to a 3/8-mile track as proposed.
“Over the next couple of months, the ag society is looking to reduce that track size from half-mile to 3/8 miles,” Supervisor Raymond Rigsby said at the Aug. 28 meeting of the Shawano County Board of Supervisors. “The race season’s almost over (the last race was Aug. 31). They want to get clay in. They want get moving and reducing that and adding more space for the fair.”
He asked other supervisors to email him with their opinions on the matter so he can relay them to the Shawano Area Agriculture Society and the county’s agriculture and extension committee.
“The fair board wants to do it, but I understand there’s been some pushback in the past because of the historical significance of that half-mile track,” he said.
Speedway officials were busy last week with the Shawano County Fair and did not respond to requests for comments.
The ag society is not looking for financial support for the project, as noted in the minutes of the July 11 meeting of the ag and extension committee.
County Board Chairman Tom Kautza explained how the process would work for changing the length of the track.
“I have asked before how you would go about that,” he said. “First thing they have to do is come with a proposal to ag and extension … then you form the resolution that you guys want it to read, probably the next time you meet. If it’s passed, then it will go to public property … then it comes here to the county board.”
Supervisor Joe Miller said it’s too early in the process to gather supervisors’ input.
“Everything from us right now is premature,” he said. “Any comments from those questions, I don’t know. I would suggest that the ag society meet with their racers and everybody in there, formulate a recommendation and then bring that to us to discuss. At that point in time, then we would have questions to ask.
“Let them do their homework before they bring it to us.”
The track and fairgrounds are operated by the ag society, which just signed a lease extension with the county to manage the facilities through the end of 2033.
The Shawano Speedway hosts races Saturday nights throughout the summer months. Regular races include late models, IMCA modifieds, IMCA sport modifieds, IMCA stock cars and Mighty 4s.
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Racing at the legendary 3/8 mile?
