By Kyle Ealy
Des Moines, Iowa – A few years back, a question popped up on social media asking for a list of point champions from the Iowa State Fair Speedway. I replied with a short list of ISFS point champions from 1968 to 1979.
A few minutes later the question was,” Does anyone have a list of point champions before 1968?”
My reply was, “There are no point champions from before 1968, that was the first year of weekly racing at the Des Moines track.”
I didn’t expect the response that I received from that statement. A number of social media posters replied with disbelief that 1968 was the first year of weekly racing in Des Moines.
“They’ve had auto racing at the Iowa State Fair since the 1930’s (1916 to be exact). You’re telling me that they NEVER had weekly racing in all that time?” came one response.
“That’s what I’m telling you,” I replied.
Before the 1968 season, the International Motor Contest Association would hold maybe four or five programs at the Fairgrounds, with the Hawkeye Futurity for sprint cars in June, the Iowa 300 stock car contest in July and two or three IMCA-sanctioned events during the 10-day Iowa State Fair in August.
Discussion for weekly racing started in 1967. Iowa state Fair Secretary Kenneth Fulk said the decision to hold weekly races was due to the overwhelming number of requests from area fans. “They thought it was a shame to let the finest facility in the state of Iowa go to waste.”
By early January of 1968, Fulk was accepting applications from promoters throughout the state. Fulk indicated that the type of racing that would take place there would depend on the promoter hired. “Some of them run both modified and super-modified while others concentrate on late model stock cars.”
“We will hold races on Saturday nights, starting as early as possible and running as late in the summer as the weather and school permits.”
By late January, a decision had been made on who would steer the program, 49-year-old Homer Melton of Rock Island, Ill., who had been promoting in the Quad Cities for 11 years. In 1966 and ’67, he had promoted the weekly shows at both Davenport (Friday) and Cedar Rapids (Saturday). He was giving up the Cedar Rapids’ promotion to take the opportunity at the state capital.
Melton announced that there would be two divisions competing at Des Moines: one for cars of 1955 – 1961 vintage and the other for 1962 – 68 models. The stock cars would be sanctioned by IMCA.
Not everyone was happy with the announcement of weekly racing at Des Moines. It brought an angry response from Marion County Fair officials in Knoxville.
“Weekly super-modified racing in Knoxville has long been a major source of revenue,” remarked President Carroll Price. “This could mean bankruptcy for us.”
Price commented that he couldn’t see how races could be held within a 40 or 50-mile radius without hurting each other. “Maybe we can both hobble along,” he said.
Explaining that Saturday night super-modified racing had been the salvation of the small little community, he went on to further say, “There is little doubt this encroachment by the Iowa State Fair will be detrimental to everybody. For them to ruin competition and bankrupt the small Marion County Fair is ill-advised.”
A week later it was announced that former IMCA national stock car champion, Johnny Beauchamp of Atlantic, Iowa, had showed up in Des Moines and announced that he had joined forces with Melton. Beauchamp mentioned that he had become partners in the Mid-Continent Racing Association (Melton’s long-time promotion) and would help organize and promote the weekly program.
After the major announcement in January, Kenneth Fulk, Homer Melton, and Johnny Beauchamp would let things settle down and February would be a quiet month. However, as March just got past it first week, the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce had taken things a step further, filing a formal complaint with the state auditor of Iowa. The complaint asked State Auditor Lorne Worthington to consider the effect of races on county fair association when appropriating money for race promotion.
In a letter to Washington, Knoxville chairman of tourism, Leland Moon, said the State Fair racing program leaves the Marion County Fairboard, “quietly disturbed, as well as other fairboards”.
Moon explained that the Marion County Fair had promoted Saturday night racing since 1954. “Racing in Des Moines poses a threat to the Marion County Fair and Knoxville, which has been dependent upon profits from racing.”
“The Marion County Fair Association is dependent upon racing to improve the fairgrounds. The State of Iowa provides money for State Fair operations,” Moon said, the question of large investments in the Iowa State Fairgrounds should be a question of the state legislation to be used for state-promoted purposes for the good of the entire area,” Moon said.
Despite the pleas from Knoxville, no changes would be made. Saturday night racing in Des Moines would go on as planned.
Roger Dolan was the first weekly feature winner at the State Fairgrounds. Co-promoter and flagman Johnny Beauchamp presents the checkers.
The inaugural late model – sportsman program was slated for Saturday, April 27. Excitement was building as 42 late models and 20 sportsman drivers had requested car numbers. Already expected for the season opener was Quad City champion Dean Montgomery of Milan, Ill., and Boone champion George Barton of Ankeny. Verlin Eaker of Cedar Rapids, now the proud owner of Ernie Derr’s 1967 Dodge Charger, had not completed an entry form but have given a verbal commitment. Also expected were Ray Guss of Milan, Ill., Larry Embrey of Panora, Ray Cox of Ames, and Lem Blankenship of Keokuk.
The season opener would get off to a rocky start. There were no ushers present and it was “every man for himself” in the search for seats. “I got into a fight even before the races started just to sit in the seat I bought a ticket for,” said one man.
The races, scheduled to start 8:00 pm, didn’t actually get underway until 8:40.
A driver drove through a fence, sheared off an electrical pole, and caused the lights in the northwest turn to go out.
An ambulance had to be called over the public address system after the mishap with the light pole even though two ambulances were parked in the infield and five men in white uniforms stood nearby watching the accident. When neither ambulance drove to the scene, the announcement, “Will an ambulance please go to the accident,” finally prompted some action.
During the semi-main event, a dog was killed. It had darted onto the track prior to the start of the race and brought back to the infield. On lap 8 of the race, it again darted onto the track and was hit by Keokuk’s Ernie Derr.
Attendance of the race was estimated at 3,500 but later figures had it in the range of 1,500 to 2,000.
Roger Dolan of Lisbon, driving a 1962 Ford convertible, was the feature winner, withstanding the challenges of Ernie Derr and his 1967 Dodge Charger in the 25-lap main event. Dolan, in only his second year of competitive racing, led from the start. Derr settled for second with Dean Montgomery taking third.
Dick Gustin of Des Moines won the 20-lap sportsman feature.
Ernie Derr would come back the next week, May 4, and let everybody know that he was still the man to beat, taking the lead on the second lap and then cruising to victory in the 25-lap feature. About 1,500 chilled fans watched Derr wheel into second at the start and then overtake Ray Guss, who was driving a 1967 Chevelle.
Jack Piper of Mason City won the sportsman feature, which was shortened to 12 laps after two mishaps – one, an eight-car pileup – that chopped the field from 16 to six.
For 10 laps, through the 15th circuit, Verlin Eaker of Cedar Rapids, driving Derr’s former car, a 1967 Dodge, held second. He slipped back eventually, allowing Dean Montgomery and Ramo Stott of Keokuk to take over second and third, respectively. That’s the way it went for the remainder of the distance.
The program, which started 15 minutes late, went a lot smoother than the season opener, although the shivering fans became inpatient and shouted for racing to resume when they apparently thought it was taking too long to clear the wreckage of the sportsman feature.
Ernie Derr won consecutive features early on in the season at Des Moines.
With no racing scheduled on the IMCA national stock circuit, Derr would return for week three and claim his second straight late model feature win at the Fairgrounds on May 11. This time, however, Derr would have to work for the victory, starting 12th and then having to work his way through the field.
Derr zipped into fifth place on lap 5, and then worked his way to third place on lap 9. Derr passed Buzz McCann of Minneapolis on lap 13 and then took the lead from Verlin Eaker with four laps remaining.
Eaker appeared assured of second place in the main event, but McCann zipped his 1968 Comet to the outside as they exited turn four on the final lap, roared down the front straightaway, and pushed Eaker aside to take runner-up honors.
Mason City’s Jack Piper also played the same role as Derr, repeating in the 15-lap sportsman feature, which was delayed three times because of accidents.
The May 18 program was canceled because of cold weather as was the May 25 program because of rain.
Great weather brought a crowd of 4,200 for the June 2 program, which saw a rollover that sent a local driver to the hospital and a power outage caused by another driver.
Dick Gustin of Des Moines escaped serious injury when his car rolled over twice on the second lap of the sportsman feature. Gustin’s 1956 Chevrolet turned over on the northwest corner of the speedway. He was taken to an area hospital for observation and released. On the very same lap, Shorty Selsor of Des Moines lost control of his car and ran head-on into a power pole in the infield, causing the lights to go out for about 20 minutes.
There were several other accidents in the sportsman division. Bob Pike of Des Moines was forced to vacate his 1955 Chevrolet after it tipped onto its side and caught fire during the second heat. Mike McNeese of Oskaloosa hit a ’59 Ford driven by Ken Bobbin of Des Moines, causing Bobbin’s car to scale – and partially rip – the wall on the first turn during the semi-main.
Larry Embrey of Panora managed to avoid all of the mishaps and drove his 1957 Chevrolet to victory in the 15-lap sportsman feature.
Cedar Rapids drivers would make a clean sweep of the late model program. Verlin Eaker overcame Darrell Dake on the 6th lap and went on to win the 25-lap feature. Eaker also won the second heat while Dake took the first heat. Bill McDonough, also of Cedar Rapids, won the semi-main.
Eaker would win his second straight 25-lap late model feature at the State Fairgrounds on June 8. Carl Vander Wal of Ames captured the 15-lap sportsman feature in a 1956 Chevrolet before an estimated 4,039 fans.
Eaker started in the fifth row of a 12-car field. By the fourth lap he had moved into third position, and he took second behind Dick Nesteby of Dubuque on lap 9. Eaker took the top spot on lap 14 when Nesteby spun in front of the grandstand, narrowly missing cars driven by Bill McDonough and Ray Guss.
Eaker won by approximately by 10 car lengths over Darrell Dake, who was driving a 1967 Ford Fairlane.
Numerous issues once again plagued the program. The program, scheduled to start at 8:00, finally got started at 8:35. Five cars spun out on the first lap because of the wet, slick surface. In between the first and second sportsman heats, the cars made several laps in an attempt to dry the track, but three cars were involved in a crash before the event got underway.
The slate was further delayed when another car hit a light pole in the second late model heat race and knocked out approximately two-thirds of the track lights for 25 minutes.
Mert Williams made the long haul from Rochester, Minn., pay off with a feature win.
It took four restarts, but Mert Williams of Rochester, Minn., finally won the 25-lap late model feature at the State Fairgrounds on June 15 before 3,227 fans. Carl Vander Wal won his second consecutive 15-lap sportsman feature.
Lem Blankenship of Keokuk led until Williams, driving a 1965 Chevrolet, took over on the 7th lap. Verlin Eaker, seeking his third straight feature victory, started 12th in the 16-car field and finished second.
Bill Moyer of Des Moines won his first race of the season, winning the first heat in his $9,000 1968 Corvette.
Bill Moyer wheeled his Corvette to victory.
Ole Brua of Albert Lea, Minn., would run away with the 25-lap late model feature on June 22, before the largest crowd of the season, 4,473. Carl Vander Wal of Ames captured his third straight 15-lap sportsman feature.
Brua, show started in the second row with his 1968 Ford Fairlane, took the lead on the first lap and dashed away from the field. Darrell Dake finished second with Verlin Eaker third and last week’s winner, Mert Williams, taking fourth.
By the time Dake had taken second place on lap 10, Brua was already a quarter mile ahead, and he maintained that margin for the rest of the race.
Vander Wal started 12th in the 13-car field and had the lead by lap 7. Roger McWilliams of Des Moines, driving a 1957 Chevrolet, finished second.
Lee Pinckney of Des Moines was involved in a spectacular accident in the sportsman’s first heat that saw him roll his 1957 Chevrolet six times, then smash into a concrete wall. He was shaken but unhurt.
Verlin Eaker would win his third late model feature of the season and Carl Vander Wal would capture his fourth straight sportsman main event on June 29. The 4,430 spectators were treated to a record for fewest restarts in one program – three.
Eaker, driving his 1968 Dodge, started in the eighth row and took 16 laps of the 25-lap event to surge into the lead. Bill Moyer had taken the lead at the start the lead on the first lap and had almost a half-lap lead when Eaker took over second place on lap 9.
Eaker finished approximately 12 car-lengths ahead of Moyer at the checkered with last week’s winner, Ole Brua, finishing third.
Carl Vander Wal was a familiar sight in victory lane at Des Moines during the inaugural season. The Ames driver dominated the sportsman division.
Vander Wal started in the eighth row, took the lead on lap 9, and would have won easily but an accident forced a restart on lap 13. He held off Fred Knapp of Des Moines, driving a 1955 Chevrolet, for the last two circuits to seal the win.
The race program for July 6 was rained out but a whole different storm was brewing for the July 13 card. Seven drivers faced fines and suspensions for striking the State Fairground races as they objected to competing against Ernie Derr and Ramo Stott, both of Keokuk.
Stott, second in points on the IMCA national stock car circuit, won the 25-lap late model feature before a crowd of 4,750. Mike Brooks of Knoxville snapped the four-race winning streak of Carl Vander Wal, winning the 15-lap sportsman feature.
Promoter Homer Melton identified the striking drivers as Darrell Dake, John Schlemmer and Bill McDonough, all of Cedar Rapids, Roger Dolan of Lisbon, Tom Hughes of Monticello, Stan Stover of Reinbeck, and John Connolly of Delhi.
Melton, Bill Hitz, secretary of IMCA, and Kenneth Fulk, the secretary of the Iowa State Fairboard, discussed a minimum of $50 fines and two-week suspensions from all IMCA-sanctioned tracks.
Dake, who was second in the point standings, said drivers had objected to Derr and Stott driving here all the way beck to May 11 when Derr won his second feature. “We didn’t think they were coming back,” Dake remarked.
He said the regional drivers couldn’t compete against Derr’s 1967 Charger of Stott’s 1967 Plymouth, both factory-backed race cars.
Stott trailed Lem Blankenship of Keokuk from lap 3 to 15 but passed him with ease and went on to win handily. Derr, who said he was having handling issues, passed Blankenship for second on lap 23 but Blankenship regained the runner-up spot a lap later.
Verlin Eaker, the points leader, was involved in an accident on the second lap of the feature and was sidelined with a flat tire.
Vander Wal, who was seeking his fifth consecutive victory in the sportsman division, was sidelined by an accident on the first lap of the feature.
On Thursday, July 18, it was announced by Bill Hitz that no fines suspensions would be levied against the striking drivers. “The fines and suspensions will be waived in order to improve the relationships between drivers and promoters. None of us liked what happened last Saturday night,” Hitz continued. “We need them (drivers) and they need us.”
Six of the seven striking drivers didn’t return for the July 20 program and only 13 late models were present. Verlin Eaker, one of the drivers who didn’t protest, won the 25-lap feature, his fourth of the season at the half mile dirt oval. Eaker zoomed into the lead and was never headed. Fred Horn of Marion was a distant second. A crowd of 4,267 was on hand.
Carl Vander Wal racked up his fifth sportsman win of the season. Vander Wal ran away from the rest of the pack after taking the lead on the 5th lap.
Lee Pinckney of Ames pulled double duty, competing in both the late model and sportsman divisions. He finished second in the sportsman 15-lapper and was running in second place in the late model main event until a clutch burned out on his 1965 Plymouth on the 21st lap.
Popular Dean Montgomery won the mid-season championship at Des Moines. Co-promoters Homer Melton and Johnny Beauchamp along with Bill Moyer join the winner.
Dean Montgomery, who hadn’t had much success all season, redeemed himself during the mid-season championships for late models on July 27, before a record crowd of 7,027. Carl Vander Wal scored his sixth sportsman win of the season.
Montgomery’s best finish at the State Fairgrounds that season had been a second place showing on May 4. However, he had accumulated enough points to rank fourth going into the mid-season program.
The mechanical woes of point leader Verlin Eaker and Mert Williams aided Montgomery. Montgomery started in the front row with Eaker and took the lead until Eaker took over on the 5th lap. Eaker stayed there until lap 17 when his 1967 Dodge experienced engine trouble and Montgomery was quick to capitalize and grabbed the lead back. He held it for the last eight circuits.
Williams, also high up in the point standings, was running third behind Eaker and Montgomery but was sidelined on lap 13 with overheating issues.
Race officials played a game of “give and take” with Gail Miller of Des Moines in the sportsman feature. He finished second but flagman Johnny Beauchamp declared afterwards that he was disqualified for rough driving. Beauchamp stated that Miller had banged into Vander Wal repeatedly during the race. He had black-flagged Miller, but he had refused to leave the race.
About an hour after the race, Homer Melton decided to give Miller second place money despite Beauchamp’s protests. That would be the beginning of friction between Melton and Beauchamp for the rest of the season.
Carl Vander Wal made the most of his pole position and won the mid-season championship for sportsman on August 3 before 6,675 fans. Vander Wal, who normally started mid-pack for most features, was awarded the premium position of the front row for his 1956 Chevrolet and he took full advantage. The “Flying Dutchman” led all the way in capturing his seventh win in eight races and his third straight.
Verlin Eaker scored his fifth late model triumph of the season. He had to work for 10 laps but once in the lead, he breezed to victory.
Tom Hughes took the lead from Jack Adams of Des Moines on lap 4 and held on until surrendering to Eaker on lap 10. Hughes was forced to retire after Eaker passed him when the cap blew off his radiator and water escaped.
A power failure caused postponement of both the sportsman and late model features on August 10. The failure – which blacked out the front straightaway – came just before the stat of the sportsman feature. After a 30-minute delay, officials decided to pull the plug and reschedule the features for August 31. The weekly racing would take a two-week hiatus because of the Iowa State Fair.
Tom Hughes and Lem Blankenship won late model heat races while Dean Montgomery was the semi-main winner. John Meyer of Brooklyn and Larry Embrey won sportsman heats and John Kyle of Des Moines was the semi-main “A” victor and Bill Beckman of Lisbon was the semi-main “B” winner.
Only 13 late models showed for the card and noticeably absent was point leader Verlin Eaker. On Tuesday, August 6, IMCA secretary Bill Hitz announced a new rule stating that IMCA late model drivers must choose whether to race either regional or national races (but not both) for the remainder of the season. This was due to the strike back on July 13 when regional drivers protested drivers like Ernie Derr and Ramo Stott competing at weekly programs.
With that rule in effect, Eaker announced on August 9 he was going to focus on the IMCA national stock car circuit moving forward. He also mentioned that he had sold his 1967 Dodge to Ed Janey of Cedar Rapids.
Or was he?
When a regional IMCA late model (non-points) race took place on August 17 during the Iowa State Fair, Eaker was in the pit. As it was, Larry Ryan of Marion, owner of Eaker’s car, refused to allow Eaker to compete on the national circuit and would not allow the sale of his car to Janey.
Before a State Fair crowd of 9,500, Eaker made it look easy in winning the 30-lap late model feature in 13 minutes and 39 seconds. He took the lead from Lem Blankenship on lap 23 and cruised to victory, collecting $500. Blankenship held on to second followed by Darrell Dake and Dean Montgomery.
Montgomery also set quick time (26.85), won the 5-lap trophy dash and 10-lap consolation.
The August 31 double-feature card would fall victim to rain so September 7 would see double features for both sportsman and late models.
Carl Vander Wal would collect his eighth and ninth wins of the season in the sportsman division while Bob Hilmer of Dysart and Verlin Eaker would share honors in the late model ranks. For Eaker, it was his sixth win of the season while Hilmer’s triumph was his first at the Fairgrounds.
Eaker’s win was easily the most exciting race of the evening. John Connolly, piloting a 1964 Ford, led the first 12 laps until Eaker, driving a 1967 Plymouth usually driven by Fred Horn of Marion, moved ahead. A hard-charging Dean Montgomery also moved past Connolly and began to press Eaker for top spot. On lap 19, the Milan, Ill., driver powered by Eaker for the lead, but Eaker regained the lead on the very next lap.
Side-by-side the duo raced for the next four laps with Eaker having the slight edge every time the passed the start/finish line. On the final lap, Montgomery attempted to duck inside of Eaker coming out of turn four, but Eaker stomped hard on the gas pedal and at the checkered, the point leader won by less than a car length over Montgomery.
Lem Blankenship would win his first late model feature of the season, a 50-lapper, on September 14. The up-and-coming Keokuk driver would power his 1965 Plymouth past Verlin Eaker on lap 17 and cruise from there. He collected $500 for the victory.
Eaker, driving Fred Horn’s 1967 Plymouth for the second straight week, held on to second place, edging Darrell Dake by one-car-length.
Stan Stover of Reinbeck, driving a 1965 Pontiac GTO, not only won the first heat but won the 25-lap semi-main as well. The sportsman division didn’t run that week, but they were allowed to compete with late models. Dave Fidler of Des Moines, a regular sportsman competitor, finished second to Stover in the semi-main.
Rookie Joe Merryfield of Des Moines and Arnie Christen of Mineral Point, Wis., were the other heat winners.
Season championship winner Verlin Eaker is joined by Homer Melton and Iowa State Fairboard secretary Kenneth Fulk in victory lane.
It was season championship night on September 21 for both late models and sportsman. Having been the dominant drivers in their respective divisions, both Verlin Eaker and Carl Vander Wal and wrapped up the point titles before the evening’s festivities even began. Both were presented with trophies during pre-race ceremonies.
Vander Wal didn’t even compete in the 35-lap sportsman season championship, having blown up his engine the previous weekend. John Meyer of Brooklyn would win the feature with rookie Don Hoffman of Des Moines finishing in the runner-up position and Jack Piper taking third.
Eaker started on the pole position and easily led all 50 laps in winning the season championship for the late models. Driving his 1967 Plymouth, Eaker collected $400 for the victory.
Lem Blankenship, the week’s previous winner, took second after battling Fred Horn, back in his own 1967 Plymouth, for most of the race.
In December, it was announced that Homer Melton and Johnny Beauchamp would be running the show in Des Moines for the 1969 season. Despite tensions between the two racing veterans, they would continue to co-promote racing under the Mid-Continent Racing Association banner at the State Fairgrounds until the 1975 season when Melton would decide to form a new organization – the Iowa Auto Racing Association – and eliminate Beauchamp as a partner and official.
It was then that Melton discussed that Beauchamp, who had been the flagman for all of those years, had caused problems over the last few years and it had displeased Melton, Iowa State Fair secretary Kenneth Fulk and the Fairboard members.
“It reached the point where there was too much personal conflict between John and me,” Melton was quoted saying in the Des Moines Register. “The Fairboard only wanted to do business with one individual and that’s the way it had to be.”
Melton went on to say that even though he and Beauchamp shared the profits, they didn’t share the responsibilities. Engel DeKock of Oskaloosa was named new flagman for the ’75 season.
Melton would go on to promote weekly racing for two more years at the State Fairgrounds but would lose his contract for the 1977 season to veteran race car driver and fan favorite George Barton of Ankeny.
In 2016, weekly racing was suspended permanently at the Iowa State Fairgrounds.
