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Roadside Michigan
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Detroit Coliseum |
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Name: Detroit Coliseum Street: N/A
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City: Detroit County: Wayne Zip:
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| Status: Closed |
| Web Address: N/A |
| Notes: Dirt Oval - Operating Dates: 1935-1942 |
| Number of visits to this page since February 23, 2007: 6722 |
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Andrew Cummins: any one have pic. I would like to make track for a game??????
Bill Jackson: Yes they did race there a few years back. I think it was March of 2003. It was billed as The Motor City Meltdown. Attendance was ok, but I think it could have been promoted better. Karts, Quarter Midgets, Michigan Legends, and Midgets raced that night. I thought they had too many karts and Quarter Midgets, causing the show to end well past midnight. All in all it was a good night of racing. Bobby Jackson won the Midget feature over his car owner Dave Furhman, with the winningest midget driver of all time Mel Kenyon third.
Sean Fitzgerald: Correct me if I am wrong again, but they ran there a few years ago. Don''t know what the attendance was but i am sorry i didn''t go. I think the one thing that can be learned is that an indoor facility is viable, and with todays technology a decent sized track could be built indoors anywhere, eliminating much of local noise concerns. Why not do it there?
Al Blixt: The Coliseum at the Michigan State Fairgrounds at 8 Mile and Woodward in Detroit was an incredibly popular venue for midget auto racing in the 1930''s and 40''s. Crowds of perhaps 5000 fans attended every Saturday night from November to April. It was a 1/7th mile flat concrete oval. I have a number of Coliseum race programs from 1935 to 1941. One program from January 2nd, 1937 lists drivers such as Henry Banks, Vern Fritch, Ted Hartley, Art Hartsfeld, Jake Jacobson, Eddie Ostwick, Duke Nalon, Johnny Ritter, jimmy Snyder, George Witzman and Wally Zale. All were well-known midget drivers at the time who competed at many mid-West tracks in the summer and at indoor venues in the winter. A newspaper article featuring Wally Zale''s photo in 1941 announced that 50 cars would try to qualify for the 12 spots in the 200 lap feature that Saturday. Other well-known drivers listed as competing at the Coliseum in 1941 include Paul Russo, Johnny Wohlfiel, Cowboy O''Rourke, Tony Willman, Howard Dauphin, Ray Stauffer and Carl Forberg. I invite everyone interested in racing during the 30''s and 40''s to visit the site I have established to honor my dad, Al Blixt, Sr., who was a writer and photographer at the time. You can find it by searching for "Al Blixt Racing History".
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