This is my attempt to answer some of the questions that have been raised about the Harrisburg Fair Grounds racetrack, located at one time near Interstate Route 83 just to the east of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  I originally became interested in the Fair Grounds track when I read that the track had run from the 20’s up into the 50’s and had been located near the intersection of Routes 83 and 283 on the site of the old Keystone Drive-in Theater.

I grew up in the Borough of Paxtang, just two miles from the track site. I was too young to know anything about the track in the 30's but in the late 40's I ran a trap line near the site of the Keystone Drive-in Theater prior to its construction and flew model airplanes across the highway (Paxton St.) from the track site. The track was not operating at that time. I decided to find out more about it.

I found that there are a number of different opinions about the location of the track. Some believed that the track was located partly on the site of the drive-in, others believed it was in nearby Paxtang Park, others heard it was to the east of the VW dealer, now Victory Audi, on Chambers Hill Road and others thought there were two tracks, one in Paxtang and another elsewhere. Allan Brown's book lists the Harrisburg Fair Ground track as well as a track in Paxtang. 

I believe that the Fair Grounds was the only commercial track in the area. I also believe that much of the confusion about its location came from the newspapers’ practice of saying that the track was located in Paxtang.  It was located neither in Paxtang nor in Paxtang Park.

The material that I have collected from newspaper archives, from the Office off the Recorder of Deeds and from three aerial photographs serve to document: where the track was located; the source of the confusion about its location; how the track evolved; and the races that were run there. 

Races were held at the Harrisburg Fair Grounds in 1926, 1927 and 1928.  Some have suggested that other races were held there, or nearby, in later years, but I have found no evidence of that in a search of the newspaper archives from 1929 through 1939.  I would have had personal knowledge of races held there after World War II.

In 1921, the Oakdale Grange decided that the county’s farmers would be interested in a county wide agricultural fair.  An organization of local Granges was formed and it held the first Dauphin County Grange Fair at Paxtang Park during the week following Labor Day Monday, 1921. The success of that first fair caused its sponsors to make it an annual event.  They raised capital to expand the operation of the fair and decided to charge admission the next year.

The site of those first fairs, Paxtang Park, was owned by the Harrisburg Railways Company. The Park was operated as a commercial amusement park and also served as a destination for the company’s trolley service. Paxtang Park was located just north of the Hummelstown Road (now Paxton Street) in Swatara Township and just south of the Reading Railroad tracks that run along the southern boarder of the Borough of Paxtang.  Coincidently, Harrisburg Railways announced its intention to close Paxtang Park after the 1922 season but the park was taken over by another operator and it lasted as a commercial enterprise until 1929.

By 1923, the sponsors of the Grange Fair had decided that a larger facility was needed.  The newspaper explained that, to meet that demand, “The fair directors leased eighty acres of land just beyond the eastern borough limits of Paxtang adjoining the Hummelstown Road and erected a pen for livestock and built a stable.” The leased site was also located in Swatara Township.

For 1924, additional exhibition pens and stables, an exhibition building, a half-mile racetrack and a grandstand were built.

For 1925, more new buildings went up, the grandstand got a canvas roof and a reference to automobile competition first appeared.  A newspaper headline reported about the first day of the Labor Day week fair “Airplane and motor polo provide thrills, race course attracts many.”  It went on to say, “The auto polo races were especially thrilling. The two original auto polo teams went into action for the first time in this part of the State, with now and then a spill, and with engines chugging and roaring in a way that brought every man and woman on the grandstand to their feet.”

In 1926, the Dauphin County Grange Fair Association purchased the leased fair site and the name of the fair was changed to the Harrisburg Fair.  The local paper incorrectly announced, “Fair opens Today At Paxtang.” The first races to be held at the Fair Grounds were scheduled to kick off Fair week on Labor Day Monday, September 6.  The paper reported that “A formidable array of well known dust-eaters will face the starter’s flags including: Wild Bob Robinson; Pennsylvania title holder Harry Davies, Kansas City speed marvel; Billy Wynn, reputed the youngest registered driver in America; Yonnally, the Flying Swede from Minneapolis; Jack McClure, of Chicago; Red Campbell, of Benton, Ill; Campo, 1924 Italian road racing champion; Buster Borgans, Columbus, Ohio; Laranzane, the Spanish flash; Doug Wassace of Indianapolis speedway fame; Gallian, former team mate of Leon Duray and Ray Eagle of Erie.”

The races were rained out and run the next day. The paper reported “The racing events at the Harrisburg Fair yesterday attracted the largest crowd that has gathered to watch a sporting event in this city in years. Harry Davis, of Kansas City, broke the State auto record for driving a half-mile on a dirt track from a flying start when he circled the oval in thirty and two-fifth seconds.  Davis, in addition to winning the special race, also finished first in a three-mile race.”  Since the report of the results was sketchy, I went to Steve Bubb, racing historian to find that the event was promoted by Austin C Wilson and was won by Harry Davis followed by Jimmy Patterson and Yonally.

At the end of fair week, they also ran “Skeleton car” races.  These skeleton cars were simply frames with seats attached to them. They were supposed to cost no more than $25 and had a claiming value of $50.  Twenty cars were entered for the program, which included: time trials; four one-mile heats; and a five-mile final.  H. F. Gibbs in a “1905 Tomato Container” (?) turned fast time for the ½ mile at 40 ¼ seconds.  No other results were reported.

In 1927, racing at the Fair Grounds was expanded to include the Fourth of July.  More than 3000 spectators watched three heats and a 10-mile Free for All plus two heats and a 10-mile Dauphin County Sweepstakes. Cannon Ball Baker qualified for the Free for All but dropped out when he “Blew the cylinder head off his car.” M. O. Ebersole of Linglestown won the10 mile Sweepstakes in 11 minutes 11 ½ seconds and first prize money of $200.

Two days before the 1927 Labor Day Fair race, the Dauphin County Grange Fair Association and an advisory committee of leading businessmen announced its approval of plans for the future expansion of the Fair.  The Planned expansion included a one-mile dirt track, a new grandstand for 3500, a new 150’ by 80’ exhibition building, an administration building and an automobile display building.  The Fair hoped to have the new track ready the next year for racing under American Automobile Association sanction.

In researching the races at the Fair Grounds, I had difficulty understanding their qualifying procedure. For the 1927 Labor Day race the paper announced, “Twenty automobiles capable of doing a half mile on a dirt track in less than thirty-five seconds will clash in three races at the Harrisburg Fair Grounds this afternoon as the closing feature of the sixth annual fair.  The time trials will begin at 2 p.m. followed by a five-mile race for the first five cars in the time trials.  Then will come two three-mile elimination heats and a ten-mile race. The final race also will be for ten miles, with two three mile elimination heats.”  I still don’t understand.

On the first lap of the 1927 Labor Day race, the papers reported that in front of 5,000 spectators, a young boy darted into the path of the racecars.  Earl Kennedy 25, of Montoursville, apparently trying to avoid the boy crashed and was killed. A police official later denied that anyone ran across the track and said that the accident occurred when Kennedy was attempting to adjust his goggles and lost control.  Later in the day, at the same place on the track, driver Ammon Curry, age 17, a junior at nearby Hershey High School was killed when his racecar tangled with the car of Bob McCormick 29, of Montgomery.  McCormick was seriously injured.  Ervin Kohl of Harrisburg won the first ten-mile race in a Fronty-Ford and F. W. Kline of Penbrook won the second ten-mile race in a Chevrolet.

The 1928, July 4 race was presented by the Harrisburg Speedway Association and was sanctioned by The American Automobile Association.  However, the race was postponed twice due to rain and didn’t run until July 14.  When it did run, it attracted only a small crowd.  According to the paper, Al Aspen, crack Philadelphia racer, piloted his F and J Special to four victories in five events. Aspen finished first in the five-mile and ten-mile events and also turned in the best time in the half-mile and the mile events.  The five-mile stock car race was won by E. C Lehmer in a Cadillac with a time of 6 minutes 42 seconds followed by Chryslers in second and third and a Buick in forth.

Races again kicked off Fair Week in 1928.  Teddy Kline of nearby Penbrook won the Dauphin County 10 mile free-for-all in 11 minutes and 50 seconds.  Norval Delelys, Saranac Falls was a close second, Victor Jackson, Staten Island third and Myron Futtes, Rochester fourth.  The prize money was: first $100, Second $50, third $35 and fourth $25.

On Labor Day September 2, In 1929, the paper again incorrectly headlined “Fair opens today at Paxtang.”  “More than $5,000 in prizes” was announced.  The Pennsylvania Rail Road announced special excursion rates from all Central Pennsylvania towns on its lines to the fair.  A headline read “Races Holiday Feature.”  But the races were horse races.  The newspapers carried not a word about auto races at the fair.

The next day, September 3, the stock market began its slide into the Great Depression .

In 1930, the newspapers carried not a word about the fair. 

In 1946, the Dauphin County Grange Fair Association sold a portion of the Fair Grounds property to Capital Bakers. In 1948 the Association sold the balance of the Fair Grounds property.  That part of the property was subsequently sold to AMP Inc where they built their Headquarters building in 1956.  Waypoint Bank now occupies the AMP building.

An aerial photo dated September 20, 1937, clearly shows a track on the property then owned by the Dauphin County Grange Fair Association located on the southeast corner of the intersection of Paxton Street and 40^th Street.  Paxton Street was previously know as Hummelstown Road and subsequently largely paved over to become Route I 83.

An aerial photo dated October 21, 1949, shows a less clearly defined outline of the same track. The then newly constructed Keystone drive-in Theater is also visible on the photo. Using a map wheel measuring device and known distances on the map, I determined the track to be a half-mile oval. The drive-in theater was located about two-tenths of a mile to the west of the track on the other side of 40th Street. The drive-in never covered any part of the track. 

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