Angell Park Speedway is a 1/3 mile ()

dirt Dirt is any matter considered unclean, especially when in contact with a person's clothes, skin, or possessions. In such cases, they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: * Debris: scattered pieces of waste or remains * Du ...

racetrack A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also us ...

located in

Sun Prairie, Wisconsin Sun Prairie is a city in Dane County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 35,967 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the most populous suburb of Madison, Wisconsin, Madison and is part of the Madison metropolitan area. ...

. The track has been run by the city's fire department since 1903. Racing occurs every Sunday approximately

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It is observed on the last Monday of May. It i ...

until

Labor Day Labor Day is a Federal holidays in the United States, federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday of September to honor and recognize the Labor history of the United States, American labor movement and the works and con ...

. Special racing events and the weather may alter the schedule. The races were sanctioned by the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA), the oldest midget organization in the world. Some events are co-sanctioned by the

United States Automobile Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

(USAC). BMARA sanctions several midget car events at other nearby tracks. The

World of Outlaws World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

held their first

sprint car Sprint cars are open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval, circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primar ...

races at the track in August 2016. In addition to the racetrack, the facility features the

National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame The National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame is an American Hall of Fame and museum for midget cars. The Hall of Fame is located at Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and can be accessed during weekly Sunday races during the summe ...

, a

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, and the Sun Prairie Firemans Park in the Prairie. The park was built by the Sun Prairie community on September 18, 2007, and was dedicated on October 7, 2007. The project was led by Sun Prairie residents Rebecca Ketelson and Anita Holcomb. Leather's and Associates was the project architect.

History

The part was donated by Col. William Angell to the Sun Prairie Fire Department in 1903. The track is nationally known for its midget car races, which began racing in 1936. As of the 2008 season, it is the only track in the United States to host weekly midget car races. The track was closed between 1942 and 1945, since all racing in the United States was halted during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA) began sanction at the track in 1946 when racing resumed after World War II. Night racing at Angell Park began in 1948. With the lights installed, Kelly Peters of Lake Forest, IL set fast time, won his heat and captured the first feature race run under the lights. From that point forward, weekly Sunday night racing has been held at the facility except for a few shortened seasons for minor contract disputes in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The track began hosting its first non-midget car races in 2007 when an occasional touring event was added to its program and by 2010 every race evening featured a class from another track or a touring series. The Angell Park Speedway board and the sanctioning body BMARA had a fall out before the 2010 season. The track ran its own sanction during May 2010. At the end of the month weekly track operation halted for the 2010 season except for special events (two USAC midget weekends and the Fireman's Nationals). The track returned to occasional events in 2011 including BMARA sanction. The track was closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In January 2021, Hans Lein and SLS Promotions were announced as promoters of the track. In February 2021, Gregg McKarns was announced as the new promoter of the track instead. McKarns also promotes

Madison International Speedway The Madison International Speedway (MIS) is a half-mile paved oval racetrack in the Town of Rutland near Oregon, Wisconsin, United States. With 18-degree banked turns, the track is billed as "The Track of Champions" and "Wisconsin's Fastest H ...

and the

ARCA Midwest Tour The ASA Midwest Tour (known between 2012 and 2022 as the ARCA Midwest Tour) is a pavement Late model, Super Late Model auto racing series based in the Midwestern United States with its headquarters in Oregon, Wisconsin. It was a developmental se ...

. Angell Park hosted its first USAC Midget race at the track since 2015 and 47th overall.

Tanner Thorson Tanner Delbert Thorson (born May 7, 1996) is an American professional dirt track racing driver. He competes in the United States Auto Club (USAC) and High Limit Racing. Thorson has also competed in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, last driv ...

won his seventh race of the season.

Notable racers

Some midget car drivers come from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

during their country's winter to race during the United States' summer between May and September. The 2008 season featured

Michael Pickens Michael Pickens (born 7 January 1983) is a racecar driver from Auckland, New Zealand. He races midgets and sprint cars in New Zealand, Australia and the United States. Michael is a 9 time New Zealand Midget Car champion and was the 2021 Sprint ...

from

Auckland, New Zealand Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

(who stayed at one of the other driver's house) and Matt Smith from

Newcastle, Australia Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of Newcastle and Lake Macquarie and it is the hub of t ...

. Several notable racers raced at the track in its regular weekly series: *

Justin Allgaier Justin Myrl Allgaier (born June 6, 1986) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for JR Motorsports and part-time ...

Tom Bigelow Thomas Allan Bigelow (born October 31, 1939, in Elkhorn, Wisconsin) is an American former driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. Racing career Midget car racing He began his racing career at the Badger Midget Racing Association a ...

* A. J. Fike *

Aaron Fike Aaron Fike (born November 24, 1982) is an American racing driver, a former competitor in NASCAR and USAC. The younger brother of A. J. Fike, he was suspended from NASCAR competition from 2007 to 2012 due to a drug-related arrest. Open-wheel car ...

(2002 BMARA champion) * Stan Fox (1979 BMARA champion) *

Jeff Gordon Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American stock car racing executive and former professional stock car racing driver who currently serves as the vice chairman of Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, d ...

(four-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion) *

Mel Kenyon Mel Kenyon (born April 15, 1933, in DeKalb, Illinois) is a former midget car driver. He is known as the "King of the Midgets", "Miraculous Mel"< ...

(many time New Zealand National Midget champion) * Landy Scott (1947 BMARA champion and BMARA president from 1951 to 1959)

Fireman Nationals

The track's most notable event is its 50 lap Fireman Nationals midget car event. *1982 (overall) Bill Engelhart *1983 Kevin Olson *1984 Dan Boorse *1985

Rich Vogler Richard Frank Vogler (July 26, 1950 – July 21, 1990) was an American champion sprint car and midget car driver. He was nicknamed "Rapid Rich".

*1986 Kevin Olson (USAC) *1987 Kevin Olson (USAC) *1988 Kevin Doty (USAC) *1989 Kevin Doty (USAC) *1990 Kevin Doty (USAC) *1991

Stevie Reeves Stevie Reeves (born May 16, 1967) is an American professional stock car racing driver and spotter. Driving career After several seasons racing on the bullrings ( short tracks) of Indiana, Reeves traveled nationally with the United States Automob ...

(USAC) *1992 Marty Davis *1993 Page Jones (

Parnelli Jones Rufus Parnell "Parnelli" Jones (August 12, 1933 – June 4, 2024) was an American professional racing driver and racing team owner. He is notable for his accomplishments while competing in the Indianapolis 500 and the Baja 1000 desert race, and ...

' son) *1994 Kevin Doty *1995 Kevin Doty *1996 Randy Koch *1997 Kevin Olson *1998 Kevin Olson *1999 Dan Boorse *2000

Jay Drake Jay Scott Drake (born July 5, 1969 in Santa Maria, California) is an American auto racing driver. Racing career Drake won the 1998 Turkey Night Grand Prix midget car racing, midget car race. Drake was the United States Automobile Club, USAC Natio ...

*2001

Tracy Hines Tracy Lee Hines (born May 1, 1972) is an American professional stunt driver. He was the 2000 United States Automobile Club, USAC Silver Crown Champion and 2002 USAC National Sprint Car Champion. He currently does not have a full-time ride in NASCA ...

*2002

*2003 Davey Ray *2004 Scott Hatton *2005 Scott Hatton *2006 (rained out) *2007 Jerry Coons Jr. *2008

Brady Bacon Brady Bacon (born January 26, 1990) is an American racecar driver. Nicknamed 'Macho Man', he currently drives in the United States Auto Club, USAC Sprint car racing, Sprint Car Series. He won the 2014, 2016, 2020, and 2021 national championships. ...

*2009

Josh Wise Joshua Eric Wise (born February 7, 1983) is an American athletic trainer and former professional stock car racing and dirt track racing driver. He is currently a trainer for Chevrolet's development program for upcoming drivers and oversees driver ...

(USAC) *2010

(USAC) *2011 (rained out) *2012 Caleb Armstrong *2013 Zach Daum *2014

(USAC) *2015

Rico Abreu Rico Emanuel Abreu (born January 30, 1992) is an American professional dirt track racing, dirt track and stock car racing driver. Abreu won the 2014 USAC National Midget Series championship, and previously competed in the ARCA Menards Series East, ...

(USAC) *2016 Carson Macedo (POWRI) / Robbie Ray (BMARA) *2017 Zach Daum *2018 Tanner Carrick *2019 Logan Seavey (POWRI) *2020 not held (COVID) *2021

(USAC)
Reference (1982-2020):

References

External links

*
BMARA (sanctioning body) official website
{{World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race venues Motorsport venues in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Dane County, Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Dane County, Wisconsin Midget car racing