Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway recently received a two-year reprieve from plans to
shutter the track following the 2008 season. Now the track is making plans for
the biggest event in the history of the track, and perhaps the richest Dirt
Late Model event ever in Illinois.
On Oct. 30, a two-year lease was signed
by the City of Farmer City and the Farmer City-DeWitt County Fair Association
to extend the association's use of the city-owned fairgrounds through the 2010
racing season.
"You hate to see any tracks close, from either side of it, as a promoter or
a racer," said Don Hammer, who enters his fourth season promoting the
quarter-mile track in 2008. "Everybody around here, everybody wants the
long-term deal so they don't have to think about it. ... but all the drivers
are glad that at least we have two more years than we had."
With the future still in doubt, Hammer doesn't plan on "investing a ton of
money" into one of the longest-running United Midwestern Promoters-sanctioned
tracks, he said in a Nov. 8 phone interview, but Hammer plans to improve the
track's "crow's nest" area for officials along with other odds and ends.
Where Hammer is making big plans is regarding the track's 2008 schedule.
He's working out details on a $20,000-to-win Dirt Late Model event that would
open the track's season in early April. "There's not much going on the first
of April, kind of start up with a bang," Hammer said. "I think it'll be the
biggest race the state of Illinois has ever had, actually."
Details should be worked out so the two-day event can officially be
announced in a few weeks, Hammer said. In 2007, Farmer City hosted two
$10,000-to-win events. Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., won an April 27 World
of Outlaws Late Model Series event and Brady Smith of Solon Springs, Wis., won
a July 13 UMP Summernationals event.
The track's future was in doubt when negotiations regarding the 49-acre
plot bordering I-74 began in the summer of 2006. In the spring, negotiations
that included a potential land swap between the city and fair association fell
through and it appeared the track would close following the 2008 season.
The two-year extension is a stop-gap measure, but Hammer and fair officials
hope that upcoming city council elections could swing more support for keeping
the fairgrounds and racetrack intact. The city has plans to develop the
property after the lease expires. — Todd Turner
