Originally named the Lake Geneva Speed Center, LGR's promoters generated publicity by building an airplane landing strip for movie stars, claiming it was part of a huge investment to construct a nationally known drag strip. Lake Geneva was also home to a Playboy Club.
The track opened on July 3, 1963, as a drag strip, but only 600 fans attended the first race, which was won by Fox. After discovering none of them had been paid, contractors took over the track. The final drag race was held in 1977 and won by Fritz Barels.
A 1/4 mile asphalt stockcar track was built in 1966. In 1974, Larry Ninneman won 6 of 6 events entered on this track. The corners had no banking, allowing the drag strip to run through the center. The first modified race was won by Pedro Roehl, and the first sportsman race by Dennis Burgan. The track opened with a grandstand for 10,000 fans and a 300,000-watt lighting system. Modified cars raced three nights per week, with late models added to Saturday night programs.
The Dawson family purchased the property in 1985 and reconfigured the racing surface to a 1/3 mile progressively banked stockcar track after the 1989 season. The first event featured modified stockcars, midget cars, and lawn mowers.
LGR hosted an annual October Classic, often featuring over 300 entries and headlined by the "Small car World Championship." The track also hosted touring series, including annual Mid-American stockcars and nine ARTGO Super Late Models / NASCAR Midwest Series races between 1998 and 2005.
On October 12-13, 1974, LGR hosted the second-ever Sports Car Club of America Solo National Championships (Solo II), an autocross event. Gary Lownsdale achieved the fast time of the event with a run of 52.736 seconds in a Lotus Elan S2.
The final official stockcar event occurred on October 1, 2006, with 275 cars. Tim Cox set the all-time track record with a lap time of 14.186 seconds. The final stockcar feature was a 75-lap Super Late Model event won by Rich Bickle, a former track regular who raced at LGR in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s.
The track hosted 125cc and 250cc motorcycle motocross events, and the final 2006 season included four-wheelers. The final races were held on October 21, 2006.
LGR hosted numerous SODA off-road racing events. A May 1997 event was broadcast on ESPN2, with Jimmie Johnson beating Brendan Gaughan. Other notable competitors included Walker Evans, Evan Evans, Johnny Greaves, and Jack Flannery.
Rich Bickle
Bay Darnell
Erik Darnell
Alan Kulwicki
Dick Trickle
Dave Watson (1976 track champion)
Don Church Junior
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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