Pat Sullivan has been an announcer at the Bloomington Speedway for more than 30 years. Now, alongside six other race fans, he's become a co-owner.
(Lauren Tucker, WTIU)
Georganna Priest’s country home is, for the most part, a quiet place. But almost every summer for the past century, the stillness is broken by the roar of racing engines.
Her grandfather Jim Mitchell leased the neighboring property in 1923 to men who wanted to build a racetrack.
“It has passed from him to my father, well actually to my mother after my father passed, and then to me, and now our son is involved,” Priest said.
Georganna Priest and Andy Bradley catch up on the porch of Priest's country home, just next to the speedway. (Lauren Tucker, WTIU)
The Bloomington Speedway has operated continuously since 1923, except during World War II and a brief period in the late 1970s.
Like the fans she grew up with, the Bloomington Speedway is part of Priest’s identity. The land has been in the Mitchell family for more than 100 years, name changes aside.
“I married a Priest,” she chuckled. “It's been very important to me as a Mitchell.”
But last year, after 102 years in operation, the speedway nearly came to an end.
That’s what the owners of the track told longtime announcer Pat Sullivan.
“The person who held the lease turned to me and basically told me this racetrack was done, that it was it was going to close, the property was going to be sold,” Sullivan said. “Then they added that Bloomington Speedway was just not going to work anymore, and I just fundamentally didn't believe that.”
In addition to announcing, Sullivan is a professor of social work at Indiana University. "The fact of the matter is, you have people in this community in all walks of life," he said. "Most people don't associate an IU professor with being involved in a dirt track." (Lauren Tucker, WTIU News)
“We really couldn't afford the upkeep, the mowing and the taxes, and so we considered selling it,” Priest said. “And in fact, we contacted AJ, and that's what we were going to do.”
That’s AJ Bowlen, real estate agent. He also happens to be a race-car driver — he was the Bloomington Speedway track champion in 1997. When it came to selling the land, he couldn’t see it being anything other than a racetrack.
“I spent a lot of Friday nights right here on this hillside growing up, or down in the pits, just dreaming of racing,” Bowlen said.
He started talking with other mainstays of the racing community, including Sullivan, David Hays, and driver Andy Bradley. That’s when the idea of saving the track began to form, Bradley said.
“So David says, ‘What do you want to do?’” Bradley recounted. “And I said, ‘Well, we could try to save it.’ He goes, ‘Well, you better watch what you wish for. You may end up with a racetrack.’”
AJ Bowlen is the son of a sprint car driver and won the track championship in 1997. "When you get on this side of the fence, it's a totally different world," he said. "You realize just what you didn't know about it when you were in the pits." (Lauren Tucker, WTIU News)
Bradley is a pilot. Sullivan is a professor. Hays is a financial consultant. Most of the new owners have full-time jobs, but refurbishing the track is a massive commitment of time and resources.
From salaries to fuel and water, an average race night costs the track around $30,000.
“I quickly found out that there was going to be a lot for me to do, and I’m not doing near what some people are doing here,” Sullivan said. “This has been an absolute labor of love for people whose number one priority is saving the racetrack.”
Hays said he’s put around $175,000 into reopening the track so far and locked in a five-year commitment with Priest, keeping open the possibility of buying the track once that period ends.
With crowds shrinking, the track’s long-term survival is an open question.
Despite that, the new owners are committed to reducing ticket prices for standard races, hoping to attract families. Kids under 12 get in free.
The owners hope to make up the losses on special events. The point is getting fans through the gates.
Summer nights at the racetrack are a tradition for many southern Indiana families. Some of the new owners followed their parents' footsteps as drivers. (Devan Ridgway, WTIU News)
“We're probably not going to make a dime. In fact, we’ll probably lose a little bit,” Sullivan said. “But it's important to get people to come.”
Bradley agrees. Growing up in a multigenerational racing family, running a racetrack for him is about the long game. The really long game.
“There's people that are 20 minutes from here, or even 10 minutes here, that don't know this racetrack exists, and if they came out one time, they'd be a fan instantly,” Bradley said. “We're trying to get the word out, trying to appeal to the younger generation and get some of those kids to be lifelong race fans.”
The track opens Friday for the first race of the season, but many of the improvements are still to come. The owners want to replace the bleachers and renovate the bathrooms. They’ve already built new catch fences and expanded the track.
“It's still a work in progress as we sit here today, obviously if you look around, and it's going to continue to be a work in progress, because there's so much that needs done,” Bowlen said.
Priest hopes racing will continue on her family’s land well into the track’s second century.
“I've lived on this property for many years,” she said, “so I'm used to the races in the sound, and I like it, and I would miss it if it wasn't here.”
