Paragon Speedway

Here is one for you History buffs . This is what I know about the 1963 season opener at Paragon . It was at Paragon on the the first or second Sunday of May of 1963 . We know Calvin Gilstrap took the win beating a field of cars from four States and Passing Dick Gaines to do it . We know the 1961 National Super Modified Champion and inaugural Knoxville National winner Roy Robbins was on hand.

Most of you younger fans don’t realize Roy Robbins the first Knoxville Nationals winner was a regular face at Paragon Speedway in these days . You could watch the best in the business in this era at Paragon . We know Indy 500 veteran Ted Pieffer was on hand.

Ted also ran the Columbus track . We know a bunch of the greats were on hand such as a second National Super Modified Champion Gene Henson . Gene Henson would also become a two time Midwest National Champion at Paragon . Greats like Dick Gaines , Larry Miller , Bob Kinser Cecil Beaver , Bill Duggar ,Jim Johnson , Orville Yeadon were some of the best in the business in these days for example Orville Yeadon showed up for the very first Eldora 500 and won and another Paragon regular Allen Barr would finish right behind him.

We know Bob Kinser Set fast time with a 19:00 flat at the opener in 1963. The series fast made huge stars out of many guys and gave many of these guys the platform to have great racing careers and it all started at Paragon . The series early days consisted of Paragon Bloomington and Columbus for one point fund it gave Indiana guys a good series without all the travel of other series .The Series was perfect for the working man that wanted to race three nights a week .It all started with a meeting between Edd Sheppard Lawernce Fox , Roscoe Brewington , Johnny Johnson and a hand full of other guys.

Someday I can get into more detail about why it all became about . Edd Sheppard knew the series needed a banner race to draw drivers from around the nation so he agreed to pay a $1000 dollars to win a big race every August and that’s how the Midwest National Championship became about in 1963 . The race became everything Edd dreamed about and more .If you look in the article you see Jim Beam was on hand . Back in these days USAC guys could not run non USAC sanctioned races and often USAC guys would show up and run under a fake name.

Jim Beam was a name Indy 500 great Jim Hurtubise would use when he was running for USAC points and doing a little moon lighting at places like Paragon.

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