Fort Wayne Raceways

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Also known as Baer Field Raceways; Baer Field Speedway; Baer Field Motorsports Park

Planned as a drag strip, but there's no sign it ever opened.

Advertised a $10,000 invitational on May 20, 1973
The drag strip was started but never finished

Raced: 1973
State: Indiana
What's left: You can still spot it in aerial photos, or broken pieces of the track surface remain.
Location: Indiana 1 at the south edge of Fort Wayne, east of Baer Air Field
People: Howard Bice, owner (1973)
Elevation: 796 ft (242 m)
Coordinates: 40.97045, -85.19834

This pin shares its exact coordinates with another strip in the source data, so it may be misplaced.

Incorporation papers for Fort Wayne Raceways, Inc. were filed on December 22, 1972, and newspaper ads promoted an invitational race with a $10,000 purse on May 20, 1973. The complex, better known as Baer Field Raceways, Speedway or Motorsports Park, had a paved half-mile oval on Indiana 1 at the south edge of Fort Wayne. According to one local, Howard Bice, who also owned Avilla Speedway and Dragway, owned it in 1973. Ground was broken for a drag strip, but it was never finished, and Bice sold the property after failing to win approval to move the entrance south to Pleasant Center Road. The 32.9-acre plant east of Baer Air Field, now Fort Wayne International Airport, was set for auction on July 13, 1974. It had a heated and air-conditioned press box and a concession stand. In its short life it hosted horse races and shows, go-kart races, thrill shows, and motorcycle, bicycle, sports car and dune buggy races.

Aerial view of present-day view of Baer Field Motorsports Park infrastructure showing the location of what would have been the old drag strip. Courtesy of Bob Koorsen

Layout of the drag strip and pit area adjacent to and south of the oval track drawn on present-day aerial view of Baer Field Motorsports Park. Courtesy of Bob Koorsen

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