Spokane auto-racing enthusiast Todd Jensen is spearheading a plan to bring dirt-track auto racing back to the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, which decades ago was a popular site for such competition.


Jensens plan has gotten a tentative endorsement from the centers advisory board, and he now is seeking the help of other racing enthusiasts to raise the $25,000 to $30,000 he estimates is needed to modify the grandstand arena track at the fairgrounds.


Its a no-brainer for the racing community that this will fly, if the capital-improvement money can be raised and the final details can be worked out, he asserts. He claims there currently is no other such operating facility in the Inland Northwest, and he calls dirt-track racing the up-and-coming thing gaining fan support in auto racing nationally.


Jensen is convinced racing fans would fill the 3-year-old, 5,100-seat grandstand at the fairgrounds if the races were marketed well. That level of support, he says, would allow the initial investment to be paid off quickly, provide an added cash infusion to the economy here, and make fuller use of an underutilized public facility.


He says hed like to see needed modifications to the grandstand arena track be completed this year and racing begin there next year. The initial schedule likely would include four or five racing events. Of holding it to that number, he says, That way, its promoted, hyped up, and sold out.


Jensen says purses at the grandstand arena track should be large enough to attract the World of Outlaws, a national sanctioning body for winged sprint-car racing, or some similar organization, even just with a $10 admission fee and not including other possible sources of revenue.


Ron Turner, who owns Spokane Ditch & Cable Inc. and raced cars at the fairgrounds track during the late 1960s and early 70s, says of Jensen, Hes enthusiastic. Im pulling for him. I just dont see how its going to happen.


He estimates the cost of track improvements and promotions needed to attract top-notch racing and big crowds probably would be closer to $250,000, and he questions whether the project is feasible without a sizable capital investment by Spokane County or a well-heeled private investor.


Turner is president of the Inland Northwest Sprint Car Association, which races on a paved track at Stateline, Idaho, and on some other paved tracks in the region. He likes the notion of bringing racing back to the fairgrounds, and says, Racing in the dirt is probably the most fun racing youll do. But he says, To fill the stands, you have to bring in the elite classes. That costs a lot of money. Theyve got to get some more money behind them.


Turner adds, They used to fill that place practically every race, referring to the older, small grandstand then located there. Times changed, though, he says, and now, Theres just so many other things for people to do.


Gary Hite, president of Hite Crane & Rigging Inc., of Spokane, and a longtime motorcycle and car racing enthusiast who still races, says hes looked at Jensens proposal, and says, I think its very viable. I think theres a need for it.


It not only would provide a needed venue for racing here, but also could help the Fair & Expo Center amortize the costs of new facilitiesincluding a larger grandstanddeveloped there over the last several years, he argues.


I do hope it goes, he says.


Archie Triber, another Spokane resident who used to race at the fairgrounds and is familiar with Jensens plan, says he, too, thinks its viable, assuming Jensen can get it off the ground. I think its a good idea, Triber says. We need some type of (motor) sports arena around here.


Sally Gorder, whose late husband, Bud was instrumental in organizing and promoting racing at the fairgrounds over many years beginning in 1965, has seen Jensens proposal and thinks there are some issues to work out with the fairgrounds advisory board, such as to sweeten the potential purses to an acceptable level. Overall, though, shes thrilled by the idea.


Hes put his whole heart and soul and life into this, says Gorder, who was involved in racing organizations here with her husband for many years. She says shes still in contact with many of the local racers, and senses that an undercurrent of support for a fairgrounds track is still there. We just need a Todd Jensen to get us all together and going again.


Jensen is pursuing the project for now through a 2-year-old nonprofit entity he heads called the Fairgrounds Racing Memorial Group. That group presents local racing-history exhibits at the Spokane Interstate Fair and has a permanent display at the Last Lap Pub & Grill, at 13524 E. Sprague. Jensen says, though, that hed like to turn the fairgrounds-racing venture over to a group more capable at carrying it forward organizationally.


Its not about the money for me. Its about the history there, he says.


Proposed modifications to the fairgrounds track would include removing an asphalt portion remaining from a paved track that formerly was located there, relocating two utility poles, and expanding the track slightly to the south to make it a full quarter-mile in length, Jensen says. Also, additional dirt would be brought in to give the track a slight bank, he says.


The track could be used not just for racing winged sprint cars, but for other types of vehicles as well, such as midget racers and motorcycles.


Jensen, 42, who is employed by a company that provides services to developmentally disabled people here, says he has been a racing enthusiast most of his life, has raced stock cars for 10 years, and has restored a roadster that formerly raced at the fairgrounds. He says his father, Jack Jensen, owns Jensen Auto Service, a longtime business at 5409 E. Broadway, not far from the fairgrounds, and has painted and sponsored a lot of race cars.


What makes the fairgrounds track so alluring, he says, is, Theyve got the history there, theyve raced there before, and what else can you do with the place?


The Spokane County Fair & Expo Center is located at 404 N. Havana, in Spokane Valley. The covered grandstand and adjoining arena are located on the east site of the centers 97-acre site, which also includes three smaller arenas.


The grandstand was reconstructed and enlarged a couple of years ago at a cost of $6.5 million as part of an $18 million capital-improvement project there. Erin Gurtel, the centers marketing coordinator, says the grandstand arena is used for livestock exhibition and judging, concerts, rodeos, and a few motor-sports events, such as demolition derbies and monster-truck shows. Many of those events occur during the 10-day Spokane County Interstate Fair in September.


Rich Hartzell, assistant director of the Fair & Expo Center, says, We havent booked it heavily at this point, but were looking at increased usage, and will be evaluating ideas for doing that, such as the one to revive dirt-track racing. Because the centers board serves in an advisory role, the Spokane County Commission makes final decisions on such proposals, he says.


Of the dirt racers, he says, Maybe theyll be back who knows?


Contact Kim Crompton at (509) 344-1263 or via e-mail at kimc@spokanejournal.com.