Letter: Great Jones County Fair not the same without auto racing

To the editor,

When I was young, my dad would take us to the races at the fair on Saturday, the greatest day of the fair. The grandstand and hillsides were full of people from all over Iowa and surrounding area.

As I grew olde, I raced at the fair. I remember one year, it rained until 1 p.m. and when it stopped, Arlo Becker pushed the mud to the inside of the track so the races could continue. At that time, we all had to pay to get into the fair and the pits to provide the entertainment to the crowd for the day, and we gladly did it as we enjoyed the fun we all shared that day. We finished racing in time for the state show to begin later that evening.

This crap of being done at 2 p.m. for the entertainment is bull, 3:30 should be plenty of time to set up for a show that doesn’t begin until much later. I often wondered if the night entertainment had to pay to get into the fair the same as we did?

Later the board stopped coolers from coming in, so they could get all the beer money from the beer tent. I know a lot of people stopped coming to the races because of that. Next, they stopped late models from racing, subsequently the races went downhill after that. Over the years, I noticed the board used any little reason to call the races off, like a drop of rain. Now they claim their insurance cost increased so they had to stop the races this year. I know someone who asked other promoters if their insurance costs increased as well and they agreed, yes, it had but only by $30 a year. Doesn’t the fair also have to have insurance for the horse races, tractor pull, etc.?

Do I think the insurance cost increase is the reason they canceled the car races? No, I don’t. I know the race drivers are upset about it and many of us older generation of fair goers are as well. In my opinion, the board ruined the greatest day of the fair. You can now take the word “great” out of the Great Jones County Fair name because it is not great anymore.

Tom Schneiter

Anamosa