Jim Volgarino, local racing enthusiast and historian, will present The Making of Racing in the Cedar Valley. Doors open at 5:30, presentation begins at 6.
In 1899 the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company delivered it’s first factory built “horseless wagon” to E. H. Hartsook in Bondurant, Iowa. Mr. Hartsook came to town to accept delivery and the stage was set for those newfangled automobiles to become part of Cedar Valley culture. Within a year a director of the local Home Park Racing Association was considering what it might be like to promote these “Machines of the Devil” spinning around the horse track and in 1904, once several machines were owned in the area, a race was set. Cedar Valley automobile racing was born!
Jim Volgarino has been a car enthusiast and fan of all types of racing since his youth and will be presenting a look at how automobile racing grew in the Cedar Valley and how racing was a major component of automobile development in this country.
Attendees are welcome to view the Museum's newest exhibit Sulkies to Speedways: A Need for Speed in the Cedar Valley after the presentation.