Construction of the 1/4-mile Hardtop track in 1965
The Construction of a quarter-mile, hard surface track for hardtop vehicle racing. The raceway was developed inside the existing 3/8-mile horse track. Other construction included the pit area and a barrier and wheel fence erected in front of the grandstands for safety purposes. Pacific Racing Association to operate the races.
Construction of 4,860 Seat Grandstands 1975
In 1975 The largest year for Fair attendance with 84,631. Fair Theme, "Great Moments in History". Fair entertainment, Jeannie Riley, Johnny Russell, Barbara Fairchild, Statler Brothers. The new Grandstand was constructed.
Asphalt Racetrack Resurfacing 2002
2002 Fair Theme, "Heroes, Hope & Homeland". Entertainment, Aaron Tippon, Heart, Grand Funk Railroad. Blood, Sweat & Tears were scheduled but cancelled the week prior to Fair, attendance 75,402. December, Jay Collier resigned as Fair Manager. County purchased the 4.2-acre parcel of land from the radio station for the fairground's usage. The Racetrack was reshaped, expanded and resurfaced. Fairgrounds voted the 1st Place '4-H Exhibits Attraction', 1st Place 'All Around Event', 1st Place to 'watch people at the Douglas County Fair' and 2nd Place 'Family Entertainment', 2nd Place 'Animal Attraction at the Fair', 3rd Place for 'Music/Concerts.' by the News Review Reader's Choice Awards.
New DC Dirt Track Begins Construction 2022
Roseburg Race Promotions begins construction of dirt track at Douglas County Speedway WILL GESCHKE The News-Review Sep 20, 2022
Workers from Roseburg Race Promotions began construction Monday on the new dirt racetrack at the Douglas County Speedway. In August, the Douglas County Fair board awarded a new contract to Roseburg Race Promotions, which ousted the track's previous promoters; the Pacific Racing Association. As construction begins, workers are confident the dirt racing will bring new fans to the race track. “(Auto racing) is a lot more exciting to my mind on dirt," said Brad McMaster, who works for Roseburg Race Promotions. McMaster drove an excavator Monday to flatten out the soil being dumped along the race track. “We're going to try and bring the thrill back to the people," he said.
McMaster said he remembered the track being asphalt his whole life, and while he admits that it's a matter of opinion for a lot of people, he feels there are more cars to draw from when it comes to a dirt track. Patrick Sparks, who was working on the construction, hopes the response from the community will be positive. “This means the world, honestly," Sparks said as trucks continued depositing dirt along the track. “Don't have to travel out of town to race, us and a lot of others." McMaster estimates the new dirt will cover the track by the end of the week.
Roseburg Race Promotions is a new company. The corporation was registered with the Oregon Secretary of State's office on July 20 of this year, less than a month before being awarded the contract to take over the speedway.
The Pacific Racing Association's contract with the fairgrounds was due to expire at the end of October, following the PRA's “Track-n-Treat" race scheduled for Oct. 29. But the fairgrounds issued a letter to the association citing a specific section of the contract between PRA and the fairgrounds that allowed for revocation. “This notice is to inform you that the Fairgrounds is exercising its right to revoke the Agreement to Use Fairgrounds Premises pursuant to Section 21, 'Revocation,' which provides: “Both parties acknowledge and expressly agree that this Agreement grants User the privilege of using the Premises and that this Agreement is revocable at the sole discretion of the Fairgrounds management," wrote Douglas County Fairgrounds Director Dan Hults.
The revocation of the agreement between the PRA and fairgrounds went into effect Saturday, although the fairgrounds gave the PRA until Nov. 15 to remove any of its owned property from the grandstand and racetrack areas. “We've moved everything out except for the refrigerators and freezers," PRA spokesperson Martie Cox said. “We didn't expect it this soon. We hoped (the revocation of the contract) wouldn't happen, but it was kind of expected through conversations and rumor mills."
Will Geschke is a multimedia reporter for The News-Review. He can be reached at wgeschke@nrtoday.com.