Local stock car history comes alive at Dakota County Fair

Legends of local stock car racing and the cars and gear they used to become legends are on display this week at the Dakota County Fair – with the hopes they might have a permanent homer for their prized items sometime soon.

The IMCA (International Motor Contest Association) Old Timers are a group dedicated to keeping the names and tales of local short-track auto racing alive. Their annual gathering at the Dakota County Fair gives fans, friends and fellow drivers a chance to reminisce and display actual race cars, fire suits, helmets and hundreds upon hundreds of photos. Several local legends are also around to share their stories firsthand.

Click the video box on this page to see items from the display an KSTP Sports’ chats with Kevin Busse and Skip Pollack of the IMCA Old Timers as well as legendary Minnesota drivers Blackie Wangerin and Ron Olson – two of the most renowned drivers in the history of Minnesota auto racing – sharing tales from their days on the local and national racetracks in the heyday of stock car racing

The memorabila, cars and gear on display are gathered from various drivers homes and personal collections. The group is working on plans and funding to build a small facility to permanently house the display.

The collection on display this week has parts from cars driven by legends like A.J. Foyt, and actual cars that ran at former Twin Cities speed havens Raceway Park, REX Speedway, the State Fairgrounds and Farmington Speedway. Race fans will also be happy to hear many of the items formerly housed in "Speedy’s Garage" racing museum at the State Fair have been preserved and are part of the IMCA Old-Timers collection.