• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • News
  • Events
  • Donate
  • About
  • Contact

The Ballenger Report

Bill Ballenger: #1 Political Pundit in Michigan
All the Truth, All the Time
Michigan's Only "No Spin Zone"
Who is Running for What? Who Will Win?
Can Democrats Seize Total Control of Michigan Government in 2022?
Flint Water Crisis: What's Really Going On!
Politicians
Politicians
You are here: Home / Uncategorized / Jackson Harness Raceway, 70 Years Old, to be Torn Down

Jackson Harness Raceway, 70 Years Old, to be Torn Down

July 9, 2018 by tbreport 1 Comment

“THERE WERE A LOT OF TEARS” — FANS FLOCK TO JACKSON HARNESS RACEWAY FAREWELL

By Taylor DesOrmeau
MLive
July 9, 2018

tdesorme@mlive.com

JACKSON, MI – Musical motifs of “Auld Lang Syne” and “Happy Trails” trumpeted from the loudspeakers.

Bittersweet onlookers stood, clapped and readied their cameras for photos and videos to chronicle the Jackson Harness Raceway’s closing chapter.

The wings on the starter car were drawn in for the last time at the Jackson County Fairgrounds at 4:58 p.m. on Sunday, July 8, as the 12th and final race in the Remembering Jackson Harness event began.

Two minutes and 3 seconds later, Kandy King – driven by Jackson’s own Kim Pluta – crossed the finish line first in the open trot race.

Before demolition, horse-racing lovers reopen track for final hurrah

Before demolition, horse-racing lovers reopen track for final hurrah

Jackson Harness Raceway has been closed for 10 years. And after next month’s fair, it will be bulldozed for good.

“Coming around the last turn, he had a tear in his eye,” said event co-organizer Claudia Davidson, who spoke with Pluta after the race. “It was a bittersweet day.”

The exhibition event comes 10 years after the raceway closed and just weeks ahead the track’s scheduled demolition. Jackson Harness Raceway opened in 1948.

Co-organizer Mike Way expected 2,000 to 3,000 to attend the free farewell event. Instead, he estimates 6,000 to 7,000 showed up and came to life for the dozen two-lap races.

“The roar of that crowd is what I’m going to remember forever. That was so loud, I was taken aback,” Way said. “That just reinforces the passion that’s out there for harness racing.”

Jackson Harness Raceway’s final hurrah

Soaking in a 90-degree, cloudless afternoon, race fans young and old packed the fairgrounds.

Lines at the concessions queued to the parking lot. Numerous lots surrounding the venue filled to capacity hours before the racing began. All 1,000 event programs were purchased in the first few hours.

Those still seeking one of the retro-designed programs can still buy one by connecting with organizers through the Remembering Jackson Harness Facebook page.

All event proceeds, which Way estimates at $6,000 to $7,000, will go to the Jackson County 4-H program.

Getting up close and personal

One of the draws to Sunday’s event was increased access for fans new and old. Jog-cart rides put fans in a two-seater cart with a professional for a lap around the half-mile track.

Mic Dreffs, a Jacksonian who retired from harness racing earlier this year, donned his colors while volunteering to help with the rides. He never won a race at the raceway, but has fond memories of the place – including witnessing Bred To Be The Best set the track record of 1:54.4.

“The little kids, when they’re high-fiving me, they’re actually hurting my hand they’re hitting me so hard – they’re so excited about riding on it,” Dreffs said.

Brenda Friend, who worked as a teller at the raceway for five years and grew up coming as a spectator, fulfilled her bucket-list dream of taking a lap around the track in a cart.

“I wish this was still going on. This was a family thing,” Friend said. “The kids growing up now, they don’t know what they’re missing.”

Proposed convention center moves ahead, baseball stadium plans dead again

Proposed convention center moves ahead, baseball stadium plans dead again

American 1 Credit Union pledged $4 million for the project at the Jackson County Fairgrounds in November 2016.

An encore for the drivers

No prize money was awarded to winners of each race – although all racers received $150 for coming, Davidson said. Most came back to honor the raceway’s final event and promote the sport.

Among the drivers was Croswell native Steve Oldford – who has two wins at the track. Oldford started coming to Jackson as a kid to watch his father’s horses race. By the time he was 12, he was already getting his feet wet in the sport.

“As my friend would say, you’re 30 inches off the ground, you’re going 30 mph, you’ve got 1,000 pounds in front of you and you’ve got no brakes,” Oldford said. “There’s nothing more exhilarating.”

Oldford raced at two of New York’s highest paying raceways the previous weekend, but said the energy in Jackson trumped them both.

“This crowd dwarfs the combined crowd that they had. It’s just unfortunate that we don’t have more racing in Michigan,” Oldford said. “The size of the crowd is unbelievable out here. It’s thrilling to see. But the bad news is, this is it.”

Driving his horse Mulligan Bi, Oldford competed in one of the more eventful races of the day – as he was passed exiting the final corner in the ninth race. Despite being an exhibition event, many races were tight and multiple horses finished under the two-minute mark.

In addition to welcoming new fans into the fold and honoring Jackson Harness Raceway’s history, event organizers hoped to convince Michigan legislators, a few of whom were in attendance, that harness racing is worth saving.

Northville Downs racetrack to be sold, turned into high-end apartment complex

Northville Downs racetrack to be sold, turned into high-end apartment complex

Northville Downs racing track is slated to be converted into a development of high-end apartments. The Northville Downs racetrack is set to be sold to a developer looking to build high-end apartments on the site, the buyer announced Tuesday.

“The general public, they’ll bet on if the sun comes up or not,” Davidson said. “They want to game. In order for us to get into the new modern era, we need to have alternative gaming.”

Gambling wasn’t allowed during Sunday’s event. However, fans could purchase tickets to place in a box of the horses they thought would win. A winning ticket was drawn after each race, with prizes awarded from local sponsors.

So there were no exactas, trifectas or superfectas in Sunday’s races. But the potential to bring home big bucks wasn’t the reason drivers and fans alike packed the fairgrounds for one final time.

“There were a lot of tears,” Way said. “If you didn’t believe there was a passion for harness racing, you learned it today.”

******************************************

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. ross worcester says

    April 19, 2020 at 4:24 pm

    They didnt bull doze shit it’s still there april 3020

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Newsletter Sign-up

Receive The Ballenger Report in your inbox!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Follow on twitter

Tweets by @Bill_Ballenger
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Upcoming Ballenger Events

  • No events
  • © 2023 · The Ballenger Report · Login · Sitemap

    Support The Ballenger Report - Contribute Today!

    Thank you for visiting! You have let us know that what we produce about Michigan politics and government matters to you. More people than ever are reading and listening to what we put on our news site, and the 2022 election was especially momentous. Your support makes all the difference.

    As you know, unlike many news websites, we haven’t put up a paywall. We want to keep our journalism as open as we can, but we need to ask for your help. We are editorially independent, meaning we set our own agenda. Our journalism remains truly free from commercial influence or bias. We are not subsidized. We don’t put up paid advertisements. No one edits our Editor. No one steers our opinion.

    But The Ballenger Report (TBR) takes time, money and hard work to produce. If everyone who reads or listens to our material — and likes it! — helps to support it, our future would be much more secure.

    Whatever you might want to contribute will help TBR continue. Thank you.

    Contribute to The Ballenger Report