The “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome – Keeping the Tradition Alive!
by
Pat “Coach Pat” Schlager
Track cycling was immensely popular in the United States during the final decades of the 19th century and the early decades of the 20th century with its peak in the 1920s. In fact, during the 1920s, track cycling (primarily the six-day races) was the most popular professional spectator sport, and track cyclists were among the highest paid professional athletes in the United States. There wasn’t a “Wheelman’s Club” in any town or city across the country in the mid-1890s that wasn’t trying to raise the money to build their own bicycle track. Kansas City, MO (as well as nearby Lawrence, KS) was no exception with many velodromes being built over the years for the track-cycling-hungry racers and spectators.
First on the scene was Bismarck Grove in 1878 with its half-mile harness racing/bicycle racing track. Bismarck Grove was located one mile east of the North Lawrence Train Depot along side the Union Pacific rail line complete with its own train station. Among the big names who raced on the Bismarck Grove racetrack included the French-Canadian “Champion Bicyclist of the World” Louise Armaindo in 1883. Ms. Armaindo won the five-mile high-wheeled bicycle race that year sporting a purse of $300.
The one-quarter-mile cinder and dirt bicycle/athletic track in Fairmount Park, Kansas City, MO (well, actually closer to Independence, being located at the intersection of US-24 Highway and Kentucky Avenue, but still considered part of Kansas City at that time) opened in 1892. Bicycle races at the Fairmount Park track were part of the “National Circuit” during the 1890s so all of the big names of the day raced there. These included Arthur A. Zimmerman (National Champion on both the high-wheel and “safety” bicycle) and Bobby Walthour, Sr. (National and World Champion in the motor-paced Stayer Race). And the prizes were just as big with a newspaper ad in 1896 boasting “$600 in Gold Coin for the professional racers and $235 in Diamonds, Jewelry, etc. for the amateurs.”
Kansas City, MO was a stop on the “short lived” (1896-1902) Women’s International Six-Day Circuit. Racers such as Tillie Anderson (“The Invincible Swede”) and Dottie Farnsworth (“American’s Cyclone”) raced on very short, very steeply banked, wooden velodromes, often temporarily built in arenas, in front of large enthusiastic crowds. The Third Regiment Armory located at the corner of 12th and Troost held one of these Women’s Six-Days in November 1897 won by Tillie Anderson. The very short lived (June-August 1899) Kansas City Velodrome located at the corner of 15th and Troost held a Women’s Six-Day as its final event in August 1899. The velodrome was then torn down since it violated a new city ordinance stating that “a business of amusement cannot operate within 300 feet of a church.” (The Kansas City Velodrome had been built directly across Troost Avenue from an existing church.) No worries though, since the first event to take place in the newly opened Convention Hall was a Women’s International Six-Day Bicycle Race in October 1899. [The book “Women on the Move: The Forgotten Era of Women’s Bicycle Racing” by Roger Gilles chronicles this little known era of American sports.]
Convention Hall also held International Six-Day Bicycle Races for the men in 1909 and 1913. In 1935, Municipal Auditorium took over for Convention Hall, in more ways than one, by holding an International Six-Day Bicycle Race that same year and again in 1937. “Local cycling lore” has it that track cycling races continued to take place in Municipal Auditorium on and off at least into the 1950s. At some point the portable wooden track seems to have been lost due to fire/water damage.
Other velodromes in Kansas City, MO over the years included the YMCA Bicycle Track built in 1895 in Bales Park located at 12th and Porter Road (now Cleveland Avenue). This was a one-quarter-mile dirt track with banking “done according to the ideas of Professor Riley.” The YMCA track also had a baseball diamond in its infield, not uncommon for that era. And the American Royal Arena, located in the West Bottoms, hosted a six-day bicycle race in January 1935 on a temporary track with 52 degrees of banking in the turns won by the team of William “Torchy” Peden (Can) & Piet Van Kempen (Hol).
In addition to Kansas City, MO, there were velodromes built in Wichita, KS (Riverside Park Bicycle Track, 1888 and Griswold Park Bicycle Track, 1893) as well as in Topeka, KS (Garfield Park Bicycle Track, 1898). The banked, one-quarter-mile Garfield Park Bicycle Track was located just North of the Kansas River along Kansas Avenue (for convenient streetcar service) and even boasted electric lights for more comfortable late evening summer racing.
Fast forward to the 21st century. After a successful “test run” in Riverfront Park, Shawnee, KS, the current Kansas Velodrome (more affectionately known world-wide as the “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome) was measured, marked, and mowed in a pasture along the Farmer’s Turnpike just outside Lawrence, KS in 2010. Since then, the “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome has become the Mecca for track cycling in the KC Metro/Lawrence area and beyond, attracting track cyclists from as far away as Colorado and Pennsylvania. And if we are “name dropping,” let us not forget that Nebraska native Ashton Lambie, a.k.a. “Mustache-Guy,” (current World Champion and current World Record Holder in the Men’s Individual Pursuit) got his track cycling start right here at the “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome in 2016.
For those of you in the KC Metro/Lawrence area (and beyond) who are interested in trying out track cycling but aren’t quite ready to make the drive all the way out to the Penrose Park Velodrome in St. Louis, MO (by far the closest banked velodrome to the Metro), you are in luck! The 2022 Kansas Track Cycling Season kicks off on Tuesday, 31 May (traditionally the day after Memorial Day) and runs through 26 July (with the State Championships on Sunday, 31 July this year). Velodrome Tuesdays consist of Open Track from 6:30 to 7:45 PM, Track Certification Clinic (required of all new comers, regardless of experience) at ~6:45 PM, and Training Race(s) of the Week (including the old-school, six-race, Coach Pat’s Ominum Training Racing Series (a lovely blend of mass-start and timed events which will appeal to all)) starting at ~8:00 PM. Everything during the regular season out at the “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome is FREE again this season, including loner bikes (just give us a heads up about your frame size so we can grab one out of off-site storage for you), and you don’t even need a racing license to participate. (An USA Cycling racing license is required for the State Championships, however.) Don’t know how to ride a fixed-geared bike? No worries, KCA Hall of Fame Coach Pat is on hand to teach you in say, 5 minutes! So come on out to the “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome and enjoy the purest (and best-est) form of bicycle racing – Track Cycling!
[More info about the “World Famous” Lawrence Grass Velodrome, including upcoming events and results, may be found at www.facebook.com/LawrenceGrassVelodrome. Not on facebook? No problem, email Coach Pat directly with your questions at coach_pat_s@yahoo.com.]
Coach Pat is a long-time Licensed Road Racer (road, track, cyclo-cross), Licensed Cycling Coach, Inductee into the Kansas Cycling Hall of Fame, Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS), and former Research Scientist at NASA, who now works as a Licensed Physical Therapist.