Two men with Montgomery County ties are among the honorees of the first five historic markers that comprise the newly established Brownsburg Racing Memorial Trail, which was unveiled Thursday and is a collaboration between the Town of Brownsburg and the Indiana Racing Memorial Association.
Linden native Larry Rice (1946-2009), a racing driver who was the 1978 Indy 500 Co-Rookie of the Year and WCVL-WIMC-WCDQ former General Manager Howdy Bell, who was a reporter on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network for 42 years, are two of five honorees that comprise the initial trail. The others are USAC Racing officials Bill Marvel and Dick Jordan, and former NASCAR Busch Series racing driver Robbie Stanley. All have ties to the Brownsburg community.
Nicknamed the “Drag Racing Capital of the World,” Brownsburg is home to auto racing teams, manufacturers and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The Brownsburg Racing Memorial Trail provides a way for visitors to connect with the town’s motorsports history by visiting historic markers that tell the stories of the legends of racing. Plans call to expand the trail with more honorees in the coming years that will further tell Brownsburg’s unique racing story.
“The Rice, Stanley, and Marvel markers were previously installed,” said IRMA Co-Founder Mark Eutsler of Linden. “After conversations with Brownsburg Parks and Recreation officials, it became apparent they wanted a way to draw attention to the community’s racing heritage that would attract visitors. The idea of creating a racing heritage trail soon gained momentum.”
The “Brownsburg Racing Memorial Trail Guide” is available at https://www.brownsburg.org/660/Brownsburg-Racing-Memorial-Trail.
This fall the town will host the first Motorsports Mania on the Brownsburg Town Hall Green during the Brownsburg Farmers Market. It will be a collaboration with Brownsburg Farmers Market, Town of Brownsburg, Brownsburg Parks & Recreation, Don Schumacher Racing, Indianapolis Region Sports Car Club of America, Hoosier Tire Midwest, Allgaier Performance Parks, CSI Shocks, Indiana Racing Memorial Association and the NHRA U.S. Nationals.
First settled in 1824 by James B. Brown, Brownsburg is home to 28,973 residents. In 1985, part of the movie Hoosiers was filmed in the former College Avenue Gym.
Founded in December 2013, the Indiana Racing Memorial Association has installed 50 markers throughout Indiana and 5 in other states. With the mission of “Celebrating Indiana’s Racing Heritage,” IRMA’s first marker was unveiled on July 4, 2014, on the centennial of the opening of Winchester Speedway. Almost 20,000 people have attended marker unveiling events to date. In May, IRMA’s Facebook page had a record 1.5 million views and 800,000 engagements.
