History
Mt. Lawn Speedway was founded in 1935 by Dr. George W. Sweigart, a dentist and a former mayor for the town of Hartford City, Indiana. At the time of the tracks opening it was a one-fifth mile pear-shaped dirt oval. Also constructed during the early years of the track were a dance hall, a swimming pool, as well as summer cabins for vacationers. The dance hall played host to two the most influential big band musicians of the era, The Dorsey Brothers and Sammy Kaye. However in 1939 a fire caused by a overheated exhaust fan in the orchestra pit led to the dance halls first demise. When the hall was rebuilt, a second fire caused by a coal-powered fireplace led to the dancehalls second, and ultimately final demise.
In 1940 Sweigart closed the track down and it appeared that racing in Henry County was over. However later that year a local promoter named Dutch Hertz visited the area looking for a lighting system for a track that he was constructing known as the Muncie Vellodrome located in Muncie, Indiana. When he noticed the layout of the land he mentioned to Sweigart " Why don't you start a track here"? When Sweigart replied that the land had indeed been a race track before, Hertz convinced Sweigart to reopen the track. In 1941 he hired a local farmer to retill the land as Sweigart and local residents rebuilt the track. However, later that summer the dirt surface of the track had worn down and it was decided that a new surface would be needed. So Sweigart hired a crew from the area and the first concrete surface was laid on the track. This paving would be followed by three repavings in asphalt in 1947, 1967, and finally in 1971.
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