Smith realized the Scottsbluff/Gering area needed a stock car track after the track near the Scottsbluff Airport closed. Smith, with a lot of financial help from local businesses, took about three years to build what is now known as HiWay 92 Raceway Park. Smith used a Minneapolis Moline tractor to do all the dirt work building the track. The track opened in July of 1968 and stayed open through the 1970 racing season. In 1971 the track opened as Oregon Trail Speedway under the ownership of Larry Steinbrecker of Minitare, NE, George Leis, Willard Stricker, and Orville Spidel, all from Scottsbluff. Those four gentlemen operated the track until 1976, when Leis and Spidel bought the interests of Stricker and Steinbrecker. In 1977 Mike Warren bought the shares owned by Spidel. He and Leis operated the track as Oregon Trail Raceway through the 1981 season. At that time, Warren became the sole owner of the facility. The saddest event in the track’s history was when a sprint car appearing for a special event went off the track, cleared the west fence, and came down on another sprint car on jack stands in the pit area. The chief mechanic on the sprint in the pits, Paul Ditsch, was pinned under the weight of both cars and died the following week in the Scottsbluff Hospital. In 1984 John Curtis of Cheyenne, WY, bought the track. He re-named the facility Oregon Trail Speedway. Curtis operated for 2 years and attempted to open for the 1986 season, but had made enough enemies with the drivers that they would not come to the track. The track remained closed until June of 1990 when Dallas and Lucille Whiting opened the track, again as Oregon Trail Speedway. They ran the track through the 2003 season. In October of 2004, Lee and Carol Schwartzkopf bought the track from the Whiting’s and named it Hi-Way 92 Raceway Park. They owned and operated the track through the 2016 season. In October 2016 John and Vonda Ulander purchased the track and have many plans, the first being, RACING ON SATURDAY NIGHTS!.
