Kutztown: Does Any Other College Town Offer This?

We make it a point to visit Kutztown, Pennsylvania, at least once each summer.  It might be for the annual Folk Festival, or for the annual Kutztown Fair, but more often it is for the racing that takes place on a small dirt oval across the street from Kutztown University.  The track has the tongue-tangling moniker of JeffreyHogueRealtor.com Action Track USA fueled by VP Racing Fuels, but everyone just calls it Kutztown.

It is an unusual location for a race track, adjacent to residential Kutztown and in the shadow of the University buildings, and the location is both a blessing and a curse.  The blessing is that it is a convenient place, not far from Interstate 78, and reached easily by racing fans from the Lehigh Valley, the Harrisburg capital, or the greater Philadelphia region.  The curse is that Kutztown residents do not generally like the sound of racing engines shattering the quiet of their summer evenings.

Oh, and there’s that University, which dates back to the late 1800s.  Racing can take place only when classes are not in session, so the racing season is by necessity a short one.  By agreement with both the University and the borough of Kutztown, racing programs are limited in number.  This first is in May, and the track’s season is done two weeks before Labor Day.

This abbreviated season is, however, likely one of the keys to the track’s popularity.  The law of supply and demand applies, and so fans who might have from March to October to sample any other Pennsylvania track – and there are many – flock to Kutztown during its diminutive season.

Diminutive, too, are the cars being raced: “SpeedSTRs,” spec-built single-seat open-wheel cars that resemble something that might come from a bad one-night stand between a USAC Midget and a WoO Sprint car, are the headline class and the largest cars raced at Kutztown.  But more often than not the show is stolen by the supporting Micro-Sprint class, cars that are smaller than Midgets and quickest around the track.  Drivers in both classes race hard, but the Micro-Sprints race as if winning pays a million bucks.  It doesn’t.

SpeedSTRs are powered by modified and sealed four-cylinder MoPar engines, and the Micro-Sprints are powered by 600cc motorcycle engines permitted somewhat more liberal owner modifications.  A third car class, called Slingshots, is pure entry-level.

Also contributing to the track’s success are its midweek schedule – races take place on Wednesday evenings – as well as the mix of competitors who participate.  Popular drivers from a variety of regional series races at Kutztown, including veterans with countless championships under their belts and teenagers just breaking into the sport.  It’s an eclectic mix.  The post-race podium may cover a 40-year age range.

All of which is why on a recent Wednesday evening we bought a pit pass, visited with friends, and took in the racing.  In the shadow of Kutztown University, there are lessons to be learned in how to run a race track.

Photos by Bob Marlow