Dirt Track Racer Ray Lampkin: Fast, Fearless and Almost Forgotten

 

(Davenport Democrat and Leader. August 20, 1926)

Ray Lampkin jumped out of an auto-polo car, climbed into a dirt-track racer, and started beating men who’d been doing it for years. By the end of his first summer, he was one of the biggest attractions at the Iowa State Fair.

 

Auto polo was about as crazy as it sounds. Drivers tore around an open field while another man swung a mallet from the side of the car. Wrecks and rollovers were part of the show, so Lampkin knew how to handle speed, dust, and trouble.

 

He made the switch to regular racing in 1917. The Des Moines Register called him the sensation of the season, saying he drove “like a veteran.” Lampkin quickly proved it by winning a two-mile race and turning the fastest half-mile in the State Fair time trials.

 

Lampkin grabbed the lead in the 25-mile feature and started pulling away, but a flat tire ended his run. It wouldn’t be the last time a tire caused him trouble, and it certainly wouldn’t be the last Iowa heard of him.

 

He returned to the State Fair in 1918, won the 25-mile Hawkeye Sweepstakes, and broke four dirt-track records. His times at 10, 15, 20 and 25 miles were all reported as new world records for a half-mile track.

 

He covered the full 25 miles in 28 minutes, 59 seconds. That was 40 seconds faster than the old mark, and put him a quarter mile ahead of Louis Ellingboe. Lampkin also broke his own Iowa mile record with a time of 1:04.60.

Ray Lampkin in his No. 8 Sun Ray, a rebuilt Duesenberg, at the Iowa State Fair.
(Des Moines Register. August 31, 1917)

A week later, he did it again. Every car in the second 25-mile race had engine or tire trouble, and Lampkin blew a tire of his own. His crew slapped on another one, sent him back out, and watched him win by five laps.

 

Lampkin wasn’t tied to one car. He drove the Sun Ray, a rebuilt Duesenberg, along with the huge Fiat Submarine and the powerful Jumbo Benz. In 1921, he returned to Iowa in a Duesenberg previously raced by Indianapolis 500 winner Tommy Milton.

 

By then, Iowa newspapers were calling him an “English speed king.” In 1924, his name topped the list of famous drivers at the Interstate Fair in Sioux City. He raced several times that afternoon while Lillian Boyer’s Flying Circus performed overhead.

 

Davenport gave him an even bigger challenge in 1926. Fair officials put Lampkin behind the wheel of the giant Wisconsin Special and asked him to chase a world speed record. If he pulled it off, they promised him the largest cash bonus ever offered to a driver on an Iowa track.

 

Lampkin raced all over the country, but some of his wildest days came in Iowa. He broke records, survived blown tires, and drove cars that looked more like rockets with wheels. 

 

For a few summers, Ray Lampkin was about as fast—and as fearless—as anyone on dirt.