top of page
Fairbury News staff

Ziller honored prior to PDC




(Steve Ricketts hugs Wayne Ziller prior to the Prairie Dirt Classic Saturday evening in Fairbury)

Wayne Ziller was honored during the opening ceremonies of the Prairie Dirt Classic for his efforts in saving the Fairbury Speedway years ago.


“They really surprised me – I can’t believe it,” Ziller told Fairbury News Saturday evening.


Ziller cast the tie-breaking vote to rebuild the dirt track in the late 1980s and 1990 was the first year of racing on the new track which is about the time the Prairie Dirt Classic started.


“We had to rebuild it,” recalled Ziller. “It just wasn’t big enough.”


The old track was much smaller than today’s track as the back stretch was just on the other side of the current scale and the corners are much wider now.


“I didn’t sleep that winter but we got it done,” added Ziller.


Ziller, Tom Mies and Steve Ricketts were the racing directors at the time.


“We had to raise ‘x’ amount of dollars in a short amount of time. Wayne took care of all of the political stuff,” said Ricketts.


They were worried most about money.


“It didn’t cost near as much as we thought it would because the town of Fairbury really got behind us,” explained Ziller.


Ziller spent 27 years on the fair board and 17 as co-racing director at Fairbury. He considers the time “a lot of fun and a lot of work.” Ricketts still helps at the track today.


(Wayne Ziller with the Combined Honor Guard at the Fairbury Speedway Saturday)

1,242 views0 comments

Recent Posts

See All

Comments


DAVES LOGO larger.jpg
Image.jpeg
bottom of page