Go karts race in HC
6/28/2009
The race was still going as the News Times went to press but judging by attendance and the lack of major problems the First Annual Hartford City Heritage Cup appeared to be a big success.
The go kart races brought to Hartford City by Matt Felver and the owners of Speed Creek II receway in Lapel drew hundreds of spectators on the first day after a heat wave ended.
Felver finished third in his feature race. Look for more details of the races later this week in the News Times.
The races capped off two weeks of activities that began with the Heritage Days parade in mid June and wound up last night with racing at Sigma Phi Gamma Park and on Richmond Street.
According to Hartford City Mayor Dennis Whitesell, the races brought to this city by his police chief, Felver, were mostly covered by sponsorships but city workers did apply asphalt to Richmond Street in preparation for the event.
The mayor said Richmond Street needed work anyway and the cost of materials and labor on Friday was minimal compared to what Hartford City could gain from the guests and the exposure brought to town by the event.
he go-kart races featured children and adults racing in six classes. They capped off four days of activity in the Blackford Sports, Health and Wellness Festival, a project of Rotarian and city councilman Bill Hess.
he centerpiece of the festival was the PostYourT.org East-West All-Star Games, which brought Hartford City even more exposure on Channel 4 on Saturday. Channel 4, which includes the sports organization Indysportsnation.com, covered the games with video on their website and broadcast three of the games live.
ne girls basketball game (Class 1A) and two boys basketball games (Class 3A and Class 4A) were aired between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Saturday, June 27. Many recent graduates played the last basketball game of their high school careers at Blackford High School on Saturday. Eight games were played, featuring boys and girls games from each class.
his was the first year any of the PostYourT.org East-West All-Star Games have been televised, according to Sports Information Director for the group Dave Risley.
hough the games suffered from poor name recognition from the announcers, Hartford City and Blackford County got plenty of shout-outs. Both were mentioned many dozen times during the broadcasts.
The games were alternately referred to as “the all-star classic” and the “East-West All Star Festival.” Only Jan Connor, the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame Coach for whom a mental attitude award is named, and Rob Cleveland, got the name of the games right multiple times and gave kudos to PostYourT.org, a non-profit group that aims to help high school athletes who just graduated get matched with colleges.
Rob Cleveland, executive director of Blackford County Economic Development Corporation, was interviewed by his friend and former associate who was announcing the games.
“Leave it to you to work in racing somehow,” said the associate, a reference to Cleveland’s former job promoting racing.
Cleveland was able to talk about business opportunities in Blackford County and gave a plug to the Hartford City downtown. He would like to see more retail come here to complement the $1.5 million housing grant that is about to begin spending money in the center city, he said.
lso interviewed was Rotary Club outgoing president Rollin Brown, who detailed how the Rotarians contributed to the PostYourT.org East-West All-Star Games.
Former Coach Mike Walker, the founder of the PostYourT.org East-West All-Star Games said he brought the games to Hartford City because of the “can-do” attitude of the locals, most notably the Rotary Club. Last year the club repainted the dugouts at Blackford High School so the baseball games played there would look sharp.
This year was the first year for soccer, and though basketball was the sport that Walker founded the games on, the basketball games were new to Blackford County.
Golf was played at the Blackford Golf Club for the second year in a row.. Next year, wherever the games are played, girls soccer will be part of them.
It is not yet known whether the PostYourT.org East-West All-Star Games will return to Hartford City next year, but Blackford County is under consideration as a possible site for the games. According to a board member for PostYourT.org, Marian College on the north side of Indianapolis also is under consideration.
For more, visit http://hartfordcitynewstimes.com/
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