SC Rewind: Windsor Fire Of 1975

In this week's edition of 'Rewind' Robert Smith recalls in some detail the devastating fire that caused heavy damage to the Windsor Raceway grandstand and quickly curtailed racing at the end of the 1975 winter meeting.

His piece contains a few old probably never-seen-before photos of the devastation and rebuild that followed.

A view of the badly-charred Clubhouse end of the Windsor grandstand as it appeared shortly after a 1975 major fire severely damaged a large portion of the 10-year-old structure

In late March of 1975 officials in charge of Windsor Raceway were basking in the glow of their current successes. As the border oval approached the tenth anniversary of its opening back in 1965, things just couldn't have been going too much better. Attendance was up by seven percent and the mutuel handles also showed healthy gains in the range of 10 percent. It appeared as though not a lot could stop the forward motion currently being experienced.

With just two weeks left in the current winter meeting a lot of things were in the works for the closing days. At the top of the list was the track's signature event, the Provincial Cup, then about to stage the tenth annual renewal of this already famous race. With a purse of $50,000 on the line, Windsor's Race secretary Joe DeFrank had all but put the finishing touches on what he had hoped would be a 10-horse field and perhaps the best ever assembled. The outcome at Mohawk's Saturday night Invitational would possibly result in an entry from either Derbys Gent or Caroldons Knight; perhaps both.

A few special anniversary giveaways and promotional ideas would certainly round out what is usually a track's best two weeks of the whole winter session. With warmer weather and a long break from racing in the offing, the fans were certainly showing up in record numbers. The driver's race was still up for grabs with three drivers jousting for the top spots. Perennial leader Greg Wright had a slim margin in the dashes won title while Ken Hardy and Bill Gale were both on win streaks. Could anything stand in the way of this almost picture-perfect close?

On the afternoon of Sunday, March 23, 1975 something did happen and suddenly all of the successes and great hopes for the best closing ever literally went up in smoke. At about 4:40 p.m. a couple of clubhouse bus boys preparing for that evening's race program discovered a fire in a fourth floor storage area above the clubhouse. The fire of unknown origin was believed to have started in some rolls of old carpeting stored there. By the time the young fellows discovered the blaze it was well on its way and far too advanced to be extinguished by those on the scene. Additionally it was believed that no sprinkler systems existed in the storage area. The fact that paper goods, tables and chairs were stored there made it a combustible source.

The fire was discovered about an hour before an anticipated crowd of some 6,800 racing fans were to start arriving for the Sunday evening card. This was a blessing as it probably avoided what could have become a very dangerous situation. Thankfully no one was injured but the preliminary damage estimate was set at a figure of at least $2 million. There would be no further racing for quite some time.

A view of the grandstand roof after the devastating fire in March 1975 at Windsor Raceway

By the time fire crews from the nearby Windsor stations appeared on the scene fairly high winds had already fanned the fire into a rapid escalation in the upper area as it spilled out onto the roof. Within 20 minutes half of the city's on-duty firemen were on the scene in various vehicles including two aerial trucks, a snorkel truck and other support units. By 8:30 p.m. the fire was under control but by then half of the roof structure had been destroyed and steel support beams were twisted like pretzels according to firefighters. While the term "under control" could be applied, the fire continued to burn for some time even into the following day.

The badly damaged clubhouse as it appeared shortly after fire damaged a large portion of the Windsor grandstand

Smoke from the fire soon engulfed the area and began to snarl traffic on roads adjacent to the track as the first of the evening's patrons began to arrive. Raceway security personnel began to turn them away and as soon as bridge and tunnel authorities were notified they too advised that if people were headed to the Raceway that they should return back home. As so often happens curiosity seekers soon began to show up at the track to get a glimpse of the blaze but were kept well back and did not create any problems.

Besides the storage area being destroyed, a number of other key areas also incurred severe damage including the third floor dining lounge and the judge's gondola and some executive offices also on the third floor. Counting room employees were in the process of sorting out about $1 million in cash but it was stuffed in a fire proof vault before the workers headed for safety in the parking lot. Raceway controller Tom Lachine said "It's all safe, you can bet on that."

While the structure was fully insured, the potential losses of revenue were sizable and of course not covered. The track was to have operated 13 more racing programs including the one on the night of the fire with the final being scheduled for April 8th. Lachine estimated that crowds could have easily reached the 75,000 to 100,000 level and that they could have wagered a conservative total of $7.5 million in the remaining days. During that time another $500,000 would have been realized in food and liquor sales, parking and program fees.

The horsemen were also hard hit with the sudden loss of racing opportunities. The track readily agreed to allow them to stay until they could move to other locations such as Toronto, London and Michigan tracks which of course had already been planned, just not so soon. Thankfully because of the layout of the Raceway the stables were located some distance away thus there was no concern of the fire spreading to that area.

Raceway President Wm. Rowe, who was at his home in the Barrie area, was immediately advised and quickly decided to return to Windsor by car. His main concern was the safety of employees and also the firefighters. A few years previous to this a Windsor firefighter lost his life in another major blaze in this City.

With the earlier than planned closure of the Windsor meeting came a number of problems and aggravating situations. Race secretary Joe DeFrank had to immediately notify all Provincial Cup entrants that the race would be postponed until fall. Additionally horsepeople needed their eligibility papers in order to race elsewhere. Unfortunately a number of those documents had been consumed by the fire so the tedious process of replacing them began immediately.

In very short order engineering studies were underway to determine how to repair the damage and restore the plant to its former state. Work crews were quickly on site and the track was soon back in construction mode. A few photos shown below captured some of the work that was undertaken to repair the extensive damage.

A large portion of the front section of the Windsor grandstand had to undergo reconstruction following the fire

Huge piles of construction supplies and equipment are shown at the end of the Windsor Raceway stand as crews worked to quickly restore the plant following the fire for opening in October of 1975

As promised right from the start of this horrible disaster, racing did resume that fall on the evening of October 19th. After a lay off of nearly 7-1/2 months the newly-refurbished and repaired Windsor Raceway was once again up and operating. Not only did it re-open as scheduled, it did so with a huge crowd on hand to welcome back the pacers and trotters. Opening night was extra special, it was also Provincial Cup night. Possibly the topic for a future Rewind.

Who Is It? Where Is It?

Can you correctly identify the veteran driver in this photo taken many years ago at a "class reunion"?

About eight or nine years after the Windsor fire this track was struck with a similar happening which completely destroyed the clubhouse. Can you identify this U.S. track?

The answers will be given during the coming week.