
National Clay Track Championship
Santa Fe Speedway's Fall Championship Tradition
Santa Fe's long-distance fall championship lineage reaches back to the 1950s. Midwest Racing News explicitly promoted the Sept. 28, 1969 race as the first annual Grand National Clay Track Championship; the Museum retains the earlier championship specials as predecessor editions in the later NCTC lineage.
Complete fields were recovered for 1978–1983, 1985–1986 and 1989. MRN also preserves a Top 20 for 1984, Top 12 for 1988, Top 10s for 1973–1975, 1977, 1987, 1990 and 1995, plus shorter published fields in the remaining later years. The 1972 result was repaired from the MRN account, and the 1988 NCTC date was corrected to Sunday, Sept. 25; Sept. 24 was the Silver Crown 50 preliminary.
The earlier 1953–1968 long-distance Santa Fe championship winners remain displayed because later Santa Fe historical sources treat those races as part of the same tradition. The 1966 source chronology contains two winning records, so both are retained rather than forcing them into one edition.