MOUNT VERNON — A new event is coming to the Knox County Fair this year: School bus racing. The Knox County Fair Board is in the process of selling the buses to local individuals and organizations in preparation for the race which will occur on Thursday evening during fair week.
According to Johnny Curtis, a member of the Knox County Fair Board and chairman of the event, the buses were purchased from a bus junkyard in Lima and four of them have already been sold. Five others are still for sale, and the fair board is selling them for $1,100 each.
Curtis was quick to point out that in order to participate in the race, buses do not need to necessarily be purchased from the fair board. “You don’t have to buy the bus from us,” said Curtis, “we were just trying ... to get it going.”
The bus race will be on the same night that harness racing was held last year, but Curtis said that the event with the buses will not replace the harness racing. “We’re just starting the harness racing earlier,” said Curtis, referring to Thursday evening, “and the school bus race will be after that.” He said that harness racing will also be held on Tuesday evening.
Curtis said that he and other members of the fair board think that the bus race will draw higher attendance than harness racing, based on the popularity of the tough truck competition. Also, several other members of the fair board had heard of other local fairs that had bus racing events, and some board members went to observe the events and thought it would be a good addition to the Knox County Fair.
“We’ve encouraging anyone who wants to race a bus to come and buy one,” said Curtis, “or ... you can buy your bus from anywhere, it doesn’t matter.” Buses will have to have all glass removed for safety, and owners are encouraged to custom paint their vehicle and feature sponsors as well. “A lot of the people that have bought them have already got plans [for] advertisements,” said Curtis.
Heat races will precede the main race on Thursday evening, and the number of buses entered in the event will dictate the number of heat races.
Curtis said that he doesn’t know what will happen if all the buses are not sold, but he is optimistic that all of the vehicles will have buyers before the fair. “I’ve had enough people verbally commit [and] I think we’re going to have them all sold,” said Curtis. He then noted that the buses can be used to race for more than one year: “[The buses] will not be junk when you’re done,” said Curtis, “it’s a race, it’s not a [demolition] derby.” He also said that he knows of two people from Delaware County who are likely to participate in the bus races in both the Delaware and Knox county fairs.
Persons interested in purchasing buses from the fair board should contact Johnny Curtis at 627-1900.
