Benton County police set up barricades to the Daugherty Speedway entrance at County Road 650 South on Friday, May 8, to prevent the dirt track from staging races initially scheduled for Saturday, May 9. The state issued a cease-and-desist order, saying the races would have been a violation of Gov. Eric Holcomb's stay-at-home orders during the coronavirus pandemic. Owner Michael Daugherty said he would comply with the state's order but protested county actions to block access to his track. (Photo provided by Michael Daugherty)
BOSWELL – There was no racing, after all, Saturday night on Daugherty Speedway’s 3/8-mile dirt track near Boswell.
But there was plenty of action, as the speedway’s owner, Benton County leaders and even the governor’s office spent the past week coming to a truce over an attempt to schedule a night of short track races ahead of schedule of Indiana’s gradual lifting of stay-at-home orders.
By Monday morning, barricades at Benton County Road 650 South – and the deputies positioned there in recent days – meant to enforce a state cease-and-desist order against the speedway were gone.
But Michael Daugherty, the Lafayette-based owner of the speedway for the past six years, was still steaming about what he called government overreach on two fronts in the days of social distancing and restrictions on businesses considered nonessential during the state’s reopening.
First, Daugherty said, he wasn’t happy but was willing to comply when Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office reiterated that racing as soon as Saturday – when public gatherings were still limited to 25 – was off limits.
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