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Last updated on Tuesday, May 19, 2015
(MITCHELL) - The 5th Annual Mitchell Hillbilly 500 Race is scheduled for August 1. If it rains the event will be held on August 2.
Registration will be the morning of the race starting at 9 a.m. and will end at 11 a.m. There will be no late registration. The event will be held at the top of the hill on Teke Burton Drive, near Hoosier Hills Credit Union.
The idea is to build a cart, without a motor, with whatever the creator can find. In the past, carts have been made using bicycle tires, lawn chairs, wheelchair wheels, wood and pipes. Others are sleeker, created to look like buses or race cars.
Teke Burton Drive will be closed to traffic from Orchard Street north Street beginning Friday, so crews can set up a 500-foot ramp and line the street with bales of straw for safety.
This year's event is hosted by the Mitchell Lions Club. The club took over the event after organizers Dan and Kellie Kemple said that the event outgrew what local volunteers could handle and organizers were having difficulty covering the cost of liability insurance. Insurance issues will no longer be a problem because The Lions Club is an official organization with its own insurance.
But local racers may have a larger group to compete against during the down-hill gravity race. Racers from Mount Carmel, Ill. will be bringing their jalopies hoping to land the first place trophies and bragging rights.
"We can't have that," says Lions Club member Larry Hardman, who is helping organize the event. "So what better way to bring the family together then to build a racer from scraps and bits and pieces of bikes or lawn mowers or whatever else you can find laying around and come out and compete in some friendly-fun racing. It's a good way to get the whole family involved."
The cost to enter or watch the races is a non-perishable item that will be donated to Bertha's Mission.
Not only will there be races, Z102 WPHZ will be broadcasting live and conducting interviews and commentary on race day. There will be food, music, activities for the little ones and fun for the whole family.
Those racing must sign a waiver to compete. Those are available on the Mitchell Hillbilly 500 Race Facebook page, at the radio station on Heltonville Road and at Sipes Body & Glass on Seventh Street in Bedford.
A full list of rules can be found on the Facebook page under the company overview link.
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