Skip to main content

Hiers, Forney team up to launch motorcycle races

Ken Forney (left) and Jeff Hiers have teamed up to create Forney Farms Flat Track Motorcycle Racing. A track owned by Forney in Warren will host half-mile flat track motorcycle races from June 10 through Oct. 22. Hiers, a retired professional motorcycle racer from Huntington, will promote the races.
Ken Forney (left) and Jeff Hiers have teamed up to create Forney Farms Flat Track Motorcycle Racing. A track owned by Forney in Warren will host half-mile flat track motorcycle races from June 10 through Oct. 22. Hiers, a retired professional motorcycle racer from Huntington, will promote the races. Photo by Steve Clark.

Jeff Hiers remembers the first time he rode a motorcycle on Ken Forney’s track in Warren.

The track had only ever been utilized for horses since its construction in 1968, but Hiers, a professional motorcycle racer, received permission to exhibit his skills on it for a TV station from Fort Wayne.

“When I rode back here in ’96, I don’t think I ever shut the throttle off,” recollects Hiers. “I was 100 miles an hour all the way around the track, wide open.”

The experience made an impression on him. Hiers recalls thinking the track was one of the best he had ridden on in the country. While he had interest in not only riding on it again, but introducing it to other racers, his career kept him busy and he put those plans on hold.

Now, 21 years later, he’s finally revisiting them.

Hiers retired from pro racing in 2010, after 15 years of competing in the Harley Series. Now the owner of a construction company in Fort Wayne, the Huntington native says he finally has the time to properly promote the track. In February, he gauged Forney’s interest in fixing it up and holding half-mile, flat track races there. Forney, who had recently retired, was intrigued — even though he knew how much labor would be ahead of them.

“I owned a business in Warren for 32 years, so this place certainly has been neglected for 32 years and I’m catching up, cleaning it up and everything because I want it to look good when we do open up June 10,” says Forney of the track. “But it’s been a lot of work.”

That work has included smoothing out the track’s surface and removing brush from the infield. Fencing will also be installed.

Just as much work has been put in off the track, too, as Hiers obtains sponsorships and spreads the word about the venue to potential racers and spectators.

Hiers and Forney’s enterprise, which they refer to as Forney Farms Flat Track Motorcycle Racing, will feature races from June 10 through Oct. 22. The biggest events on the track’s calendar are a pair of memorial races with personal significance to Hiers and Forney. The track will host the Dave Hiers Memorial Race, in honor of Hiers’ father, on July 2. A month later, the Julie Forney Memorial Race, in honor of Forney’s wife, will run on Aug. 27.

To make those races stand out on the track’s schedule, both will feature purses of at least $5,000 for professional racers.

Hiers anticipates the track will draw interest from many racers, due to its unique standing in the state.

“There’s no other half-miles running in the state of Indiana,” he says.

Other factors in the track’s favor, adds Forney, are its proximity to neighboring states, Interstate 69 and hotels and restaurants.

Every race will have an entrance fee, with children ages 5 and under admitted free of charge. Spectators are advised to bring blankets or lawn chairs for seating. Each event will feature food vendors and a beer trailer.

More information about the track can be found on Facebook by searching for “Forney Farms Racing.”

The track is located at 7276 S. Warren Rd., Warren, behind the Warren Travel Plaza.

The track’s inaugural season will kick off on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11, with races starting at 1 p.m. each day.

After the work Hiers has put into promoting the track and helping Forney overhaul it, he’s excited by the prospect of racing at the venue that once impressed him so much.

“Still race, just not the pro stuff anymore,” he says.

“So, the ‘hometown kid,’ so to speak, will be out here racing as well and doing the promoting.”