Charlie Shaw, Winchester Speedway owner, saw his first race when he was a kid and has been hooked ever since. "My Dad got some free tickets to a midgets race at the 1/5 mile track over at Richmond in the late forties and we went. Watching the drivers work the outside hand brake and hand fuel pump while bumping each other was just about the most exciting thing I had ever seen." Shaw remembered. "This was in the days before television of course so I had never seen any racing before, and I was hooked."

It was several years before Shaw had a chance to see another race, his father was not involved in racing and he did not get a chance to go as far as Richmond to watch a race. Then when he was in high school a farmer built a track near his home and he got a chance to go more often. "The farmer just pushed the dirt around and called it the Dust Bowl. There were not even any seats you just sat on a hillside by the track, and I went there when I could." Shaw stated.

Following high school Shaw went to work at the local Chevrolet dealer. One day a local racer came in looking for some volunteers to help him as his pit crew. Shaw jumped at the chance. He was seventeen. From there he worked with Jim Jordan, father of current driver Jim Jordan, helping him build and race Sportsman class cars. He did not have the necessary funds to build his own cars at that time, so he did not race himself. After his kids were grown he did have the time and money to race and he did.

"Winchester Speedway was in bankruptcy, and I was born and raised in Randolph County, so I did not want to see it closed. But I did not want to take on a lot of extra work, two other guys went in with me and they assured me I would not have to do all the work. One is out completely now, and the other is out as far as management." He said with laugh. "This year has gone better than it has ever gone since we’ve had it, the 1998 season; I think we are on the right path."

Shaw would like to retain the old traditions at Winchester, the Winchester 400 and the Labor Day Race, as well as build new traditions for the future. With the long history of Winchester Speedway and all the great drivers that have raced there from many different types of racing, Mark Martin, A.J. Foyt, etc., it is a very famous track among racers die hard fans. Now he would like to make it well known to even the casual race fan.

"The CRA Super Series runs strong races, they are very fast and they put on a good show." Shaw stated when asked why have he invites the CRA Super Series to the track. "They also bring in a good crowd, with a bunch of cars."

Shaw’s day job is owner of Astral Industries in Lynn, IN. Astral manufactures and distributes caskets, and does custom metal stamping, powder coating and other custom fabrication for other companies. His business made the fence posts and other metal pieces needed at various times for the Speedway.

When not watching races at Winchester he likes to watch racing on dirt tracks or shorter asphalt tracks. "I like a track you can see all the way around from your seat." Shaw commented.