Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is a 13,000-seat multi-purpose arena located in Fort Wayne, Indiana , United States, near present-day Johnny Appleseed Park . It opened in 1952 with a construction cost of nearly $ 3 million. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum was originally designed to seat 8,103 for hockey or 10,240 for basketball. Opened in 1989, the Coliseum's $ 26 million Exposition Center contains 108,000 square feet (10,000 m) devoted to hosting substantial trade shows and other events with seating for 7,500.
31-482: In 2002, an extensive $ 35 million renovation and expansion raised the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum's roof by 41 feet (12 m), thus increasing the arena's seating capacity to 10,500 for hockey or music concerts and 13,000 for basketball. The original structure was designed by A.M. Strauss Architects. The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum is the current home of the: War Memorial Coliseum
62-694: A "World Speedcar Championship" or "World Speedcar Derby". During this time Speedcars were arguably the most popular category in Australian speedway with crowds of up to 30,000 attending meetings at the Sydney Showground and over 10,000 in Adelaide and Brisbane. Speedcars continue to race across Australia, with the major events being the annual Australian Speedcar Championship , state championships (held in QLD, NSW, VIC, TAS, SA, WA, and ACT), and blue ribbon events including
93-630: A campaign rally ahead of the Indiana Primary election at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Over 12,500 were in attendance. On November 5, 2018, then President Donald Trump returned to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum on the eve of the Midterm Election, holding a rally for his administration and to aid Mike Braun in his efforts to win a seat in the United States Senate. Coliseum officials estimated 20,000 Trump supporters attended
124-409: A detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including "details of the means of egress, seating capacity, [and] arrangement of the seating...." Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the total size of the venue, and its purpose. For sports venues, the "decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors. Chief among these are
155-498: A new four-sided LED scoreboard was installed by Daktronics, Inc. The screens from the previous scoreboard were placed in each corner of the arena. The Coliseum Arena hosted the first ever United States Auto Club race in 1956, a 100-lap midget car race at a 1/10-mile oval. The event continued until 1989, usually with two separate events in early and late January. Since 1998, the Coliseum Exposition Center has hosted
186-463: A table derived from the seating capacity of the space. The International Fire Code, portions of which have been adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, "For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms, the occupant load shall not be less than the number of seats based on one person for each 18 inches (457 mm) of seating length". It also requires that every public venue submit
217-494: A theatre or other performing space, the "seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed". Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used and the royalties to be given. The seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity. Seating capacity
248-767: Is a worldwide tour and national midget tours in the United States, Australia, Argentina and New Zealand . Typically, these four-cylinder-engine cars have 300 horsepower (220 kW) to 400 horsepower (300 kW) and weigh 900 pounds (410 kg). The high power and small size of the cars combine to make midget racing quite dangerous; for this reason, modern midget cars are fully equipped with roll cages and other safety features. Some early major midget car manufacturers include Kurtis Kraft (1930s to 1950s) and Solar (1944–46). Midgets are intended to be driven for races of relatively short distances, usually 2.5 to 25 miles (4 to 40 km). Some events are staged inside arenas, like
279-528: Is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas . When entities such as the National Football League 's Super Bowl Committee decide on a venue for a particular event, seating capacity, which reflects the possible number of tickets that can be sold for the event, is an important consideration. Seating capacity differs from total capacity (sometimes called public capacity ), which describes
310-461: Is located. In 2013, a $ 3.96 million renovation and expansion of the 200 Level was completed. The project included upgraded restrooms with LED lighting, no-touch sinks, no-touch toilets, and no-touch urinals, and the addition of two food courts with three new vendors. Other restrooms throughout the Memorial Coliseum were upgraded in 2014. The ribbon cutting ceremony was October 11, 2013. In 2018,
341-831: The Australian Speedcar Grand Prix (first held in 1938), the $ 20k to win Australasian 50 Lap Speedcar Championship (first held in 1946)(SA), the Sydney 50 Lapper (NSW), Ultimate Speedcar Championship (QLD), the John Day Speedcar Classic (WA), the Beasley Family Memorial (VIC) and more. In December 2013, POWRi Midget Racing began a 16-event Lucas Oil POWRi Midget World Championship that ran until June 2014. Drivers competed in New Zealand and Australia at
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#1732859360007372-622: The Chili Bowl held in early January at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma . There are midget races in dirt track racing and in asphalt (paved tracks). There are three-quarter (TQ) midgets which developed from "midget midget" cars of the late 1940s. Quarter midgets are one-quarter the size of a full midget car. The first organized Midget car race happened on June 4, 1933. The sports' first regular weekly program began on August 10, 1933 at
403-536: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway , has a permanent seating capacity for more than 235,000 people and infield seating that raises capacity to an approximate 400,000. Safety is a primary concern in determining the seating capacity of a venue: "Seating capacity, seating layouts and densities are largely dictated by legal requirements for the safe evacuation of the occupants in the event of fire". The International Building Code specifies, "In places of assembly,
434-501: The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Exposition Center and Holiday Inn , managed in cooperation with Purdue–Fort Wayne . Within the same complex as the arena, the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Exposition Center contains 108,000 square feet (10,000 m) devoted to hosting substantial trade shows, banquets, graduation ceremonies, concerts, truck and tractor pulls, and wrestling matches, with
465-609: The Loyola High School Stadium in Los Angeles under the control of the first official governing body, the Midget Auto Racing Association (MARA). After spreading across the country, the sport traveled around the world; first to Australia in 1934 at Melbourne's Olympic Park on December 15, and to New Zealand in 1937. Early midget races were held on board tracks previously used for bicycle racing . When
496-557: The Rumble in Fort Wayne, an annual midget car race. Featuring a 1/6-mile flat oval, it takes place at the end of the year, and after most major racing series seasons have ended. It has allowed drivers from major racing series to participate: Dave Darland , Tracy Hines , J. J. Yeley , Bryan Clauson Sammy Swindell ; with NASCAR , USAC and IndyCar champion Tony Stewart having the most feature wins at 9. On May 1, 2016, Donald Trump held
527-826: The beginning of the 2013–14 season and ended in the United States. Midget car racing also grew in popularity in the Northeast of the United States, in part due to racers like Bill Schindler and events at tracks like that at Hinchcliffe Stadium . Many IndyCar and NASCAR drivers use midget car racing as an intermediate stepping stone on their way to more high-profile divisions, including Tony Stewart , Sarah Fisher , Rodger Ward , A. J. Foyt , Mario Andretti , Johnnie Parsons , Ryan Newman , Kyle Larson , Jeff Gordon , Christopher Bell , Bill Vukovich , and others. Events are sometimes held on weeknights so that popular and famous drivers from other, higher-profiled types of motor racing (who race in those higher-profiled types of racing on
558-516: The capability of seating 7,500 guests. When no events are scheduled for the arena, the Exposition Center's capacity can extend to a total of 175,000 square feet (16,300 m). The Exposition Center was added in the $ 26 million renovation and expansion of the complex, completed in 1989. The grounds immediately surrounding the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum display the anchor from World War II's USS Indiana battleship. South and east of
589-518: The central complex is an expansive parking lot, containing 4,500 available parking spaces. To the south and west along the St. Joseph River, lies Johnny Appleseed Park , containing the gravesite of American folklore figure John Chapman . To the north and northeast is the Purdue–FW campus, especially the portion of the Purdue–FW campus located on the western bank of the St. Joseph, on which a 151-room Holiday Inn
620-627: The country's "golden era" of the 1950s and 1960s. Australian promoters such as Adelaide 's Kym Bonython who ran the Rowley Park Speedway , and Empire Speedways who ran the Brisbane Exhibition Ground and the famous Sydney Showground Speedway , often imported drivers from the US, such as the popular Jimmy Davies . Promoters in Australia during this period often staged races billed as either
651-683: The country, facing opposition from independent drivers and racetracks. After the AAA withdrew from sanctioning races in 1955, the United States Auto Club took over as the major sanctioning body of midget car racing in the United States. NASCAR had a midget division from 1952 to 1968. Soon after in Australia , Speedcar racing became popular with the first Australian Speedcar Championship being contested in Melbourne in 1935, its popularity running through
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#1732859360007682-469: The maximum total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law. Midget car racing Midget cars , also Speedcars in Australia , is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines . They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most continents. There
713-471: The primary sports program and the size of the market area". In motion picture venues, the "limit of seating capacity is determined by the maximal viewing distance for a given size of screen", with image quality for closer viewers declining as the screen is expanded to accommodate more distant viewers. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide and how they are able to provide it. In contracting to permit performers to use
744-457: The purpose-built speedway at Gilmore Stadium was completed, racing ended at the school stadium, and hundreds of tracks began to spring up across the United States. Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin (near Madison ) is another major track in the United States operating since the first half of the twentieth century. The AAA Contest Board soon started sanctioning midget races across
775-408: The rally. Seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space , in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law . Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The largest sporting venue in the world,
806-399: The seats shall be securely fastened to the floor" but provides exceptions if the total number of seats is fewer than 100, if there is a substantial amount of space available between seats or if the seats are at tables. It also delineates the number of available exits for interior balconies and galleries based on the seating capacity, and sets forth the number of required wheelchair spaces in
837-668: The sectional, regional and semistate championships of the IHSAA boys' basketball tournament during the one-class era. The Coliseum was selected in April 2017 as one of the sites for the "Sweet 16" round of the 2020 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship and the "Final Four" of the NCAA Division III men's basketball championship in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Coliseum has hosted several live events by World Wrestling Entertainment . The Allen County War Memorial Coliseum complex includes
868-438: The total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Where seating capacity is a legal requirement, however, as it is in movie theatres and on aircraft , the law reflects the fact that the number of people allowed in should not exceed the number who can be seated. Use of the term "public capacity" indicates that a venue is allowed to hold more people than it can actually seat. Again,
899-562: The weekends) will be available to compete, and so that it does not conflict with drivers' home tracks. Australia 's Triple Formula One World Drivers' Champion Sir Jack Brabham got his motor racing start in Speedcars on the dirt track ovals in his home town of Sydney . Before going on to become the 1959 , 1960 and 1966 World Champion, Brabham was a multiple Australian national and state title winner from 1948 until he turned full time to road racing in 1953. In 1959, Lime Rock Park held
930-549: Was known foremost as the home of the NBA 's Fort Wayne Pistons for five seasons (1952–57) as well as the 1953 NBA All-Star Game and 1955 and 1956 NBA Finals . After the Pistons moved to Detroit in 1957, the facility continued to host at least one of their games every season from the 1958–59 to 1966–67 campaigns. Other pro basketball events there were the 1994 CBA All-Star Game and the 2014 and 2015 NBA D-League Finals. Memorial Coliseum
961-574: Was the site of several NCAA events, including the 2000, 2001 and 2002 Mid-Continent Conference men's basketball tournaments and the 1988, 1994 and 2000 NCAA Division I Final Four nen's volleyball championships . More recently, the University of Notre Dame hosted the 2010 NCAA Division I men's ice hockey tournament Midwest Regional at Memorial Coliseum. The 2022 and 2023 NCAA Division III men's basketball championship also were held there. The arena has hosted college wrestling tournaments as well as