Chicago: The First Races In The Second City
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09/13/2016 Frank Buhrman |
When the Sprint Cup Series returns to Joliet, Ill., this weekend for its 16th annual race at Chicagoland Speedway, it will be something of a celebration of success for NASCAR’s efforts a couple of decades ago to recast itself as a truly national sport.
After all, when Chicagoland ran its first Cup race in 2001, it marked only the third event ever for the series in that state, the first in 45 years.
Not that Illinois isn’t racing territory, mind you. Lots of weekly tracks operate there, and quite a few have really storied histories, but this is Midwest racing territory, friends; acronyms like USAC/AAA, ARCA, IMSA, ASA and others predominate, not NASCAR (although one outstanding short track, Rockford Speedway, does represent Illinois in the NASCAR “Home Tracks” list). Look at historic short tracks like DuQuoin or the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile at Springfield, and the races have been under other sanctions.
A couple of larger tracks built during the great racetrack boom in the 1990s would have liked to have Cup races, but Gateway (no, it’s not in St. Louis, Mo., but rather East St. Louis, Ill.) and the ill-fated Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero had to settle for Xfinity and/or Camping World Truck races.
That means that, before Chicagoland, NASCAR’s top division had ventured into Illinois only twice. Both times it visited established speedways that enjoyed considerable success, but neither time could NASCAR succeed enough to justify a return visit.
The first Grand National race in Illinois came in 1954 at Santa Fe Speedway in Willow Springs. Dick Rathmann won the 200-lapper on that half-mile dirt track over Herb Thomas, Hershel McGriff, Lee Petty and Buck Baker – not too shabby a top five. Rathmann led 154 laps after Baker had led the first 46. The top three finished on the lead lap. Racing-Reference.info lists the race attendance at 6,208. Santa Fe had only opened the year before, on the site of an older horse track and park. In various configurations, it raced until 1995 before becoming a housing development.
After all, when Chicagoland ran its first Cup race in 2001, it marked only the third event ever for the series in that state, the first in 45 years.
Not that Illinois isn’t racing territory, mind you. Lots of weekly tracks operate there, and quite a few have really storied histories, but this is Midwest racing territory, friends; acronyms like USAC/AAA, ARCA, IMSA, ASA and others predominate, not NASCAR (although one outstanding short track, Rockford Speedway, does represent Illinois in the NASCAR “Home Tracks” list). Look at historic short tracks like DuQuoin or the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile at Springfield, and the races have been under other sanctions.
A couple of larger tracks built during the great racetrack boom in the 1990s would have liked to have Cup races, but Gateway (no, it’s not in St. Louis, Mo., but rather East St. Louis, Ill.) and the ill-fated Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero had to settle for Xfinity and/or Camping World Truck races.
That means that, before Chicagoland, NASCAR’s top division had ventured into Illinois only twice. Both times it visited established speedways that enjoyed considerable success, but neither time could NASCAR succeed enough to justify a return visit.
The first Grand National race in Illinois came in 1954 at Santa Fe Speedway in Willow Springs. Dick Rathmann won the 200-lapper on that half-mile dirt track over Herb Thomas, Hershel McGriff, Lee Petty and Buck Baker – not too shabby a top five. Rathmann led 154 laps after Baker had led the first 46. The top three finished on the lead lap. Racing-Reference.info lists the race attendance at 6,208. Santa Fe had only opened the year before, on the site of an older horse track and park. In various configurations, it raced until 1995 before becoming a housing development.
Two years later NASCAR was back, this time at the famous Soldier Field in Chicago, where the Bears played their NFL games. Auto racing had been held around the football field there since the mid-1930s, and in 1939 they even built a banked board track just for a series of midget races. According to Allan Brown’s History of America’
s Speedways, a race in 1953 had drawn 68,000 fans, but if that was what the promoters of NASCAR’s debut expected, they had to be disappointed with the 14,000 that showed up on July 21.
s Speedways, a race in 1953 had drawn 68,000 fans, but if that was what the promoters of NASCAR’s debut expected, they had to be disappointed with the 14,000 that showed up on July 21.
Fireball Roberts got the win in that 200-lap event, with Jim Paschal, Ralph Moody, Speedy Thompson and Frank Mundy following him, all on the lead lap. Buck Baker, Paul Goldsmith, Lee Petty, Herb Thomas, Fred Lorenzen and “Tiger Tom” Pistone were among the others in the impressive field.
The Soldier Field story needs to be expanded a bit here. A month earlier, NASCAR’s Convertible Division had raced there, with Pistone taking the win in a 200-lapper over Curtis Turner, and Racing-Reference.info reports 38,000 fans in attendance. That means barely one-third of those folks came back to see the GN cars.
In September the convertibles returned for a 500-lap race, which was won by Turner over his teammate and buddy Joe Weatherly; between them they led all 500 laps. Attendance was listed at 20,000.
In September the convertibles returned for a 500-lap race, which was won by Turner over his teammate and buddy Joe Weatherly; between them they led all 500 laps. Attendance was listed at 20,000.
Somehow, those numbers didn’t work for the Soldier Field promoters, because the only NASCAR event the next year was a 100-lap convertible race with a much smaller purse and most of the big names missing from the field (Glen Wood did make it, and he won). Attendance figures aren’t available, but NASCAR’s traveling divisions never came back, and in 1970 the Soldier Field race track was torn up.
It’s fitting that Tom Pistone won one of the NASCAR traveling series races at Soldier Field, since he’s a Chicago guy, and he raced at the stadium track in USAC and probably other cars as well. He even had Solder Field as a sponsor on his car. It’s pretty cool that his victory came before by far the largest crowd to watch a NASCAR race in Chicago before 2001.
It’s fitting that Tom Pistone won one of the NASCAR traveling series races at Soldier Field, since he’s a Chicago guy, and he raced at the stadium track in USAC and probably other cars as well. He even had Solder Field as a sponsor on his car. It’s pretty cool that his victory came before by far the largest crowd to watch a NASCAR race in Chicago before 2001.
Frank’s odds ‘n’ ends
Chicago has had a ton of race tracks over the years, including several indoor venues. There was even a two-mile board track built during WWI, and it was torn down and replaced with a hospital for wounded soldiers. The site remains a VA hospital.
One of the odder Chicago entries in History of America’s Speedways is the Calumet Speed Bowl, which seems to have been built in the 1920s and had its last hurrah in 1936 as a one-fifth mile dirt track called Torrence Midget Speedway. On September 16, a race was held that allowed pari-mutuel betting and featured a party after the last checkered flag. Later that night, the grandstands burned down, and the track never reopened.
Chicago has had a ton of race tracks over the years, including several indoor venues. There was even a two-mile board track built during WWI, and it was torn down and replaced with a hospital for wounded soldiers. The site remains a VA hospital.
One of the odder Chicago entries in History of America’s Speedways is the Calumet Speed Bowl, which seems to have been built in the 1920s and had its last hurrah in 1936 as a one-fifth mile dirt track called Torrence Midget Speedway. On September 16, a race was held that allowed pari-mutuel betting and featured a party after the last checkered flag. Later that night, the grandstands burned down, and the track never reopened.
