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It happens every weekend. Families pile into their cars and drive out of town, down dirt country lanes to a crowded parking lot. The silence of the rural area explodes as the thundering echoes of a hundred engines travel on the breeze. The noise intensifies as families make their way towards the main gate. The friends and neighbors they see here each week greet them as their kids get popcorn and sodas at the concession stand. Finding their seats, the same place they sit every race, families spread their blankets out just as the National Anthem begins to play. They stand with pride, and as the last patriotic chords fade away, the crowd yells the phrase they've been waiting to hear all week, "Let's go racing!" It's loud, it's exciting, and it's right here in Illinois. Whether you prefer watching dragsters, stock cars, winged sprints, midgets, dwarfs, hobos, or any other kind of auto racing, you will probably find what you're looking for at one of the more than 35 tracks in Illinois. And the majority of these tracks are in small towns and rural areas. They are locally owned and operated, supported by loyal fans and drivers who come back week after week, year after year.
A family atmosphere is one component all Illinois raceways have in common. Parents bring their children. Pit crews are often relatives or good friends of the drivers. A track owner's entire family is often involved in helping the races run smoothly. Racing is a tradition that flows through generations. A driver's son or daughter may race his or her father's car someday. Patty Boyd, whose family owns the Mason County Speedway drag strip near Havana, says, "Many kids have actually grown up at the track. I have pictures of children when we first started here and they were just little bitty kids playing in the sand piles. Now they're grown up and are racing themselves, or bringing out families of their own." Once a person gets hooked on racing, they may never want to leave it. Boyd says, "We have racers who have been racing here since the 60s. This is something that seems to be a part of their lives, it just kind of gets into their blood. We have a man who is 79 years old who races here every week. He wouldn't miss it for anything." Boyd remarks that the first day of racing season is the same every year. "As soon as the trailers start showing up, people start talking,
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shaking hands and hugging each other. It's just like a family reunion. It always amazes me. A lot of lifetime friendships have been made and continued through racing." And the friendships and family spirit of racers even conquers the competitiveness of the sport. "When a racer's car breaks down and needs a part, the other racers will come together to help that person get his or her car back together, even though they may be up on the line later competing against one another. The drivers are very supportive and helpful of each other. We don't have fighting. That's just not something drag racers do." Rob Fischer has grown up in the extended family of drag racers. "I was always around drag cars and racing people as a child. My dad and step-mom were drag racers. I was brought up around it and just naturally got into it." Fischer has continued to race for 15 years, once or twice a weekend from March through November at the Coles County Dragway, just west of Charleston. "I do it because I enjoy it and I'm pretty successful at it," he says. Fischer has been track champion for the last three years and was Male Driver of the Year last year. His best day came when he brought home two purses. "I won super pro and pro in the same day, in the same car. There's an overlap between pro and super pro and I can run either class." Fischer is able to race a little cheaper than some. Because he was track champion, he is able to race this season for free. But not everyone is so lucky and the sport can be expensive. Boyd, however, insists you don't need to spend a lot of money to enjoy drag racing. She says many drivers enter the super street class and can race what they drove to the track. Fischer races a more expensive car, but says, "Once you get the main things bought, the car and the trailer, and you get it running right, the upkeep is very cheap. Unless, of course, you pop a motor or something." And although many drivers may have engine problems, drag racers don't commonly have to deal with repairs caused by wrecks. Oval track drivers, on the other hand, often have to repair their cars in some way after each race - which can get very costly. Beginners to oval track racing who want to go a little cheaper may want to look into the Hornet class introduced this year. Tad Olmstead, promoter of Charleston Speedway, just west of Charleston, says his track runs this class. "It's a four-cylinder car with a roll cage in it and the windows knocked out. It's a beginner's class. They're very exciting to watch." Margene Burmeister of Clay County Speedway in Flora agrees. "It's a good way to introduce people to the sport, to see if that's what they really want to do. Most people can't just come out with a modified car." Most tracks run every weekend from March or April through August or September. Illinois rural tracks average about 100 cars and anywhere from 500-1,500 fans each race day. Because many tracks are located in small towns and rural areas, drivers and spectators come from quite a distance to participate. Mason County Speedway is located in a very rural area and Boyd is often surprised at how many people come every week. "Here we are, out in the middle of nowhere, and all these people, from all these towns make their way down these little back roads to our little racetrack. It always amazes me." Sam Stockton, manager of Red Hill Raceway in Sumner, says it is important for him to draw drivers and fans from bigger cities because his area is also very sparsely populated. Drivers come from Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kentucky to race the track. And the Midwest Sprint Car Series,
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which Stockton created, races there as part of their series. Due to uncooperative weather during some major remodeling, the track had to postpone many of its races this year. But Stockton has big plans for the track and hopes it will continue to have better races and draw larger crowds next year. "If we get everything up to par and everything works well, we'll possibly have big races here next year like the World of Outlaws and Tampa late models. We want to be capable of having bigger races." One track that will hold a large race this year is the Macon County Speedway, just south of Decatur. They plan to run the United Dirt Track Association (UDTRA) Pro Dirt Car Series in late July. The race was originally scheduled for Memorial Day, but was rained out. "It will be our biggest show in the history of the track," says owner Rich Webb. E-mails and calls have come to the racetrack office for months from California, New York, Florida and West Virginia. "People just can't believe that these guys, the world's best, are racing here," says Webb, "For such a little bitty place in a little bitty town, it's going to be quite an event." The track will run its normal racing schedule for the rest of the season, drawing about 1,500 fans every Saturday night.
Although the drivers of these smaller races may not be well known, they could be NASCAR drivers in the making. After all, racing greats A.J. Foyt, Mike Wallace and many others have practiced their skills at Macon County Speedway. Other Illinois tracks have hosted NASCAR drivers Kenny Schrader and Jeff Gordon as young men. Schrader and Gordon are racing bigger tracks in front of much larger crowds now. And those crowds are quickly expanding. Auto racing is the fastest growing spectator sport in the country. Crowd numbers seem to be increasing in many parts of Illinois. But community support varies greatly. Olmstead says his local town is very supportive. "We have a lot of sponsors around the community. Everybody loves racing around here." But in other regions, tracks are struggling to get local sponsors. "We had hoped for a lot more support than we've gotten," says Burmeister. "We built this raceway because there was just nothing to do around here and this is a good family thing to do." Most people don't make a living racing cars or running racetracks; they do it for the enjoyment, for the excitement, and because it is a part of their lives. The love of the sport will continue to be passed on from generation to generation.
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Here is a list of Illinois drag strips and oval tracks we were able to locate, and a way to contact each. To locate Illinois tracks on the Web, try www.chasinracin.com.
Byron Dragway in Rockford
Coles County Dragway in Charleston
Cordova Dragway Park in
Cordova
Mason County Raceway in Havana
Route 66 Raceway in Joliet
67 Raceway Park in Godfrey
Belle-Clair Speedway in Belleville
Bond County Raceway in Greenville
Bureau County Speedway in Princeton
Charleston Speedway in Charleston
Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero
Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet
Clay County Speedway in Flora
Coles County Speedway in Mattoon
Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City
Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown
Grundy County Speedway in Morris
Highland Speedway in Highland
Jacksonville Raceway in Jacksonville
Kankakee Motor Speedway in Kankakee
LaSalle Speedway in LaSalle
Macomb Speedway in Macomb
Macon Speedway in Mocon
Mount Vernon Speedway in Mount Vemon
Quincy Raceway in Quincy
Red Hill Raceway in Sumner
Rockford Speedway in Rockford
Route 66 Raceway in Joliet
Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion
Spoon River Speedway in Canton
Vermilion County Speedway in Danville
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