CHICAGO MOTOR SPEEDWAY

By Stan Kalwasinski

            Having a short run on the local racing scene, the Chicago Motor Speedway, located at 33^rd Street and Laramie Ave. in Cicero, was in the process of being dismantled in February/2005, bringing down the curtain on only four years of actual racing.

            With the development plans announced in 1998, the track, which involved the conversion of the old Sportsman’s Park horse track into a multi-facet facility for both auto and horse racing, seemed to have problems from the beginning.  Issues included paying to park, noise ordinances and a little resentment from the local neighborhood, but it was probably the 2001 opening of the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, with the backing of the powers of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and NASCAR, that really put the “hurt” on the Cicero operation.

            On a warm Sunday afternoon, August 22, 1999, Colombia native and CART rookie sensation Juan Montoya won the FedEx Championship Series Target Grand Prix at the new speedway.  The then 23-year-old Montoya bested Dario Franchitti, Jimmy Vasser, Max Papis and Helio Castroneves.  A reported near-sellout crowd of nearly 70,000 witnessed the action at the 1.029-mile, slightly-banked (six degrees) oval.  The day before saw Papis grab fast time honors with a lap of 22.788 seconds (162.559 miles per hour).

            Two “support events” were held prior to the CART 225 lapper with future Indy Car stars Sam Hornish and Scott Dixon grabbing victories.  Hornish won the 60-lap Kool Toyota Atlantic Championship event on the prior Saturday afternoon, while a 19-year old Dixon captured the Mi-Jack 100 for Dayton Indy Lights on Sunday.

            A few weeks later, during the weekend of September 11 and 12, midget and stock car racing came to the speedway with the new Midwest All Star Racing Series (MARS) group, the Mid American Stock Car Series and Super Trucks and the United Midget Auto Racing Association (UMARA) sanctioning races during the Chicago Motorsports Classic.

            The two-day event was poorly attended and rain wiped out Sunday’s MARS stock car race.  Saturday saw Wisconsin’s Mike Monroe win the 30-lap Mid American stock car headliner ahead of Curt Van Der Wall and James Swan.  Minnesota’s Jodi Clark won the 30-lap Super Truck event on Sunday with USAC midget frontrunner Ryan Newman winning the 25-lap UMARA midget feature, taking the checkered flag ahead of Aaron Fike and David Gough.  The midget contest was also part of the ARCA Auto Value Midget Series with USAC racer Dan Drinan setting fast time for the midgets with a lap of 29.849 seconds.

            Ron Breese Jr. was leading the scheduled 100-lap MARS contest when rain caused the race to be halted after 31 laps were complete.  No winner was officially crowned with Breese, Eddie Dunne, Lowell Bennett, Pete Moore, Terry Baldry and Scott Hansen running in the top six when the rains came.

            On July 30, 2000, Cristiano da Matta won the CART 225 lapper at Cicero besting Michael Andretti and Gil de Ferran. Montoya lowered the CART qualifying mark down to 22.107 seconds (167.567 mph), which would be the all-time CART qualifying record at CMS.  Scott Dixon was the winner of the Dayton Indy Lights race.

            The American Speed Association made its first ever appearance in the State of Illinois with Mike Garvey winning the 200-lap stock car chase on July 15 over Scott Wimmer and Robbie Pyle.  Earlier in the day, young Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw, Wash. captured a 25-lap USAC midget headliner in front of Ryan Scott and Tracy Hines.  Ryan Newman was fast qualifier with a lap of 29.312 seconds.

 Joe Ruttman won the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series 175 on August 27, 2000. The event marked the first major NASCAR-sanctioned race in the Chicago area since NASCAR Grand National and convertible division races were held at Soldier Field in 1956.   Ruttman, the event’s fastest qualifier, and his Dodge truck bested Greg Biffle and Mike Wallace.   Wisconsin’s Nathan Haseleu won the companion NASCAR Re/Max Challenge Series 150-lap contest.

With a reported crowd of between 35 and 40,000 in the stands, Kenny Brack captured the third annual CART FedEx Championship Series 225-lap Target Grand Prix on July 29, 2001.  Patrick Carpentier finished second and de Ferran third.  A few weeks before, Johnny Sauter won the July 8^th 200-lap ASA ACDelco Series stock car event at the Cicero speed plant ahead of Joey Clanton and Kevin Cywinski. 

The 2001 season came to close on a cloudy Saturday afternoon with a 16-year-old Kyle Busch running out of gas and Scott Riggs winning the Sears Craftsman 175.  Riggs in a Dodge finished in front of Dennis Setzer and Lance Norick in the NASCAR truck race.  With a threat of rain in the air all day, a tiny crowd witnessed the event, which also saw Robbin Slaughter win the 50-lap ARCA Lincoln Welder Truck Series contest.

With Joliet’s Chicagoland oval solidly in the picture, Chicago Motor Speedway held its final season of racing in 2002.  With no major corporate sponsorship and CART promoting the race itself, the CART Grand Prix of Chicago was held on Sunday afternoon, June 30^.  With temperatures hovering in the 90’s, Cristiano da Matta grabbed his second career victory at Cicero, winning the 250 lapper ahead of Bruno Junqueira and fastest qualifier Dario Franchitti.  Earlier in the day, Ryan Hunter-Reay was the winner of the 70-lap race for CART’s Toyota Atlantic Championship Series competitors. 

No racing was held at the track in either 2003 and 2004 with this past summer seeing former track president and current NASCAR Nextel Cup and IRL car owner Chip Ganassi, one of the partners in the venture, being sued by the National Jockey Club, which represented the horse racing industry in the endeavor.

Maybe it was a case of “wrong place, wrong time,” but the Chicago Motor Speedway is now history. 

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