BOB WILLIAMS

Chicago , Ill. — Former Raceway Park front runner and track champion, Bob Williams, 85, passed away on November 5.

            Calling Chicago home during his racing career that spanned from 1949 and into 1966, Williams won a total of 52 feature races at Raceway Park , which was located at 130th Street and Ashland Ave. near Blue Island .  Williams was the late model stock car champion at the “World’s Busiest Track” in 1959. 

            Longtime Raceway announcer and motorsports writer, Wayne Adams, wrote The Bob Williams Story in 1954 and stated, “Bob Williams became interested in stock car racing as early as 1948 when he served as a pitman for the colorful Stacy Jones at the old Gill Stadium oval (in Chicago).  Jones was a wild type driver who was upside down quite regularly and needed a lot of help to keep his car running.  Williams bought a car for Jones to drive at Raceway in 1949 but the engine belonged to Jones and, after a few events ended in failure, Jones took his engine and broke the combination.

            “Williams then purchased an engine for the car and started driving himself—changing the original number from V8 to V2.  He had very little success but gained experience rapidly and was constantly improving his equipment.  He toured the Championship Stock Car Club circuit in 1950, running at Raceway, Indianapolis’ 16th Street Speedway, Peoria and Springfield.”

            Raceway records show that Williams scored his first feature race win on May 25, 1952, defeating Chet Ogrentz and Bob Button before a reported crowd of 11,137 fans.  He won a total of five features that year and ended up sixth in the point standings.  He captured three feature wins in 1953 and enjoyed a great year in 1954, finishing second in the points behind champion  Bud Koehler and ended up winning 10 feature races, wheeling his 1951 Lincoln No. 70.

            Always a top performer in the hard fought stock car action at Raceway, Williams won another 10 features in 1958, including Raceway’s 300 Lap Classic in his ’56 Ford convertible.  In 1959, Williams battled all season long with Koehler and Bill Van Allen for the Raceway late model crown, grabbing 13 feature wins in route to the Raceway track championship.  His ’56 Ford No. 70 was his title-winning ride.  The following year found Williams trying his luck one some of the Midwest ’s larger tracks, competing in the United States Auto Club (USAC) and Midwest Association for Race Cars (MARC) ranks.

            Williams always seemed to be one of the guys to beat, year in and year out, always seemingly in the “top 10” in the point standings at year’s end.  A rapid-running, Chicken Delight-sponsored 1957 Ford carried him to five feature wins in 1962, which included the track’s 75-lap Mid Season Championship race.  He began to back down his racing career in 1964, but still managed to score a feature victory in a ’61 Ford.  A fresh ’64 Fairlane was his ride in 1965, but Williams pretty much retired from racing after some early-season runs in 1966. 

            For a number of years, Williams operated a service station at 35th Street and Emerald Ave. in Chicago .  Years later, Williams was the proprietor of Wildcat Auto Supply in the Mount Greenwood area of Chicago .  In his youth, he attended grammar school and high school in Chicago .  He served in the Merchant Marines for four years from 1941 through 1945.

            Bob Williams was one of those bigger than life characters at Raceway Park during the 1950’s and 60’s, competing against some of the greatest short track drivers to ever wheel at stock car.  R.I.P., Bob.

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Stan Kalwasinskiwww.chicagolandautoracing.com