Chicago Whispers
By Stan Kalwasinski
February 8, 2015
Chicago, Ill.—Elmhurst’s own Fred Lorenzen was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte, N.C., on January 30.
The 80-year-old Lorenzen, a former Chicago area stock car champion, suffers from dementia and was accompanied by his son Chris and daughter Amanda on the trip down south to receive his longtime-coming honor.
Doing some street and drag racing and demolition derbies prior, an 18-year-old Lorenzen first appeared in the amateur stock car results at Chicago’s Soldier Field in 1953. Lorenzen was the Late Model stock car champion at Soldier Field in 1956 and at the old O’Hare Stadium in Schiller Park in 1958. He was the 1958 and 1959 United States Auto Club (USAC) stock car champion before making his way down south to compete full-time on the NASCAR circuit.
Purchasing a Chevy from Chicago area frontrunner Tom Pistone, Lorenzen’s first NASCAR appearances came in 1956. He made seven starts in NASCAR competition that year and won a total of $235.00! He was also 46th in the final USAC standings that year, having competed in three races at the famed “Milwaukee Mile” in West Allis, Wis.
In 1963, Lorenzen became the first NASCAR driver to earn over $100,000 in a single season. For most of his career, he drove for Holman-Moody, perhaps the most powerful race team in NASCAR at the time. Lorenzen would win a total of 26 NASCAR races, including the Daytona 500 in 1965, before retiring from racing. He competed in 158 races over a 12-year period.
Lorenzen’s longtime mechanic from both the Chicago and NASCAR racing days, Jack Sullivan was once quoted as saying, “Freddie ate, slept, breathed and dreamt racing, 24 hours a day.”
“It was like walking into a diamond factory,” Lorenzen said of the Holman-Moody shop and resources in a 2009 interview with TNT. “I had the best of everything. When you’ve got it all, it’s easier to do.”
Congratulations to Fred Lorenzen, “Fearless Freddie,” the “Elmhurst Express,” on your induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Gregg McKarns seems to have been in the racing news all off-season long. In December, it was announced that McKarns had taken over the ARCA Midwest Series from Tim Olson. The second-generation promoter now had the opportunity at running a Super Late Model Series just like his late parents, John and Sue McKarns, use to run the old ARTGO Racing series.
January rolled around and then came the announcement that McKarns was going to become the new owner of the Madison International Speedway in Oregon, Wis., working out a purchase agreement with owner, Terry Kunes. The Madison facility was the subject of numerous stories during the last several months, basically saying that its gates would be shuttered for good with a real estate development taking its place.
McKarns, who turns 36 tomorrow, left his post of General Manager at Rockford Speedway last summer after spending ten years at the northern Illinois speed plant. He was also overseeing the Big 8 Series Late Model tour, which is owned by Jody Deery, who also owns the Rockford oval.
Things get underway at the Madison half-mile paved raceway on Sunday, May 3, with the ARCA Midwest Tour kicking off its new season with the seventh annual Joe Shear Classic on tap. Other local Midwest Tour dates for 2015 include May 25 at Illiana Motor Speedway (Schererville, Ind.), June 27 at Rockford Speedway and July 17 at Grundy County Speedway (Morris, Ill.).
Ron Snow is returning to the Grundy County Speedway, being named the Director of Race Operations. Snow’s new position, recently established by Grundy County Agricultural District Fair Board of Directors, is very similar to the one that departing Tom White pretty much held.
Former IndyCar chief mechanic Bernie Myers is the speedway’s new Race Director with Don Marshall continuing in his role of Tech Director.
White, who worked at the Grundy oval since 2011, will continue to handle the flagging duties at Illiana Motor Speedway on Saturday nights in addition to being the Chief Starter for the ARCA Midwest Tour.
Snow, who previously worked briefly at the speedway in 2011, will institute at new starting time of 7:30 p.m. for the regular Friday night races. Opening night at the “Friday Night Racin’ Place” is scheduled for Friday, April 24.
The Short Track Auto Racing Series (STARS) National Midget Series gets its fifth season of action underway on Saturday, May 30, at Grundy. The National Midget Series is joined by other racing divisions, including Classic Modifieds, INEX Legends and the Central States Region (CSR) Super Cups for the Saturday racing at Grundy. The Illini Racing Series midgets will also be part of the Grundy schedule on eight occasions. Indiana’s Austin Prock was last year’s STARS National Midget Champion.
Zachary Tinkle was recently named the 2014 CSR Super Cups Rookie of the Year. The 12-year-old Park Ridge racer finished fifth in the overall CSR standings. Young Tinkle’s rookie season was riddled with a host of mechanical issues, forcing him to switch cars about mid-season. In spite of all his problems, Tinkle was coined the “CSR Mayor” for his positive attitude all year long. One interesting note about Tinkle is that he is the great, great grandson of Harry McQuinn, who was one of the top midget racers in the 1930s and early 40s. McQuinn also competed in the Indianapolis 500 ten times and, later, was the Chief Steward of the famed event.
Art “Fireball” Fehrman has announced pretty much the end of the Tibor Machine Products-sponsored Illinois Vintage Racing Series with Fehrman and his wife, Pat, ready to concentrate their entire efforts on the Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame. Fehrman’s vintage series had appeared at numerous Midwest tracks over the past nine years. 2014 was a banner year with Fehrman adding three tracks to the slate and scheduling 12 events.
The Illinois Stock Car Hall of Fame will host its fourth induction ceremony on Saturday, April 11, at the Hoffman House/Holiday Inn in Rockford. 2015 inductees include drivers Joe Finn, Ken Finley, Bob Pronger and Russ Wallace, promoter Pete Jenin, race official Stan Burdick and car owner/mechanic Bob Pohlman Sr. Newly inducted NASCAR Hall of Fame member, Rex White, NASCAR’s 1960 Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) Champion, will be a special guest speaker.
The Hall of Fame is permanently located at the Historic Auto Attractions Museum in Roscoe, Ill. A reception will take place at the museum prior the evening’s banquet and induction ceremonies. Contact Art Fehrman at (815) 389-7917 for more information.
Indiana’s Plymouth Speedway recently held its awards banquet with track owner Ed Kennedy announcing that the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series will visit the speedway on Saturday, October 17. Kennedy also spoke of the amount of changes that will be coming to the three-eighths mile dirt speedway in the next two years including new clay, bleachers and suites and more to create a state-of-the-art facility.
LaSalle Speedway will again get racing underway in these parts on Friday and Saturday, April 3 and 4, presenting its fourth annual Thaw Brawl. A $20,000-to-win Late Model special on Saturday night will highlight the two-day event. DIRTcar United Midwest Promoters Modifieds will also be in action both evenings with drivers competing in $1,500-to-win specials both nights. Dennis Erb Jr. won last year’s Thaw Brawl at the high-banked, quarter-mile dirt oval over Bobby Pierce, Ryan Unzicker and Scott Bloomquist. Erb won the inaugural Brawl event in 2012 with Brian Birkhofer winning in 2013.
Rockford Speedway hosts the 38th Annual Spring Classic on Sunday, April 12. The Big 8 Late Model Series shares the Spring Classic spotlight with the Mid American Stock Car Series. The American Ethanol Super Truck Series joins the Spring Classic card for the first time ever. Big 8 Series competitors will be looking to secure one of twenty-four starting spots for an 88-lap main event.
Former track official Bob Talaski reports that the Village of Calumet Park is considering erecting a monument/marker on the site where Raceway Park, “The World’s Busiest Track,” once stood. Occupying the southeast corner at the intersection of 130th Street (Vermont St.) and Ashland Ave., the track, which sometimes ran as many as four nights a week, was usually referred to as being located in Blue Island when it actually was part of Calumet Park’s geography. The track operated from 1938 through 2000 with the exception of the World War II years of 1943 and 1944.
Sadly, Patrick Wilda Jr., 33, passed away on January 30 due to injuries suffered in a construction accident. Wilda was a front running area midget competitor since being named Rookie of the Year in 2004 for the old United Midget Auto Racing Association (UMARA) group. When the UMARA series folded, the STARS organization took over the Chicago area midget racing picture with Wilda scoring his only STARS feature win in September of 2013. Rest in Peace, Patrick.
The address for news and comments is 9618 Cypress Ave., Munster, Ind. 46321-3418 or e-mail to skalwasinski@yahoo.com.
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