Johnny Slowiak

By Stan Kalwasinski

 Johnny Slowiak was from the Roseland neighborhood of Chicago and was a stock car racer and winner during the 1950s and 60s at Raceway Park near Blue Island, Ill.  The track was famous for its slam/bang action and Slowiak was among the battlers for a number of years during the weekly competition.

 Slowiak wheeled a 1947 Nash to his first career feature race win at Raceway Park on Sunday evening, August 13, 1950.  Before a reported crowd of 12,427 fans, Slowiak defeated Bryant Tucker and Eddie Anderson in the 25-lap main event on the dirt track.  Before the season ended, Slowiak scored another feature win at the “World’s Busiest Track.”

 Listed as driving a 1950 Mercury No. 2 at Raceway Park in 1951, Slowiak scored four feature wins as the Raceway oval was paved right after the ’51 season began.  One of his victories was on July 20, 1951 when he bested Bill Van Allen, Bill Brown and Rich Sutkus in a 30-lap feature chase.  Slowiak finished 10th in the final points tally.

 Piloting a 1950 Hudson No. X, Slowiak garnered three feature wins during the 1953 campaign at Raceway Park.  He nailed down a 25-lap win on July 10, 1953 over Bob Williams and Bill Cornwall.  1954 saw Slowiak win a 200-lap/100-mile feature race on Memorial Day on the dirt at Santa Fe Park near Willow Springs, Ill., guiding the Joe Raboni-owned 1950 Ford No. 45 to victory in the long-distance affair.

 He posted one feature win at Raceway Park in 1955, but was not among the top 20 in the final points tally.  1956 saw Slowiak win six feature races at Raceway Park, including the 75-lap Mid Season Championship battle in his ’51 Lincoln No. 14 in record time over Bun Emery, Art Seckman, A.J. Jannotto, Dennis Rubino and Harry Simonsen on Wednesday night, July 18..  Slowiak started the season with two wins in fellow Roseland dweller Stash Kullman’s 1950 Olds No. 4U, setting track records both nights for the track’s 25-lap distance.  He finished 12thin the ’56 standings.

 Slowiak raced a little bit at Raceway Park in 1957 and was not among the top 25 drivers, but finished eighth in the track’s annual 300 Lap Classic.  During the summer, Slowiak and partner Jim Buckley purchased Bud Koehler’s No. 77 midget from Koehler, the multi-time champion at Raceway in both stock cars and midgets.

 For the next several years, Slowiak concentrated on midget racing, positing a third place finish in feature action at Soldier Field in 1958 and a second place finish at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville, Ind., on June 12, 1959.  Slowiak competed some in United States Auto Club (USAC) midget competition, finishing 69th in the USAC standings in 1959, 96th in 1960 and 109th in 1962.  The 1962 racing season also saw Slowiak compete in late model stock car action at Raceway Park with him finishing 18th in the final point standings.

 Slowiak was at Raceway Park in 1963, wheeling a 1963 Chevy No. 14, but did not finish among the top 25 in the standings, although he finished sixth in the late-season 300 Lap Classic.  Slowiak sold his late model Chevy to Bill Milan before the 1964 season began with Slowiak driving Paul Bauer’s 1963 Chevy No. 33 and Chuck Koenig’s  red and white ’64 Chevy No. 11 during the season.  Slowiak was injured in a high-speed wreck during a Monza Classic (which consisted of four 30-lap features) on July 12th but still finished up the year 12th in the points with three heat race wins and 11 times among the top six in feature competition.

 On May 5, 1965, Slowiak, at the age of 39, suffered a fatal heart attack.  Wayne Adams, the longtime Raceway Park announcer and motorsports writer penned in his Mid-West Whispers column that appeared in the May 11, 1965 issue of Illustrated Speedway News, “Johnny was a man dedicated to auto racing and spent the last 15 years of his life attempting to master his chosen sport.”

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