PLAINFIELD MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Plainfield Motor Speedway or Plainfield Speedway

Years of operation: 1923 through 1926

Location: located at the present-day location of Lake Renwick Conservation area in Plainfield, IL, which is operated under the auspices of the Forest Preserve District of Will County, located between Interstate 55 and U.S. Highway 30 near Joliet.

Notes: According to Plainfield area historian Michael Lambert…It likely took over the former dirt harness/horse racing track that was established at the site around 1910. The Plainfield track reportedly also allowed motorcycle racing, primarily Indian motorcycles. Reportedly, the track operated only from 1923 thru 1926. The track closed due to mob/gangster infiltration. The site was eventually excavated for the rich deposit of crushed stone and gravel from the late 1890s thru the early 1980s. At one time, a restaurant lined the shores of the original (and much smaller) Lake Renwick. A swimming beach and dance hall (later a roller rink) were on the south shore of the lake. A very large ice house was erected and operated on the site between 1900 and 1925. The race track was reportedly on the north end of the present lake site.

On Sunday afternoon, May 31, 1925, Harry Nichols of Chicago, coasting to the finish line with a broken fuel line, defeated Sonny Talamont in the day’s main event – a 15-mile race. Talamont and George Beck won 10-mile events with Miss Marian Martin winning a five-mile race. According to a Chicago Tribune newspaper article, another racing program was scheduled for Sunday afternoon, June 21, featuring the likes of Nichols, Talamont, Cliff Woodbury, Leslie “Bugs” Allen and D.D Morris.