BOB BUTTON - BIOGRAPHY

By Stan Kalwasinski                                                                             

            Motorcycle racer turned stock car driver, Bob Button was the 1956 stock car champion at Raceway Park near Blue Island , Ill. 

            Robert W. Button was born on May 7, 1928 on the southside of Chicago with his family moving to Midlothian when he was only a youngster.  Button attended the Midlothian Public School and Thornton Township High School .

            In 1944, at the age of 16, Button joined the United States Maritime Service, and after serving one year, enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps.  Upon release from the Army in 1948, Button started an automobile body shop in Blue Island , Ill.

            While still in the service, Button began racing motorcycles in 1947 at dirt tracks in the Midwest, a number of them being half-mile flat tracks – one being in Schererville , Ind. that would eventually become known as Illiana Motor Speedway.

            For a time, Button was a member of Illiana owner Harry Molenaar’s Harley-Davidson motorcycle racing team.  Molenaar was a Harley-Davidson dealer in Hammond , Ind. and had built his race course in Schererville for the purpose of giving his motorcycle customers a place to “play” at.  Molenaar purchased the property around 1943 with the original idea for the premises being a small airport/landing strip.  A former motorcycle racer himself, Molenaar pretty much gave up on the air strip. Numerous track configurations came about on the 50 or so acres along U.S. Highway 30 with a half-mile track cut out on the property around 1946.

            "A lot of manual labor went into building the half mile track," remembered Button years later, “It was all woods back then. Local motorcycle clubs put in a lot of work.”

            He ended his motorcycle career in 1949, competing in a number of events including several at Raceway Park in Blue Island .  The year before (1948), short track stock car racing was introduced to the Chicago area at Gill Stadium in Chicago , as well as at Raceway Park and Molenaar’s half-mile track. 

            “I was a friend of Bud Koehler’s, just a kid,” commented Button.  “We use to watch the midgets race (at Raceway Park ).  Tony Saylor, Tony Bettenhausen and Koehler were racing.  They were racing stock cars on the dirt (for the first time) in 1948.  They were just cobbled up cars.  I had a 37 Ford, two-door.”

            Button raced a 1946 Chevrolet as he turned his efforts towards stock car racing, which he, as he commented at the time, found to much more profitable and enabled him to remain closer to home.  In 1950, Button was behind the wheel of a 1947 Cadillac, carrying his trademark number ‘7’.  He came close to scoring his first career feature win, coming home second to Don Oldenberg at Raceway on September 24, 1950.  He finished 19th in Raceway’s second annual 300 lapper.

            Button switched to a 1950 Oldsmobile for the 1952 season, scoring his first career main event at Raceway Park on May 18, 1952, finishing ahead of Koehler and Bryant Tucker.  A reported 9,758 fans were on hand to see Button score the win with 87 cars on in the pits for the night’s competition.    Button posted another win at Raceway on June 11, but by July, he turned his attention to 87th Street Speedway (the former Gill Stadium) at 1111 E. 87th Street on Chicago ’s southeast side. 

            “We thought they were cheating us at Raceway,” said Button.  “We were running for 40% of the gate.  Bill Van Allen and I pulled a protest.  We went to 87th Street .  We raced at Howard Tiedt’s half-mile too.”

            Still wheeling a ’50 Olds No. 7 in 1953, Button posted a feature win at the quarter-mile 87th Street oval on June 16, 1953, winning a 30 lapper ahead of Bill Van Allen and Indiana ’s Nick Trgovich.  He finished fourth behind Indiana resident and race winner Bill Clemans in the first ever 100 mile/200 lap battle at the new Santa Fe Speedway near Willow Springs on June 21, 1953.  A ’50 Buick, driven by Fred Kasten, was also part of Button’s racing team in 1953 with Kasten claiming a season finale, 100-mile victory at Santa Fe in October.

            1954 was a “breakout year” for Button, the Midlothian resident, who operated Button’s Shell Service on the northwest corner of 147th Street and Crawford Ave. and the Midlothian Cab Company in his hometown.  His white, `50/51-vintage Oldsmobile, with a black No. 7, carried Button to numerous victories at the 87th Street track with Button also scoring several victories at Santa Fe 

            Button nailed down an early season victory at 87th Street on May 9.  On July 27, he set a new qualifying track record at the Chicago oval, zipping around the speedway in 13.17 seconds.  On July 31, Button “cleaned house” at 87th Street , winning the trophy dash, his heat race and the 25 lap feature in addtion to setting fast time during qualification runs.

            With 87th Street Speedway ’s 1955 rules calling for “late model/new cars only” under Andy Granatelli’s promotion, Button returned to Raceway Park .  Button claimed his first victory of the season on July 31 and ended up fifth in the point standings, again wheeling a ’50 Olds.  That same year, Button was named Raceway’s convertible champion as Button drove a 1948 Buick “ragtop” to two division feature wins.  On Labor Day, 1955, Button won both legs of Raceway’s “Twin 50’s” action, defeating Rich Sutkus in both main events.  The first 50 lapper saw Button set a new track record for the 50-lap distance, getting to the checkered flag in 12:40.70.  He finished fifth in Raceway’s 300-Lap Classic.

            1956 saw Button and Robert “Legs” Whitcomb battle for track championship honors right from the start.  Button won his first feature race of the year on May 13, defeating Bryant Tucker, who claimed Raceway Park track championship honors in 1953.  Button and his ’50 Olds won a total of eight features at the tight, quarter-mile paved oval, finishing ahead of Whitcomb and perennial track favorite Bud Koehler in the final point standings.

            Highlighting Button’s championship season were his Twin 50 victories on both Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, giving the 28-year-old racer a total of six 50 lap victories in a row at the “World’s Busiest Track.” 

            Button pretty much retired after his title-winning year, selling his championship Oldsmobile to Johnny Schipper for the 1957 season.  Button returned to Raceway Park action in 1960, driving a 1957 Ford that Bob Pronger had built.  The car featured a “big” Edsel engine.  Button ran most of the year and finished 15th in Raceway’s 300 Lap Classic. 

            “(Bob) Pronger had a car (a ’57 Ford),” Button reminisced almost 40 years later.  It was the worse mistake I ever made.  Raceway was all handling.  The Ford had a lot of horsepower, but it wouldn’t handle.” 

            Button raced on the local racing scene in 1961, competing at Santa Fe .  Three heat race victories and a trophy dash win were the extent of the season’s highlights.

            Button, who flew airplanes and owned speed boats, became a boat mechanic after his racing days were over.  For a time, he spent his summers in the Chicago area and his winters in Florida , working on boats.  He pretty much had relocated to the Stuart, Florida area, where he passed away on September 24, 2002 at the age of 74. 

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Editor’s Note:  A lot of the information for this story came from a driver profile article on Bob Button that appeared in a 1954 87th Street Speedway souvenir program.  As a youngster, one of the first drivers that this writer became aware of was Bob Button.  Someone in our neighborhood knew him and suggested to my father that he take his young son to the stock car races at 87th Street .  Over the phone, I reminisced with Button in January of 1996.