ILLIANA HISTORY PART I- THE EARLY YEARS

By  Stan Kalwasinski

            It’s been over 50 years since Harry Molenaar carved out the original half mile dirt oval on his 50-plus acres of real estate along U.S. Highway 30 near the small town of Schererville, Indiana.  Building what would become known as Illiana Motor Speedway, Molenaar, motorcycle businessman, former cycle racer, barnstormer and daredevil, had to pay the utility companies to bring electric and telephone lines out to the unincorporated property some 17 miles southeast of Chicago's city limits and a short ride from Molenaar's Harley Davidson motorcycle dealership in Hammond.

            With World War II coming to an end, Molenaar, airplane owner and pilot and member of the local Civil Air Patrol, had an idea for an airport and motorcycle playground for the property that he had purchased on Lincoln Highway, about two miles east of U.S. 41.  A landing strip was cut out of the wooded area and fields, which would also see a number of different configurations of motorcycle courses developed on the premises.  Airplane hangars were even erected on the property.

            Molenaar, born in the Roseland area of Chicago on January 26, 1912, had been a motorcycle rider most of his adult life.  As a racer, Molenaar competed a half dozen times or so on the famed Daytona Beach, Florida beach course, in addition to countless other short track events and performances in cycle thrill shows.  The motorcycle playground-race course idea was only natural as Molenaar had countless friends and customers having been a Harley Davidson dealer since 1933.  At one time or another,  Molenaar and his ever-present wife, Signe, operated Harley shops in Hammond, Gary, Chicago, Chicago Heights and Harvey.  While running the Chicago Heights operation, Molenaar met a young man from Tinley Park with a HD-powered midget.  The young racer's name was Tony Bettenhausen.   

            The airport took a back sit to motorcycle competition as a full-size half mile race track became a reality in 1945 with motorcycle races held with more of the same in 1946 and 1947.

            "A lot of manual labor went into building the half mile track," remembers Bob Button, who raced motorcycles for Molenaar in the 40's before going on to become one of the top stock car drivers in the Chicago area during the first half of the 1950's.  "It was all woods back then.  Local motorcycle clubs put in a lot of work, " added Button.

            Until 1948, the speedway and grounds, then simply known as Molenaar's half mile, were used exclusively for motorcycle events and competition.  A few auto racing events were held in 1948 with the first stock car race held on the dirt oval in mid November of that year.

             Ace Lillard of Dallas, Texas, representing the International Stock Car Club, leased the track from Molenaar and headed up the promotion of a so-called Championship Stock Car Race on Sunday afternoon, November 14.  

            With over 30 stock cars on hand for the competition, the event was a bit disorganized at best.  The promoter, Mr. Lillard, had forgotten a few important items for his event, including race officials and a sound system.  Around 20 cars started the scheduled 200 lapper as a volunteer waved the field off with a red rag tied by one corner to the end of a twisted tree limb. 

            Longtime Chicagoland auto racing announcer and writer, Wayne Adams, wrote in his Midwest Whispers column in the old Illustrated Speedway News racing newspaper after the event, "Someone figured it took around 45 seconds to run a lap around the muddy course so it was decided to call the race to a halt at a certain time by the clock since no one was counting the laps.  One man volunteered to help score the race, but after 10 laps his popcorn box was covered with car numbers and he gave up in disgust.  In addition to this confusion, several cars on the track had no numbers which would have made the task impossible even with competent help."

            The race was halted less than an hour after it started and it is believed the leading drivers completed about 75 of the scheduled 200 circuits.  Chick Beverlin from Calumet City was awarded the victory.  Jimmy Hill was scored second.  Hill's father owned a Crosley auto dealership across the street from Molenaar's cycle shop in Hammond and was involved in the Lillard promotion.  Hill was followed by Carl Malin, Bill Van Allen, Stanley Thompson, Chet Ogrentz, Don Odell and Marion Lowery.

            The track became known as the Schererville Speedway and by 1951, Molenaar had developed his speed plant into one of the most flexible racecourses in the Midwest.  For the sake of competition and fan enjoyment, Molenaar had developed four different sized tracks, all of which utilized the same "home stretch."  A fifth, a quarter and a three-eights oval were added to the original half-mile. 

            At times, the stock cars raced on whichever oval happened to be in the best condition.  Frequently, preliminary events were held on one of the smaller ovals with the features run on the half-mile dirt.  Kenny Boyer of Highland, Ind. was the top stock car driver in 1951, winning five features during a 13-event schedule with the races being held on Sunday afternoons before the installation of lights.

            With the Korean War causing a shortage of building materials and supplies,  Molenaar continued to hone his speedway's appearance.  With the track being renamed Illiana prior to the 1952 season, night racing under the lights became a reality late that year.

            "I traded a guy in Tennessee one of my airplanes for 40 or so floodlights," recalled Molenaar.  "With the hot weather in the summer, we needed to schedule race programs at night."

            Illiana Motor Speedway became an American Automobile Association (AAA)-sanctioned track in 1953 with the national organization's sprint cars and stock car competing

Duane "Pappy" Carter, Paul Russo, Russ Klar and Pat O'Connor were all feature race winners in AAA sprint car action during the 1953 season.  Frank "Rebel" Mundy, Jack McGrath and local star AAA star Don Odell were among stock car race winners during AAA's rule at Illiana.

            AAA midget feature race winners at Illiana included Rex Easton, Johnnie Tolan, Chuck Weyant and Gene Hartley.

            Bob Perrine of Wheeler, Ind. won back-to-back stock car titles at Illiana in 1953 and 1954.  One of the highlights of Perrine's 1954 championship season was a Thursday night 100 lap Season Championship victory on the Illiana half mile. Rapid-running, chopped-down, modified-style "buzz bombs" were featured during the weekly stock car wars at Illiana.  During the dirt track era at Illiana, Hammond's Whitey Johnson and Gary's Bill Carr would also annex stock car titles.                                                 Motorcycle racing was still part of the speedway's picture in the 1950's.  Riders like Paul Goldsmith, Joe Leonard, Chet Dykgraff and Tom Bryerly were leading riders in American Motorcycle Association (AMA) competition.  The bespectacled Dykgraff held the one lap qualifying track record at 27.89 seconds prior to the 1953 season.

            The 1953 Illiana souvenir program showed veteran Chicago sportscaster, Hugh Hill, as the "Man behind the Illiana Mike."  Hill would become a fixture on Chicago area TV as a newscaster and political commentator.

            With the United States Auto Club (USAC) taking over "national" sanctioned events from AAA in 1956, the Illiana dirt oval would become part of the USAC schedule.  Among USAC stock car winners before the track was paved were Troy Ruttman, Jerry Unser, Don White and Goldsmith.  USAC midget race winners on the Illiana dirt included Tony Bettenhausen, Rodger Ward, Bob Wente and Don Branson, along with Hartley and Weyant.

            Dirt track racing at Illiana would end with the conclusion of the 1961 season.  With the paving of the speedway prior to opening day in 1962, a new era at Illiana would begin.