CHICAGO WHISPERS
by Stan Kalwasinski

August 25, 2008

            Chicago —Grundy County Speedway in Morris will be a busy place this coming weekend as the Grundy fairgrounds facility, located on Illinois Route 47, a mile north of Interstate 80, hosts three days of racing.

            Action at the “Friday Night Racin’ Place” kicks off on Friday as the speedway hosts its annual Fan Appreciation Night, marking the final Friday night of racing.  Late Models, Mid American Sportsman, Street Stocks and 4-Cylinders will be in action as they have been all season long.  Going after his second consecutive late model crown, Tom Smith holds a 48-point lead over former two-time champion Brett Sontag, who won back-to-back late model titles in 2001 and 2002.

            Jeff Olson, Eric Pierce and Chad Proctor are currently one-two-three in the Mid American standings, while Chad Bayuk leads Rick Dawson in the Street Stock division.  Kyle Lindemuth, Eric Boudreau and Jim Beasley are the top three in the current 4-Cylinder standings.

            Saturday will be a busy day at the speed plant as the annual Mazon Speed Bowl/Grundy County Speedway Hall of Fame Induction and Racers Reunion takes place, beginning at Noon.  Former Midwestern midget great “Jigger” Sirois will be the MC of the induction ceremonies, which begin at 3:00 p.m.  The 28th annual Bob Lockard Memorial midget race, sanctioned by the United Midget Auto Racing Association (UMARA), will be on tap Saturday evening at the speedway with gates opening at 5:00 pm. and the first race set for 7:30 p.m.  The race honors the memory of longtime midget car owner and innovator, Bob Lockard of Joliet .  Ohio ’s Zach Schiff won last year’s UMARA Lockard event.

            A big night of racing is set for Sunday as the speedway presents its 32nd annual “Nite of Features.”  The program will be highlighted by the 61-lap Lee Schuler Memorial late model event.  Along with late model competitors, Mid American, Street Stock and 4-Cylinder racers will be battling for double points that night.  Those double points could help or really damage drivers’ title hopes in all divisions.  Legends Cars, Illini Midgets and Fireball Fehrman’s Illinois Vintage Racing Association will also see action.  Fireworks by the Mad Bomber complete the night.  Time trials begin at 5:00 p.m. with the first race at 6:30 p.m. 

             During the weekend, don’t forget to take a look at the huge display of pictures and racing memorabilia that Ron Kessler and the rest of the Hall of Fame committee have put together over the years.  The display, located in one of the fairgrounds buildings, will be available for viewing all three days. 

            Congratulations to Jake Finney, son of late model driver Dave Finney, on his recent victory in Mid American Stock Car Series competition at the Wisconsin International Raceway (WIR) in Kaukauna , Wis.  Young Finney won two feature events this year at WIR.  Finney also competes in the Mid American ranks at Grundy and has also claimed a feature win there.

            Tom Knippenberg escaped serious injury on Saturday night at the LaSalle Speedway.  A regular in the late model division at Grundy, where he finished third in the 30-lap feature race last Friday night, Knippenberg has been recently trying his luck in open-wheel modified action on the dirt at LaSalle.  Knippenberg got tagged by another car, sending him on a wild, flipping ride, demolishing the car and sending Knippenberg to the hospital for precautionary treatment. 

            Chris Woodall captured his career first Street Stock feature at Grundy last Friday.  The Calumet City driver does “double duty” on weekends, racing weekly at Grundy and then competing at Illiana Motor Speedway in Schererville , Ind. on Saturdays in the track’s Turbo Stox division.  Woodall uses two different cars on the weekends. 

            Rockford Speedway is offering the first 40 super late model entries a “Racer’s Economic Stimulus Package” for the track’s 43rd annual National Short Track Championships, which takes place September 26 – 28.  The “package” is valued at over $900 and includes four “free” Hoosier racing tires and a $125 racing gas credit.  The “One Great Racing Weekend” at Rockford will again be highlighted by Sunday afternoon’s 200-lap super late model headliner, which will pay $2500 to the winner.  The last two years have seen Wisconsin ’s Jeremy Lepak, driving for longtime Wisconsin car owner Gerry Gunderman, capture the Rockford event.

            Former Santa Fe Speedway announcer Jan Gabriel is trying to bring dirt track stock car racing back to Route 66 Raceway in Joliet .  The “little brother” of NASCAR’s Chicagoland Speedway, Route 66 had played host to a number of stock car and open-wheel oval track events until recently.  The last few years have seen Gabriel’s Team Demolition events pretty much be the only dates on the Route 66 dirt oval, which is a “big” half-mile.  Route 66 Raceway is also the home of the area’s very popular drag strip. 

            Gabriel, who battled through a life-threatening illness a few years ago which cost him the loss of both legs, hopes to bring oval track racing back to Route 66 in the form of stock car racing on a semi-regular basis during the summer.  Late last month, the track was “groomed” with a special practice session held.  Will speedway management go for Gabriel’s proposal?  Stay tuned!

            Speaking of Chicagoland Speedway, four evening races will take place there in 2009.  NASCAR’s Nationwide Series will compete “under the lights” on Friday, July 10 with the annual ‘Cup event set for the next day—July 11.  The recently announced inaugural NASCAR Truck Series date at Chicagoland is on the schedule for Friday evening—August 28.  The “stars and cars” of the Indy Racing League battle on Saturday evening—August 29.  Short track owners and promoters take note of these dates along with the annual Bristol ( Tenn. ) Motor Speedway “night race” on August 22, 2009!

            40 Years Ago (1968)—The year would see the final auto racing events ever held at Chicago’s Soldier Field and O’Hare Stadium in Schiller Park.  A few years from becoming the “home” of the Chicago Bears, Soldier Field, which hosted its first auto race (a midget racing event) in 1935, would see Sal Tovella win the last late model stock car feature race ever held inside the mammoth lakefront arena, on June 9. 1968.  Located adjacent to Chicago ’s famed O’Hare International Airport, O’Hare Stadium was up and running with midget and stock car races in 1956.  The final stock car program was held on September 7, 1968 with Roy Martinelli winning the last late model main event ever held.

            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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