COOK COUNTY FAIRGROUNDS

Years of operation: 1933 – 1940 (no racing in 1939)

Location: North Ave. & River Road (8600 W. North Ave.)…on the site of the now-closed Maywood Park horse racing track

Notes:  possibly first race on half-mile dirt track was held on 8/13/1933 and won by Iowa’s Gus Schrader…spot events held through the years…Maynard Clark and Clay Weatherly won there in 1934; midget racing was scheduled there for August 18, 1935; Emil Andres, Johnny Tersinor and Morris Musick scored “big car” wins at the fairgrounds in 1935…promoter Carl Stockholm moved his racing promotions to the track after Indiana’s Roby Speedway closed after the 1936 season…1937 saw Bob Sall, Hal Cole, Jimmy Snyder, George Connor and Duke Nalon among the “big car” winners during the track’s most busiest auto racing season…Nalon’s win was a 100-lap victory over Snyder and Ted Horn on September 19, 1937…Snyder and Nalon won again in 1938…possibly last race held on 6/30/40 when Ted Duncan won 50-mile Cook County Midget Classic, defeating Cowboy O’Rourke, Paul Russo, Tony Bettenhausen, Bob Muhlke and Jimmy Caris. 

Racing in front of a packed grandstand, midget drivers try several different lines as they power around the half-mile dirt oval at the Cook County Fairgrounds on June 30, 1940.  Chicago's Ted Duncan won the feature race that day, besting "Cowboy" O'Rourke, Paul Russo and Tony Bettenhausen in the 50-lap headliner.
(Wayne Adams Photo)

Ted Duncan, seated in the Frank Podriznik No. 15 midget, poses for photographer Wayne Adams on the main straightaway at the Cook County Fairgrounds on June 30, 1940.  Duncan captured the 50-lap Cook County Midget Classic that day.
(Wayne Adams Photo)