Eddy Anderson – One
of the pioneers of
early Chicago area
stock car racing
By Stan Kalwasinski
Eddy Anderson
pioneered short
track stock car
racing in the
Midwest in the late
1940s and 50s,
bringing it to the
Chicago area for the
first time in 1948.
Hot rod racer
Anderson and his car
owner, Chuck Scharf,
who also raced
occasionally during
those early days,
put on the first
short track stock
car racing program
at the old Gill
Stadium in Chicago
in 1948.
Home for weekly
midget racing under
the sanction of the
United Auto Racing
Association (UARA),
the small dirt oval
was actually a
baseball field – the
home of the
all-girls Chicago
Cardinals baseball
team.
Anderson and Scharf
talked to UARA
official Frank “Ham”
Lobaza, about
putting on an
exhibition stock car
race or two during a
night of UARA midget
racing.
Scharf and Anderson
brought in older
cars from a used car
lot on the north
side of Chicago for
the first exhibition
with mostly midget
drivers behind the
wheel of these early
stock car racers.
“Those early stock
car races at Gill
Stadium were
something else,”
reminisced Wayne
Adams, who handled
the announcing
duties for UARA
during its early
days and “called”
the first stock car
event at Gill.
“It all started when
Scharf and Anderson
brought out about a
dozen or so used
cars from their used
car lot and put on a
little exhibition,”
remembered Adams
decades later.
“With mostly
midget drivers
handling the cars,
the sport took off,
with fans screaming
as headlights and
windshields
shattered, doors got
smashed and fenders
were knocked off.
It seemed
like the fans kept
screaming and
cheering long after
the races were
over.”
The first all stock
car racing program
was held at Gill
Stadium on Labor Day
evening, 1948.
A capacity crowd
jammed into the
stadium to witness
the strictly “stock”
races on the flat
fifth mile dirt
oval.
Larry Johnson of
Chicago, a UARA
midget competitor,
walked off with the
top money in the
25-lap feature
event.
Johnson drove a 1937
Ford to the victory
over Johnny Werner,
Harvey Sheeler,
Harold “Wild Willie”
Wildhaber and Sam
Koske.
With some “spotty”
stock car races
taking place at Gill
Stadium in 1949,
Anderson and Scharf
formed their
Championship Stock
Car Club, holding
events at various
tracks in the
Midwest, including
Chicagoland’s
Raceway Park, which
was the scene of two
stock car races,
including a 300
lapper in 1948.
1949 saw the
Championship Stock
Car Club branch out
to various tracks in
Illinois and Indiana
with the
organization, headed
by Scharf as
President and
Anderson as Regional
Manager, sanctioning
a total of 173
events in 1950, 57
of them at Raceway
Park.
Anderson was
competing at Raceway
Park in the stock
cars, winning one
feature at
quarter-mile dirt
oval in 1949 and
four in 1950,
driving a 1950 Nash.
Anderson
posted another
feature win on June
3, 1951, capturing
the 25-lap main
event before a
reported crowd of
8,142 fans.
Anderson made
several NASCAR Grand
National starts in
1951, including a
run on the Daytona
Beach beach and road
course in February,
finishing last (54th)
in his Nash of Blue
Island-sponsored ’51
Nash Ambassador No.
24 after starting
18th.
For the 1952 season,
Anderson, along with
partner Bill Yancey,
took over the
promotion of Gill
Stadium, renaming it
– 87th
Street Speedway,
remodeling the
facility and
lengthening the
track to a full
quarter-mile.
After being rained
out the week before,
Anderson and Yancey
saw Bill Van Allen
and his 1946 Nash
No. 6 win the
opening day 30-lap
feature over Red
Duvall and Hal Ruyle.
From 1952 through
1956, Anderson, with
various partners
including Emory
Duvall and Andy
Granatelli, promoted
the speedway,
located at 87th
Street and Greenwood
Ave. on Chicago’s
southeast side.
Anderson was
instrumental in
bringing “live”
stock car racing to
Chicago television
in 1952 with Chick
Hearn doing the
announcing for
WENR-TV on Tuesday
nights.
Hearn would go on to
a successful career
as the announcer for
the Los Angeles
Lakers basketball
team.
Anderson’s Universal
Racing Association
paid $100.00 to the
Class A feature
winner at the 87th
Street oval in 1953
with a driver taking
home an extra 25
bucks if he set fast
time and won the
trophy dash, a heat
race and the
feature.
In 1953, Anderson
helped with the
promotion of Santa
Fe Speedway near
Willow Springs,
Ill., where he
assisted Howard
Tiedt during the
first few years of
the new speedway.
Anderson and his 87th
Street Speedway
promotion would last
until about
mid-August of 1956.
The property would
eventually become
the site of a
Community Discount
Store.
Involved in several
automotive
businesses over the
years, including
Eddy Anderson Speed
and Sport in Chicago
and World Wide
Import Parts in
Bensenville,
Anderson passed away
on May 1, 1995 at
the age of 68.
END