NORTH SHORE POLO FIELDS

North Shore Polo Fields (also known as North Shore Polo Club Speedway or North Shore Speedway)

Years of operation:  1923 – 1925

Location: Peterson Road and Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Ill.

Notes:  The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported on June 20, 1923 that the facility was being remodeled for automobile racing with the first race program scheduled for July 4th on the half-mile dirt track; racing held under the guidance of the North Shore Speedway Association and the United Race Drivers Association; driver George Beck was the track manager (promoter?); In 1924, Oliver G. Temme, president of the United Race Drivers Association, commented about the races, “Dirt track racing has leaped into its own in Chicago this year at a single bound.  Never before in the history of the sport in this or any other city has such wide-spread interest been shown in the pilots of the dirt speedway.  I attribute this primarily to the fact that no effort or expense has been spared to attract stars from all over the country to compete in these meetings.”; Chicago’s Cliff Woodbury was a big winner at the speedway during its operation; another Chicago speedster Leslie “Bugs” Allen won 30-lap season-opening event on May 10, 1925; Woodbury winner of 30-lap main event on June 14, 1925 – possibly the final racing program held at the facility.