Riverview Speedway

Location: 2601 W. Addison St., Chicago, Ill., located just northwest of the Riverview Park amusement park property and bordered by the North Branch of the Chicago River and Lane Tech High School property. (track was located west of the present-day N. Rockwell St. and just south of the present-day intersection of W. Addison St. and N. Talman Ave.)

Notes: built in 1936, first race program held on May 24, 1936 with a crowd of some 8,000 witnessing Jack “Curly” Mills of Los Angeles winning the 40-lap feature race over Bob Swanson, Pat Warren, Jimmy Snyder and Johnny Sawyer…last race program ever held – July 29, 1942 with Tony Bettenhausen capturing 100-lap feature over Ray Richards and Bob Muhlke, which was the area’s final midget auto race as World War II halted racing in the U.S.

Chicago ’s Riverview Speedway, or sometimes as it was called Riverview Stadium, was one of the finest midget auto racing tracks in the country, but had a short run of only seven years.

An article in the April 29, 1936 edition of the Chicago Tribune newspaper carried a small story in its sports section titled, “ Building of Riverview Speedway is Started.”

Chicago businessman and sportsman, Thorne Donnelley, and others were behind the project. Donnelley, president of the Midwest Auto Racing Association, announced that the new speedway would be the association’s “home track” for the 1936 outdoor racing season. Donnelley, son of Reuben H. Donnelley, Chicago ’s publishing and printing magnate, was involved with midget racing from the start in the Chicago area, owning midget race cars with Jimmy Snyder being his driver.

The new speed bowl was located off of Addison street in Chicago , just west of Western avenue , bounded to the west by the North Channel of the Chicago River . Just to the south of the speedway property was Chicago ’s famous Riverview amusement park with the Lane Tech High School athletic field to the east. Newspaper articles reported that the track’s grandstands would ultimately seat 12,000 spectators.

Opening night at the one-fifth mile dirt “speed plant” was scheduled for Sunday evening, May 24, 1936. Midget racing was in “full bloom” in the Chicago area with the Chicago Midget Speedway, near Lincoln and Devon avenues, also hosting a midget racing program that same night.

Jack “Curley” Mills of Los Angeles, a pioneer of midget racing – dating back to some of the earliest midget races on the West Coast in 1934, won the 40-lap inaugural main event at Riverview, besting Bob Swanson, Pat Warren, Chicago’s own Jimmy Snyder and Johnny Sawyer. Swanson, the West Coast champion considered by many to be one of the greatest midget drivers ever, defeated Snyder, Chicago’s 1935-36 indoor midget champion, in a special four-lap match race. Reports announced a capacity crowd of 8,000 witnessing the races. Just for the record, Paul Russo won the feature race at the Chicago Midget Speedway that same night, defeating Cletus “Cowboy” O’Rourke and Everett Rice.

The 1936 schedule called for races every Sunday and Wednesday evenings. By season’s end, the track had seen over two dozen events held with Snyder being named the track’s overall champion for the inaugural season. The season finale was held on September 27 with Art Hartsfeld of Toledo , Ohio grabbing the win over Marshall Lewis and Robert “Shorty” Sorenson.

The 1937 season at Riverview opened on May 23, 1937 with Hartsfeld being the winner of the 40-lap main event ahead of Russo and Ted Tetterton. Another busy schedule with racing every Sunday and Wednesday was seen with the likes of Russo, Lewis, Ray Richards, Frank Beeder, Wally Zale and Ted Duncan among feature race winners. Hartsfeld claimed track championship honors.

Harry McQuinn of Indianapolis was the “guy to beat” at Riverview in 1938 as the track ran pretty much a one night a week schedule on Sundays. McQuinn wheeled the Wisconsin-based Marchese Miller No. 4 midget to the overall track championship. Bob Lundgreen and Harry Zoern were the promoters that season. The Riverview track was the only Chicago area speedway to hold weekly midget races during the season with the new Raceway Park near Blue Island hosting its inaugural program on September 24, 1938 with McQuinn grabbing the “opening night” 40-lap feature.

A few weather-related postponements caused the 1939 racing season at Riverview not to get underway until June 4 with Wisconsin ’s Tony Willman in Fred Tomshe’s Offenhauser-powered midget taking top honors in the 40-lap feature over Jimmy Snyder. Snyder was coming off of a great run at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 30, finishing second in the 500-mile classic after grabbing pole position honors after a record qualifying effort. Less than a month later, Snyder would lose his life in a midget racing accident at Cahokia , Ill. on June 29. One of Chicagoland’s racing favorites was gone at the age of 31.

Chicago ’s Wally Zale captured track championship honors for the 1939 season. Zale, along with Willman, Lyle Dickey and Ray Richards were feature winners during the year. Richards won the 75-lap championship chase on September 10 in his Marchese Miller midget.

Zale nailed down his second consecutive Riverview track championship in 1940, sharing feature win honors with the likes of Ted Duncan, Ray Richards and Bob Muhlke. The season got underway on June 2 with Duncan in the Tomshe Offy claiming top honors in the 40-lap feature. Zale in his own black “Offy” No. 1 won the season finale on September 15 over Duncan, Muhlke, Myron Fohr and Tony Bettenhausen. The “rough and ready” Zale was reported to have won a total of 67 midget feature races during the 1940 season.

With the War in Europe seemingly getting closer to the United States day after day, Riverview kicked off its sixth season of midget racing on May 18. The 1941 season opener saw Ted Duncan in the Frank Podriznik No. 15 “Offy” win the 30-lap feature race over Jimmy Caris and Bob Muhlke.

Duncan would post track title-winning efforts in 1941, using a 100-lap victory on August 31 to propel himself to the track championship. Duncan , along with Muhlke, Ray Richards and Myron Fohr, were feature winners during the season. The 100-lap season finale was won by Richards on September 21 as he defeated Duncan, Muhlke, Pete Nielsen and Shorty Sorenson. Richards, who grabbed fast time honors during time trials with a lap of 15.58 seconds, covered the 100-lap distance in a record 26:30.80 minutes.

With the United States now in World War II and automobile racing seemingly ready to be halted any day, Riverview opened the 1942 season on Sunday evening, May 24, after being rained out the week before. Former Golden Gloves boxing champ Jimmy Caris of Chicago wheeled the Hopkins Offy to victory honors in the 30-lap feature ahead of Ray Richards and Bob Muhlke.

Hailing from Highland Park , Ill. , Richards, behind the wheel of his Leader Card Offy No. 5, would garner track championship honors during the track’s final season. In addition to Richards and Caris, other feature winners were Myron Fohr, Cletus “Cowboy” O’Rourke, Ted Duncan and Tony Bettenhausen.

Richards scored a 100-lap victory on June 21, defeating Fohr and Muhlke. Another 100 lapper was held on July 19 with O’Rourke claiming the win over Bettenhausen, Richards and Al Cummings.

Wednesday evening, July 29, 1942, would mark the final racing program ever held at the Riverview oval as the U.S. Government ended all auto racing activities for the duration. Tony Bettenhausen would have the honor of winning the final feature race at the track, wheeling his Muntz-Nichels Offy to the 100-lap win over Richards, Muhlke, Cummings and O’Rourke. He covered the distance in 25:03.07 minutes. Richards was awarded his track championship trophy that night and claimed top honors in the 15-lap “handicap” race.

Who would have realized that when the lights were shut off that night, it would mark the end of racing at the popular speedway on Chicago ’s northside. The Riverview amusement park would last until 1967, but its neighboring speedway was just a memory after World War II ended.

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