Dear Friend of MiRPA,
It sure has been a long year... a very long year! We hope this finds you well and back to enjoying life. I, for one, am excited to see the great enthusiasm of our network of supporters.
We continue our efforts to promote and preserve the history of racing in the Midwest. Our work to safeguard the rich legacy of Motorsports through the accumulation of historical documents, collateral, photographs, movies and memorabilia got a boost through the efforts of our followers who made good use of their downtime.
The straightaway of the "ghost track" that was Meadowdale will be alive at the 13th Annual Meadowdale, Motorsports & Memories Car Show! This annual event celebrates the historical significance of Meadowdale International Raceways with presentations, featured speakers and special car displays. Food, music, vendors and lots of fabulous cars and interesting owners make this a big draw for families and car buffs alike.
If you haven't already, I invite you to attend Coffee & Cars, held the first Saturday of each month. There you will find a group of dedicated, fun-loving enthusiasts and have the opportunity to meet friends, old and new, who share the passion of Motorsports. Test your skill on our Meadowdale-inspired slot car track - bring your own car or use one of ours. All are welcome!
On behalf of the Board of the MiRPA, I encourage you to keep an eye on our calendar of events and activities, such as the winter banquet, highlighting the people and places that helped build the Midwest racing community beyond the “Monza Wall” of Meadowdale.
We remain an all volunteer organization and depend on the dedication of so many. I applaud our Board Members who are generous with their time, treasure and talents, and again thank our individual, corporate, community and government friends for their support. I am deeply grateful to all of you who donate your energies. If you have a bit of time to contribute, I invite you to ride along with this fun, energetic group! The success of our mission depends on all of you.
Sharing the cars, the stories and the passion... in the spirit of the sport!
On the cover: Purchased from Briggs Cunningham's team following a wreck in the 1961 U.S. Grand Prix, Roger Penske repaired and rebuilt what became his #6 Zerex Special, which Penske steered to his 1962 USAC Road Racing Championship.
Original Art by Mike Zeller v Cover & T-shirt Art Designed by Lucy DeLap
Once an all but forgotten “ghost track,” Meadowdale International Raceways, located within Raceway Woods, a Kane County Forest Preserve in the northwest corner of Carpentersville, Illinois, lives again. The 50th Anniversary celebration in 2008 brought together the efforts of a hard working group of volunteers and applied a mix of “those that were there” with those that could only wish they were...
The beginnings of the Meadowdale International Raceways Preservation Association (MIRPA) took shape that day.
September 14, 1958, marked the opening of the Raceway, a 3.27 mile road course featuring a steep 180 degree curve known as the “Monza Wall” which led onto the ¾ mile front straight. Estimates of the first race crowd were upwards of 100,000 people. Meadowdale was the dream of Leonard W. Besinger. A developer of commercial and residential properties in the Carpentersville area, he envisioned the track as a destination for the national racing community and a way to bring people to the area.
Automobile, motorcycle, even snowmobile races were held at Meadowdale International Raceways. The track was home to events held by sanctioning bodies including USRRC, USAC, ARCA, SCCA, Midwestern Council, AMA, and Kart.
MiRPA hosts activities to keep the racing spirit alive year round. Events have been held at locations such as Heidts Automotive Group, Chicago Vintage Motor Carriage, McKee Engineering, Black Dog Speed Shop, Fall-Line Motorsports, ECC Motorsports, The Mueller and The Lederer Collections. As a kick off to the Indy 500, a presentation by IMS Historian Donald Davidson, along with Paul Goldsmith, was held at Collector Car Garage. A special members-only event was held at the Autobahn “garage” of Indy winner Bobby Rahal.
MiRPA’s Annual Winter Banquet honors the vision and contributions to the sport of racing made by outstanding representatives of the Motorsports community. We welcome to our “Monza Wall of Fame” those who have shared an undeniable passion for speed and excellence.
On September 11, 2021, we present our 13th annual Meadowdale, Motorsports & Memories car show. This is a great opportunity to visit with friends... old and new. Hundreds of race and street cars of all marques will line the front straight while Illinois NCRS takes its place in Corvette Corner.
MiRPA is committed to preserving Meadowdale and Midwest Motorsports Racing History. We are an all volunteer organization. Your time, talent and treasure are the greatest gifts you can share with us. We work to ensure the endurance of the motorsports legacy through our 501(c)(3) not-for-profit status.
Meadowdale was a great destination sixty years ago and still is today. The Raceway brought people to live, work, and play. Memories of its history will bring the track alive for generations to come. Enjoy what remains of the track — you can still hear the race cars roaring in the distance. Turn around quickly enough... you just might get a glimpse into the past!
A sampling of lost tracks - Gone but not forgotten... Illinois - Algonquin National Hill Climb • Chicago Armory • Chicago Motor Speedway • International Amphitheater • O'Hare Stadium • Raceway Park
Indiana - U.S. 30 Dragway
Motor City Speedway
Fort Miami Speedway
Playland Park
Jackson Motor Speedway
Ohio - Cleveland Arena
Dayton Speedway
Wisconsin - Greenwood Roadway
Lynndale Farms Raceway
If they raced then, they raced here!
MiRPA has been privileged to honor those who have made extraordinary contributions to automotive and racing history.
2020 was a year to remember ... or maybe forget. After a season of cancellations, we were excited to receive the green light for the 12th Annual Meadowdale, Motorsports & Memories car show!
Plans were made, volunteers rounded up, speakers scheduled, materials rented, and the word spread. The weather had other ideas.
Our hardy crew labored in preparation despite dismal conditions. Even hardier drivers joined us for a memorable event, though last year's show was the show that kinda wasn't.
Last fall, we were honored when approached by MotorTrend to include Meadowdale Raceways in an episode of "Drives Unexpected" that featured interesting places in Chicagoland. This original series follows along with British racer Justin Bell as he discovers automotive gems while driving historic roads in exciting cities behind the wheel of a variety of incredible cars. Watch as MiRPA escorts the Drives Unexpected crew around the twists and turns that once made up Meadowdale. Check it out! It's Episode 5 on the MotorTrend app!
The next event that wasn't was MiRPA's Winter Banquet, an opportunity to honor esteemed members of the motorsports community who personify a “dedication to speed and excellence.” We overcame this obstacle to honor a true leader of the racing industry by recognizing him at his headquarters. MiRPA is proud to announce 2021 Monza Wall of Fame Inductee, Roger Penske.
Roger was presented with commemorative art highlighting his extremely successful career as driver, owner and giant of the industry. Signed limited edition prints highlighting Roger's career are available.
MiRPA's gift box raffle was launched in April with the drawing held at our May Coffee & Cars. The winner received a fabulous weekend at Road America with a pair of four-day VIP tickets to the Indy Car race and a two-night stay at the luxurious Blue Harbor Resort (and water park) in Sheboygan.
MiRPA was on hand when Paul Goldsmith, the oldest living Indianapolis 500 starter and the last driver to win when stock cars ran on the beach in Daytona, was reunited with his 1949 Oldsmobile racer, Roarin’ Relic, at his Griffith, Ind., Airport.
In addition to Coffee & Cars, Motor Monday Cruise Nights have also returned in 2021. We continue to partner with the Village of East Dundee in the planning and execution of this very popular event.
MiRPA has resumed attendance at activities such as dinners with the Elkhart Lake Historic Race Circuit Preservation Association, races at Road America, Autobahn Country Club & Blackhawk Farms, Indy, NASCAR and NHRA events along with Mecum Auctions.
We've been pleased to include special presentations during our monthly Coffee & Cars (the first Saturday of each month). Ron Nelson, motorsports photographer, discussed and signed copies of his new book, "A Photo Pass to the Amazing 1960s." Stan Kalwasinski, motorsports journalist and author of "Blue Island's Raceway Park," enthralled a lively and involved crowd with his slide presentation featuring photos of many of the long-lost tracks in the Chicago and surrounding areas. Stay tuned... we'll be adding more interesting events to enjoy with your "coffee."
Save the Date!
Join us! Bring a car (or not!), show off your slot car skills, and enjoy a snack, old race movies and some bench racing with fellow enthusiasts.
We exist and thrive only because of the many volunteers who share their time, talent and treasure in support and dedication to MiRPA’s mission to promote and preserve the history of Midwest motorsports.
MiRPA’s Winter Banquet is scheduled for Saturday, February 5, 2022 Linda
We are very grateful... Thank You!
by Linda Daro
In 1965, Penske became the owner of McKeen Chevrolet in Philadelphia. “I had the opportunity in the business world and Bunkie Knudsen and the guys at GM helped me make the decision,” Roger says. “They said, 'Look if you become a Chevrolet dealer, we don’t want you to drive.' Obviously, I needed to borrow money to get into that business and I needed insurance. In those days you couldn’t get insurance if you were a race driver. So a number of factors came together. The decision was easy and I never looked back.” Penske was only 27 years old and had demonstrated that he was as good as any driver in a sports cars. He put his driving days behind him without a hint of regret or wistfulness.
Born and raised in Ohio and college educated in Pennsylvania, Roger Penske earned his business degree and promptly began racing. The rest ... is history!
Penske was 21 in 1958 when he got his SCCA license. He raced a Porsche twice in late ‘58 and ran a dozen SCCA Nationals in the northeast with the car in 1959, as well as taking a couple of successful trips to Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin. He won eight races and a hill climb with the Porsche in 1959 before replacing the Spyder later in the year with an RSK. Penske raced the RSK into 1960 before trading Jim Hall for a newer RS60 that summer. At the end of the year he bought an RS61 for the annual Nassau season-closer where he scored his fifteenth win of the year in a preliminary race. Roger was named 1961 Sports Illustrated's SCCA Driver of the Year. He won the USAC Championship and then Driver of the Year honors from the New York Times in 1962.
Penske won the Grand Prix at Riverside at the end of 1964. He had won 51 of 130 race starts as the year came to a close. “That’s when I decided it was the end,” Penske says. “I won all the races at Nassau, three with the Chaparral and one with the lightweight Corvette. I won all those races and I said, okay, I’m going to become a businessman full-time.” He went on to build a network of businesses that today employs nearly 60,000 people.
One of those ventures was the Penske Racing Trans Am team. In true Penske fashion, the search was on for an advantage. No detail was too small. He realized that during a pitstop, up to 40 gallons needed to be dispensed during fueling, and tenths of seconds could win or lose a race. Combing through the rule book, he found the main stipulation was that the bottom of the fueling rig could be no more than six feet off the ground. There were no restrictions on the top of the rig. And so the “Big Rig” came in to being, making its debut at the first race of the 1969 season in Michigan. Kept under wraps during practice and qualifying, the new 20-foot tall fueling structure was revealed the morning of the race.
Another quest for “advantage” involved acid-dipping the 1967 Camaro driven by Mark Donohue. Realizing that the car could be lighter, Penske had Lockheed Aerospace in California use an acid bath to reduce the Camaro’s weight by about 370 pounds. When Donohue voiced concerns over the car’s structural integrity, a roll cage was installed, one of the first in sports car racing. The officials were bemused by the roll cage but did not care much for the somewhat flimsy body panels - the car was banned … forever.
Roger Penske and Mark Donohue celebrate after setting the Closed-Course World Speed Record at Talladega in 1975In an era unlike any we're likely to see again ... In a time when the rules of racing hadn’t yet become quite so stringent, Penske would get up early and stay late if it meant an edge over the competition. What was clear then and is even more evident now is that Roger Penske is deeply committed to analyzing even the smallest detail in the pursuit of excellence!
The pursuit of excellence was evident in every challenge
Bobby Unser took on. After leaving high school at the age of 15, he began racing and won his first championship. After a stint in the Air Force, Bobby went on to a very successful 30-year racing career winning the Indy 500 three times and the Pikes Peak Hill Climb an amazing 13 times.
Following his retirement from racing, he began a 20-year career in broadcasting as a television commentator for IndyCar races and some NASCAR events. Bobby won an Emmy as part of the ABC broadcast team for its coverage of the 1989 Indy 500.
Unser was self-taught, taking the opportunity to learn from some of the best racing engineers in the world. He developed specialized expertise in tire formulation and testing, suspensions, aerodynamics, accident reconstruction and so much more. Bobby also loved to fly himself to races and, eventually, got around to actually getting his license to fly.
Bobby was a fierce and knowledgeable competitor both on and off the track, and had a personality that would fill any room. He always made time for his fans and was the finest ambassador that any sport could have.
Roger Penske
“I have no slow days in my life. I was trained to go fast, and I will go fast until the day I die.”
Bobby Unser
Most people are well aware that Soldier Field has been the “home” of football’s Chicago Bears for many years. Ask any sports aficionado and they will tell you that the Bears have played there since 1971. But for many years, a quartermile paved, somewhat narrow, track, sometimes “stretched” to a three-eighths or halfmile configuration, was laid inside the mammoth arena on Chicago’s lakefront. Stock cars roared around the Soldier Field oval from 1949 through 1968 with the exception of 1959 when the summer-long Pan American Games were held.
The early days of automobile racing at Soldier Field consisted of midget auto racing, dating back to 1935 when the races were held on a quarter-mile cinder track. In June of 1939, a special wooden board track was erected inside the stadium for a week-long series of midget races, which attracted some of the country’s best midget racing speedsters. Huge crowds witnessed the weekly midget races held after World War II.
Stock cars, hot rods and midgets would race on a pretty much weekly basis at Soldier Field in 1949 with future Indianapolis 500 winner Pat Flaherty winning the stock car season finale ahead of Michaels on Sunday afternoon, October Second.
Michaels, who raced out of Cicero, for most of his career, was crowned the Soldier Field stock car champion for 1949 with Flaherty winning the hot rod championship.
Another future Indianapolis 500 winner, California’s Jim Rathmann was the 1950 stock car champion at the Chicago arena. In 1951, Rathmann would repeat as stock car champion with Michaels retaking the title in 1952.
Short-lived hot rod races “spiced up” the weekly midget racing at the “Field” in 1947, 1948 and 1949 with stock car racing making its first appearance at the huge stadium on Sunday night, June 26, 1949. Racing around the football field, which was protected by a ribbon of Armco barrier, Gilbert “Skippy” Michaels won the evening’s 25-lap feature race over Vince and Joe Granatelli, brothers of Andy Granatelli, who was instrumental in bringing hot rod and stock car racing to Soldier Field. Granatelli, of STP fame, would be part of the track’s promotional team through the mid 1950s. The Chicago Tribune newspaper reported a crowd of 18,753 was in attendance.
A product of the northside of Chicago, Tom Pistone would win three straight championships between 1953 and 1955. Standing about 5 foot, 6 inches tall, “Tiger Tom” would win a reported 38 career feature races at Soldier Field before turning his attention to NASCAR stock car racing.
NASCAR came to the big stadium in 1956 as three “National Championship” events were held. Pistone wheeled his own 1956 Chevy “rag top” to victory in a NASCAR convertible division 200 lapper on the Field’s half-mile oval on
June 30, 1956. Glenn “Fireball” Roberts won a NASCAR Grand National (today’s Cup Series) 200-lap race on July 22, piloting his factory-backed 1956 Ford.
With a reported 17,585 fans on hand, the final NASCAR race of the 1956 season was a 500-lap affair with Curtis Turner driving his “factory” ’56 Ford convertible to the win on September 9. One more NASCAR race would be held at Soldier Field with Glen Wood (of the famous Wood Brothers racing team) winning a 100-lap convertible race on June 29, 1957.
Soldier Field was the site of the annual Chicago Park District Police Benevolent Association Gold Trophy Race from 1946 through 1958. Tens of thousands of fans would attend these race events with these programs usually being the best-attended races of the year as Chicagoans supported the Chicago Park District’s own police force. Over 40,000 fans were on hand when Pistone won in 1951 and a reported 45,000 fans saw Indiana’s Darel Dieringer win in 1956. Chicago area political and TV/radio personalities were usually in attendance to present trophies, awards, etc. Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley presented Gene Marmor his trophy in 1955.
Future NASCAR superstar Fred Lorenzen was the stock car champion in 1956. Don Oldenberg and Bryant Tucker were multi-time stock car titlists as racing began to wind down at Soldier Field. On Sunday night, June 9, 1968, Sal Tovella, who was champion in 1963, won the last stock car feature race at Soldier Field.
Racing at Soldier Field was over and the Chicago Bears were about to move in.
by Mike zeller
TV Shoot for CAM2 Motor oil at Penske Garages in Pennsylvania circa 1975. Penske is center left. Art foster of Sun oil is to his left & Mark Donohue in the foreground.
After college, I ventured into marketing and advertising, working with ad agencies in Pittsburgh, New York and St. Louis. One of my clients was Sunoco (Sun Oil Company), where I helped create the branding for CAM2, a new motor oil. This product became the official motor oil of the Penske Racing Team. Many Indy and NASCAR races were run with the CAM2 livery, as well as while setting the world closed-course world speed record with Mark Donohue driving. I shot many photos of these events and became an avid Penske Racing fan.
Every year MiRPA commissions commemorative art showcasing the racing history of the year's honoree. About This Year’s Artist: Mike Zeller, car-crazy, veteran marketing and advertising executive, grew up in a small Ohio town, where he and his buddies spent a lot of time cruising in hot rods and custom cars, and going to sports car road races at Mid-Ohio. Mike graduated from Ohio University with a degree in fine arts.
About twelve years ago, I reactivated my fine arts skills and began applying them to vintage cars, motorcycles and motorsports. Working primarily with water color and acrylics, I've done much commission work for individuals and classic car events. When given the opportunity to create the honorary Roger Penske illustration, I felt it was a very fortunate stroke of serendipity!
27W982 Commercial Ave. Barrington, IL 60010
Phone (847) 382-9433 Fax (847) 382-9451
john@belknapautobodyinc.com www.belknapautobodyinc.com
