If you could resurrect any dirt track from the dead, which would it be?

[IL LM Fan]

Santa Fe Speedway. Also, Dad got the racing fan thing going at O'Hare Speedway. I was around 7 when they closed and we switched to Santa Fe. Would be cool to see O'Hare and how much of it I remembered.

[CIRF]

Manzanita in AZ

Newberry in SC

Attended racing events at Manzy only twice but it was a VERY cool place! Both the 1/2 mile and the 1/4 were great tracks. The time we were out there for the Western World they ran the 360's on the 1/4 mile and the 410's on the 1/2. Only track I ever attended that had to stop selling general admission tickets because they were totally full of spectators. Best track food I ever had. Authentic Mexican and it was superb!

I've heard people say Pecatonica at Winnebago Co. Illinois was pretty crazy. I cannot even find it on Youtube.

Pecatonica was a nice place and we saw some great racing there back in the day. We watched Steve Boley and Kevin Weaver wage an epic battle there with Weaver getting the win. Saw the Badger Midgets there a couple of times and they put on great shows despite the longer 1/2 mile track. Pecatonica reportedly fell victim to several things. 1/2 mile tracks falling out of favor due to obscenely high engine costs, disgruntled neighbors and a fair board that didn't allow promoters to make any money. Beautiful facilities with concrete grandstands, etc. There was rumors that some guys were going to try to stage some racing there a few years ago but that seemed to fade away without any events or fanfare. Not sure the track even exists in a usable form anymore.

[over4T]

Edards recollection of Columbus Speedway in MS brought back a fond memory of the only time I and my son were there 8 or 10 years ago. One of the finest prepared tracks we'd ever seen.
Jonathan Davenport, whom we'd barely heard of, was the fastest by far the first night but think he got busted in tech and left. Mike Marlar, another new name to us, won the big main the second day. Met Bub McCool, a very entertaining guy, and still got one of his T shirts.
Can't forget the "penthouses" and the great atmosphere and it's a shame the joint isn't still in operation.

[HoosierDirtFan]

IN MY AREA
Crown Point Speedway (A.K.A. Southlake Speedway / Broadway Speedway) Crown Point, Indiana - closed in Feb. 2006 - My Home Track
Santa Fe Speedway (Southwest side of Chicago at 93rd & Wolf Road in Willow Springs) - Closed in 1995
Rensselaer Speedway - Rensselaer, Indiana at the Jasper County Fairgrounds - Closed after 1985 season
Kankakee Speedway - Late 1980's / early 1990's or pre 2006
Illiana Motor Speedway (asphalt) - Schererville, Indiana (About hour from downtown Chicago) - closed spring of 2016
Raceway Park (southside of Cook County / Chicago area) Asphalt


OUTSIDE OF MY AREA
Atomic Speedway in Tennessee
Red Hill Raceway in Illinois
Manzanita Speedway in Phoenix, Arizona
Ascot Park near Los Angeles
Godfrey Speedway in Illinois
Warsaw Speedway - Warsaw, Indiana
Hales Corners Speedway in Southeast Wisconsin
16th Street Speedway in Indianapolis

[CIRF]

Santa Fe Speedway. Also, Dad got the racing fan thing going at O'Hare Speedway. I was around 7 when they closed and we switched to Santa Fe. Would be cool to see O'Hare and how much of it I remembered.

Tommy Rients never had any luck at Santa Fe and he raced there a lot over the years. He hated the place. He once said they should make Santa Fe into a toxic waste dump!! LOL! He was the bottom car in a wreck where they were stacked 3 high on top of him. He told me the back side of his fire suit was soaked with fuel and fuel was literally running into one of the track surface drains. Thank God there was no fire because it's doubtful Tommy woulda' made it and that fuel running down the drain would have made a HUGE BOOM!

For those who might not recognize the name Tom Rients he holds the record for most Fairbury dirt late model track championships. I believe he won 6 total. If I'm wrong I'm sure one of the rabid FALS fanatics will correct me.

[HoosierDirtFan]

Tommy Rients never had any luck at Santa Fe and he raced there a lot over the years. He hated the place. He once said they should make Santa Fe into a toxic waste dump!! LOL! He was the bottom car in a wreck where they were stacked 3 high on top of him. He told me the back side of his fire suit was soaked with fuel and fuel was literally running into one of the track surface drains. Thank God there was no fire because it's doubtful Tommy woulda' made it and that fuel running down the drain would have made a HUGE BOOM!

For those who might not recognize the name Tom Rients he holds the record for most Fairbury dirt late model track championships. I believe he won 6 total. If I'm wrong I'm sure one of the rabid FALS fanatics will correct me.

CIRF

You must be talking about this wreck. It was an 18 car pile up. I was there that day for the "National Clay Track Championship Miller 200"

THE BIG ONE
#77 Steve Pastva, #56 Gary Webb, #27 (Green Car) Bob Pohlman Jr., & #49 Tom Rients.
Also involved to name a few #21 Gibby Steinhause, #7 "Lil" John Provenzano

[IL LM Fan]

That was the first 200 after Howard passed. I always assumed that's why. But IDK how involved Howard was in Track prep. VERY dusty for that one.

[CIRF]

CIRF

You must be talking about this wreck. It was an 18 car pile up. I was there that day for the "National Clay Track Championship Miller 200"

THE BIG ONE
#77 Steve Pastva, #56 Gary Webb, #27 (Green Car) Bob Pohlman Jr., & #49 Tom Rients.
Also involved to name a few #21 Gibby Steinhause, #7 "Lil" John Provenzano

Yep, that's the one! Tommy told me several years later that this wreck literally tore the carburetor off the top of the engine. No one was seriously injured but the potential was present for this to have resulted in multiple fatalities had a spark ignited all the fuel that was present.

That was the first 200 after Howard passed. I always assumed that's why. But IDK how involved Howard was in Track prep. VERY dusty for that one.

I'm working on memory now but didn't Lil' John Provenzano pull into the infield to do some quick work on his car and when he exited the infield he stirred up a huge cloud of dust that obscured turns #1 & #2 which caused the pile up. Drivers couldn't see what they were driving into and just kept ramming into the pile. Can anyone confirm if I'm off base on that or not?

What year did this happen?

I wasn't there so I'm not sure on that but I seem to remember talking to some guys that were there and IIRC that was the story they told. I never heard Tommy ever commit to what he believed caused they whole debacle and we had some extensive conversations after Tommy retired from driving.

[HoosierDirtFan]

Tommy Rients never had any luck at Santa Fe and he raced there a lot over the years. He hated the place. He once said they should make Santa Fe into a toxic waste dump!! LOL! He was the bottom car in a wreck where they were stacked 3 high on top of him. He told me the back side of his fire suit was soaked with fuel and fuel was literally running into one of the track surface drains. Thank God there was no fire because it's doubtful Tommy woulda' made it and that fuel running down the drain would have made a HUGE BOOM!

For those who might not recognize the name Tom Rients he holds the record for most Fairbury dirt late model track championships. I believe he won 6 total. If I'm wrong I'm sure one of the rabid FALS fanatics will correct me.

Yep, that's the one! Tommy told me several years later that this wreck literally tore the carburetor off the top of the engine. No one was seriously injured but the potential was present for this to have resulted in multiple fatalities had a spark ignited all the fuel that was present.



I'm working on memory now but didn't Lil' John Provenzano pull into the infield to do some quick work on his car and when he exited the infield he stirred up a huge cloud of dust that obscured turns #1 & #2 which caused the pile up. Drivers couldn't see what they were driving into and just kept ramming into the pile. Can anyone confirm if I'm off base on that or not?

What year did this happen?

I wasn't there so I'm not sure on that but I seem to remember talking to some guys that were there and IIRC that was the story they told. I never heard Tommy ever commit to what he believed caused they whole debacle and we had some extensive conversations after Tommy retired from driving.

It was 1990. He got squirrelly off turn 2 went into the infield and came back out on the made a HUGE dust cloud that engulfed the back stretch and all you heard was smash, smash, smash.... Ironically Lil won the race that day over a huge field of cars.

[IL LM Fan]

My memory of it, and this is over 30 years ago so... I don't remember specifically Lil John leaving and re entering the track, but I may have missed that. It was already very dusty. I remember Lil John moving very slow but still on the track on the back straightaway, causing others to check up. A pile up ensued and with the dust combined with the sun setting in the background, drivers were piling into wreck full throttle. It has been reported by others that Lil John had transmission issues and a Track official waved him to stay on the track? He was able to replace the transmission with the lengthy delay and won the race.

[LugNutz]

The one that i would like to see back is, The old Cannon River Speedway in Morristown Minn. Nice banking and good sticky dirt.

[CIRF]

It was 1990. He got squirrelly off turn 2 went into the infield and came back out on the made a HUGE dust cloud that engulfed the back stretch and all you heard was smash, smash, smash.... Ironically Lil won the race that day over a huge field of cars.

My memory of it, and this is over 30 years ago so... I don't remember specifically Lil John leaving and re entering the track, but I may have missed that. It was already very dusty. I remember Lil John moving very slow but still on the track on the back straightaway, causing others to check up. A pile up ensued and with the dust combined with the sun setting in the background, drivers were piling into wreck full throttle. It has been reported by others that Lil John had transmission issues and a Track official waved him to stay on the track? He was able to replace the transmission with the lengthy delay and won the race.

Thanks for setting the record straight guys. I'm working on memory of conversations from 20 years ago. As I said, I wasn't there. The only thing I was sure of is Lil' John had a hand in the beginnings of the crash.

I also remember some who were there saying Lil' John had some very heated back & forth with some spectators through the catch fence! IIRC what I was told is that some of the rhetoric got quite loud and explicit! LOL! Either one of you guys able to expand on that?

[84wedge]

All of them in Ontario, Canada. Covid still has the province shut down.

[84wedge]

CIRFYou must be talking about this wreck. It was an 18 car pile up. I was there that day for the "National Clay Track Championship Miller 200"THE BIG ONE#77 Steve Pastva, #56 Gary Webb, #27 (Green Car) Bob Pohlman Jr., & #49 Tom Rients.Also involved to name a few #21 Gibby Steinhause, #7 "Lil" John Provenzano

What a picture!

[Dirt Clod]

Thanks for the Santa Fe memories, guys. I drove up to that Miller 200 from Decatur that day. Had been to many Santa Fe half mile shows and a few Clay Track Championships. That day I decided to sit on the backstretch for a different view. Santa Fe would always be packed for the 200 lap race.

My memories were the race had its normal late afternoon start. Track was always dry by then. Drivers drove into turn 3, right into the sun. I thought Lil John pulled to the inside of the backstretch, causing the big dust cloud to go up. Dust and sun started that big pileup. I remember getting blinded and just hearing the sounds of cars crashing into each other. Amazing Lil John won. CIRF, your comments about Tom are right on. Amazing no fire started. I think (and others can verify) that Santa Fe had a big horn they blew for any red flag condition. I seemed to hear that other times before. Clearly the horn sounded that day.

I drove over to the old Santa Fe location one trip to Chicago to say a final goodbye. Huge homes were built on that site. Also remember the old billboard that stood off the Tri-State Tollway for many years. I've seen that photo on here, too. Amazing many times Santa Fe raced 4 nights a week.