Backgrounder: Meadowdale International Raceways 1958-1970
Leonard W. Besinger was a major developer-builder in the Chicago suburban area. In 1958 the Northwest Tollway, Interstate 90, had just been completed. This gave Chicagoans easy access to the Carpentersville area, where Besinger had extensive operations in residential and commercial properties. What was needed was needed, he reasoned, was an attraction to draw people the 40 miles from Chicago, so they could see and buy his homes and patronize his shopping centers.
He had been to Europe and had seen the huge draw of professional road racing there. He would build a road racing course near Carpentersville that would mirror some of those well-known racing venues in Europe. His plan was that large crowds would come to the races and many would like the rolling land, woods and rivers of the area and want to live there.
Besinger had previously purchased a number of parcels of land in the area for development. One was a former dairy and horse farm near the intersection of Route 31 and Huntley Road. This is where he would build Meadowdale International Raceways.
1958 was a busy year for Meadowdale. The first dirt was moved in June, and by September the track was ready for racing. The 3.27 mile course had two steeply banked turns, one at each end of a 4,000 foot straightaway.
The best-known feature of the raceway was the Monza Wall, patterned after a part of the track he had seen in Italy. It was steeply banked and turned a full 180 degrees. Cars came off the Wall at great speed and rocketed down the 3/4 mile straight. The main straight was marked by uphill and downhill stretches. Faster cars would get airborne off some of the steeper hills. This was before wings and other aerodynamic devices became common on race cars.
Approaching the end of the straight at up to 180 miles per hour, drivers had to slow for another banked turn. Besinger named several sections of the track after his children and this turn was called "Greg's Corkscrew". It not only curved a full 180 degrees, but it was tighter than the Monza Wall and dropped sharply. It gained the nickname "Little Monza". Closely linked right and left turns and serious elevation changes challenged drivers on other parts of the course.
The inaugural race at Meadowdale was September 13-14, 1958. It was a sports car race presented by the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America. Racers from all over America came to see and drive the new race track.
Two notable racers were Lance Reventlow and Chuck Daigh from California, driving a pair of Scarabs. The Scarabs were custom built racing sports cars developed by Daigh and financed by Reventlow. The Scarabs left most of the 35-car field behind to win the feature race, with Daigh first and Reventlow a close second.
Much earthmoving had been done to prepare the race course and the newly planted grass seed had not had time to take root to hold the soil in place. The weekend was windy and dust flew everywhere, spoiling what should have been a pleasant weekend for the spectators. Traffic tie-ups developed on the rural roads around the track, adding to the confusion.
A driver flipped a Ferrari in Doane's Corner. This was before cars were required to have rollover bars and, unfortunately, the driver's neck was broken and he died on the way to the nearby hospital. Although this was the only fatality in the history of Meadowdale Raceway, this death at its first race gave the track a "killer" reputation that never left it.
A full court press of promotional activities had preceded the first race. Besinger was no slouch at promotion and he teamed with another experienced promoter, Sol Polk, of the big Polk Brothers appliance dealer, to mount one of the largest sports promotions Chicagoland had seen. The track announced a spectator crowd of 150,000.
Many of the genteel members of the Chicago Region-Sports Car Club of America were aghast at the promotional hoopla preceding the event and the huge crowd of spectators invading their race, generally open only to the carefully screened members of their club. The uproar among the club members resulted in the Chicago Region turning its back on Meadowdale for many years.
At that time, the national SCCA was still strongly opposed to the concept of professional drivers racing for cash purses at their events, so Leonard Besinger forged an agreement with the United States Auto Club to sanction road races at Meadowdale. He was sure that crowds would pay to see only the best professional drivers, as they did in Europe.
The professional connections did bring in the stars. Most of the racing heroes of the '50s and '60s appeared at Meadowdale. Roger Ward, Curtis Turner, Fred Lorenzen, Elmer Musgrave, Lloyd Ruby, Paul Goldsmith, Bay Darnell, Tony Bettenhausen and Jim Rathman were just a few of the drivers who ran at Meadowdale during its heyday. A USAC stock car race in October of 1958 drew another large crowd and ambitious plans were set for 1959 and the future.
Following years saw a mix of professional and amateur races, including USAC and ARCA stock cars, AMA motorcycles, and "Formula Libre" races which pitted sports cars, Indy cars and midget racers against each other.
Regions of the Sports Car Club of America (other than Chicago) ran club race events, as did the Midwestern Council of Sports Car Clubs and other amateur groups. A local publication at the time stated that these amateur events were among the most profitable for the track, as they drew a reasonable number of spectators, the clubs paid to rent the track, and there was no appearance or prize money involved. In addition, kart, motorcycle and even snowmobile races were held.
When SCCA National finally relaxed their position on professional racing, Meadowdale hosted a round of their United States Road Racing Championship in 1964. Jim Hall in a Chaparral won the race handily. Ken Miles led the Shelby Cobra factory team.
But the huge crowds of the early years had faded. Meadowdale Raceway was an extensive and expensive operation. Several management teams tried to find the combination for profitable operation, without success.
By July, 1968 the track management had leveled the bumpy Monza Wall to run an event in the SCCA Trans-Am series. Factory teams from Ford, Chevrolet and American Motors fought head-to-head. Mark Donohue, in a Roger Penske Camaro, won the race. But the Trans-Am race was not enough to keep the wolf from the door and turned out to be the last major event for Meadowdale Raceway.
Some club races were run on a jury-rigged 1.1 mile course around the north end of the track in 1968 and 1969, but this course had no good facilities for spectators and could not add much to the track's empty coffers.
In 1969 the National Hot Rod Association issued a sanction for drag racing on a quarter mile stretch of the main straight. Some drag racing events were held in 1968 and 1969, but these could not stop the flow of red ink, either.
In late 1969, the facility was re-organized as Illinois International Raceway, with ambitious plans for completion of the 1.5 mile oval for stock car races, a schedule of national drag races, and fill-in races for amateur sports cars, motorcycles and karts. However none of this materialized and the track went dormant. Periodically over the next few years, ambitious plans to revive the track were announced, but none got beyond the publicity stages.
The track property suffered much abuse as it lay fallow for over twenty years. Trespassers on dirt bikes and off-road vehicles tore up the ground cover, leading to erosion. Midnight dumpers left old cars, appliances and other junk. During this time Mother Nature fought to reclaim the property with overgrowth, including invasive plants and junk trees. The conduits to carry the creek under the main straight were not adequate for its spring flow and a long stretch of the track collapsed into the original stream path.
As the surrounding properties were absorbed by suburbia, local citizens, park districts and forest preserve districts cast envious eyes on the Meadowdale property for preservation as open space. A strong grassroots force aimed at saving the property was the Committee to Save Raceway Woods, organized by property neighbor June Keibler.
In 1994, a cooperative effort by the Dundee Township Park District and Kane County Forest Preserve District bought the northern portion of the track property and some adjoining land and named it Raceway Woods. The government bodies, local volunteers, and environmental classes from Crown-Dundee High School students led by Gary Swick, environmental instructor, launched a continuing effort to revitalize the environmental aspects of the land, tearing out invasive plant species and replacing them with native plants and trees. The classes also developed hiking trails to highlight the unique natural features of the property. Extensive efforts were also directed at restoring the original waterways within the property.
In 2002, Dundee Township and the Kane County Forest Preserve District arranged to purchase the balance of the property occupied by the track from the Besinger family interests. In 2005, a new parking area and gate was built off Huntley Road to give easier access to the newly purchased portion of the land.
Jack and Donna Redmer, track neighbors, are volunteer stewards for the track. They have organized large volunteer efforts aimed at clearing walking paths around the old course, adding signage celebrating the park's racing heritage, and placing picnic tables and other park improvements around the old track.
The shriek of Ferraris, the roar of Scarabs, and the rumble of stock cars will never again be heard at Meadowdale, but the restoration of the track property assures that Meadowdale International Raceways will continue to be recognized for its important place in American racing history.
Visit www.meadowdaleraceway.homestead.com for more information on Meadowdale Raceway.
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Submitted by
Ross Fosbender
3618 E. 1769th Rd.
Ottawa, Illinois 61350
rossf@cognifast.com
815-434-9882
Ross Fosbender was a driver, race worker, race organizer, and racing school instructor at Meadowdale.
He is the author of the Meadowdale Raceway website, www.meadowdaleraceway.homestead.com
