Chicagoland Mopar Connection hosted the Daytona-Superbird Auto Club's national meet in Downers Grove in July of 2003. They wrapped up their event Sunday morning with a scenic drive up the Fox River to the "Ghost of Meadowdale Raceway".
About a dozen of the high winged and pointy nosed Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Superbirds filled the Raceway Woods parking lot. The impromptu car show caused more than one car on Highway 31 to brake hard or make a quick u-turn to pull into the lot to examine the immaculately restored beauties.
Meadowdale historian Bill Pohnan and web author Ross Fosbender guided the group on a hike up the Little Monza at the north end of the course, and then south to the paddock area of the old track. What had been planned as a one-hour stop stretched well past lunch as the history buffs soaked up the old track's ambience!
A high banked oval which would have hosted the NASCAR-inspired Chryslers was part of Leonard Besinger's plan for the track, but was left on the drawing board when finances forced the race course to close. So while the Mopar winged wonders never visited Meadowdale Raceway in anger, this belated contact gave a hint of what might have been!
Believe it or not, these photos are taken on part of the old track surface. Above, Meadowdale author Bill Pohnan points out a track feature to a crowd of Mopar fans. This area was clear cut and scraped clean in the '50s! Nature is busy reclaiming it now.
