CHICAGO — We all knew it was coming sooner or later. Maybe not this year or the next or the next, but it was coming — the closing of the Rockford Speedway, another victim of “urban sprawl.”
It was announced earlier this month that the Northern Illinois raceway would close after this season — Rockford’s 76th year of operation.
With the announcement came a full schedule of over 50 events from March through October for the speedway’s Last Lap Season.
Among the highlights of the schedule are the 46th annual Spring Classic, featuring the Big 8 Late Models series, on Saturday evening, April 22; the 58th annual National Short Track Championships during the weekend of Sept. 29-Oct. 1 and the 32nd annual Bahama Bracket Nationals on Oct. 14-15. The National Short Track Championships will again see the Big 8 Late Models highlight the weekend, competing in a 188-lap contest on Oct. 1.
Owned by a group of area businessmen and associates, Rockford Speedway came about in 1948, featuring weekly American Automobile Ass’n midget racing on Wednesday evenings — the first race program being held on May 26.
Hot rod racing, sanctioned by Andy Granatelli’s Hurricane Hot Rod Racing Ass’n, was added to the schedule that summer. Stock cars, also under Granatelli’s Hurricane group, were added to the slate in 1949, pretty much replacing the weekly midget racing.
Like at so many other tracks in this country, stock car racing rose to the top at the Rockford Speedway with Saturday night competition being the norm.
In early June of 1962, Hugh Deery and Bill Earnest acquired controlling ownership interest of the speedway with Deery, an insurance salesman by trade, and his wife, Jody, becoming sole owners in 1966. Hugh Deery died in 1984 with Jody pretty much heading up the speedway until her passing last June at the age of 97.
Beginning in 1966, the National Short Track Championships late model special became the marquee event at the high-banked, quarter-mile, paved oval. The rules were simple for the first NSTC: 1957 through 1966 full-bodied late model stock cars with full-fenders and bumpers, a four-barrel or two-barrel carburetor on a stock-appearing engine ahead of an unaltered firewall and any tire could be used.
Joe Shear won the annual NSTC event eight times, posting his final dramatic win in 1997 as cancer sickened the legendary driver. Shear was Rockford’s late model champion a consecutive six years from 1966 through 1972. Steve Carlson joined Shear as a record eight-time NSTC winner in 2011.
Other multi-time winners include Eddie Hoffman with four wins, Dick Trickle with three and Rich Bickle Jr., Jeremy Lepak, Steve Rubeck, Casey Johnson, Alex Prunty and Austin Nason with two each. Nason has won the last two NSTC contests.
Looking through the records books, John Knaus, Bobby Wilberg and Ricky Bilderback have each won seven late model track championships at the speedway. Bilderback’s seven are pretty impressive as he won the titles consecutively from 2001 through ’07. Jon Reynolds Jr. has posted four career track titles with Michael Bilderback, Ricky’s nephew, Jerry Gille, Wayne Lensing, Red Aase, Don Harvey and Al Shear, Joe’s dad, having each won three Rockford stock car crowns.
Plans For Illiana Property
This past Wednesday, the Town of Schererville (Ind.) held a joint town council/park board study session to hear proposals of what to do with the property which was once Illiana Motor Speedway.
The speedway closed after the 2015 season and the property of some 50-plus acres was sold to the Town of Schererville in 2016. Wednesday’s open-to-the-public meeting saw two proposals given. One was the building of a state-of-the art minor league baseball stadium with other amenities and another, the development of a multi-use sports complex building.
The old Illiana property lays adjacent to Rohrman Park, which is the town’s largest park. The paved half-mile and quarter-mile ovals still exist today with a full cement retaining wall circling the half-mile.
Grandstands, lights, wheel fencing, scoreboard and various buildings have long since been removed. Definitely the resurrection of Illiana Motor Speedway is not in the plans and it is hard to imagine that the Town of Schererville did not have some preliminary plan in place when it purchased the property almost seven years ago.
Season Openers
11th Annual Thaw Brawl — Davenport Speedway, Davenport, Iowa, March 23-25
Lee J. Hall Memorial — Kankakee County Speedway, Kankakee, Ill., April 7
Kokomo Grand Prix — Kokomo Speedway, Kokomo, Ind., April 21-22
46th Annual Spring Classic — Rockford Speedway, Loves Park, Ill., April 22
Opening Night — South Bend Motor Speedway, South Bend, Ind. – April 22
Miracle on the High Banks/ASA Midwest Tour, Slinger Super Speedway, Slinger, Wis., April 23
Cabin Fever Season Opener — Grundy County Speedway, Morris, Ill., April 29
Opening Night — Plymouth Speedway, Plymouth, Ind., April 29
White Lightning Showdown — Shadyhill Speedway, Medaryville, Ind., May 6
Opening Night — Wilmot Raceway, Wilmot, Wis., May 6
Illini Racing Series/Midwest Mayhem Midgets — Grundy County Speedway, May 26
Opening Night — Sycamore Speedway, Maple Park, Ill., May 27