KANKAKEE, Ill. — Midwest stock car racer Wayne Etzel passed away on May 27 at the age of 94.
Etzel had the distinction of winning the very first sportsman division championship on the clay at Chicagoland’s Santa Fe Speedway in 1959.
Previously racing at dirt tracks like Illinois’ Fairbury American Legion Speedway and at the Kankakee Fairgrounds Speedway, Etzel, racing out of Bourbonnais, Ill., wheeled his bright red 1948 Mercury No. 72 to the Santa Fe sportsman title, winning two feature races during the season. He garnered six sportsman feature wins at Santa Fe the next year (1960) and was slated to drive a late model 1959 Ford at Santa Fe during the 1961 season.
Etzel, whose dad George owned stock cars, was a modified stock feature winner at Fairbury in 1962 and also did some racing at Sugar Island Park Speedway near Aroma Park, Ill., where he scored several “old model” feature wins.
Etzel moved into the late model ranks and was the 20th ranking driver at Santa Fe in both 1966 and 1967 and was 18th in 1968. He was a feature winner at Santa Fe in 1969 and jumped to eighth in the points, driving a 1966 Chevy Impala for car owners Gary Johnson and Dave Beaupre.
Etzel finished a strong second behind winner Bill Van Allen in the 1969 National Clay Track Championship 200 at Santa Fe in his Park Garage-sponsored, 427-powered, No. 31. Etzel finished fifth in the late model standings at the Kankakee in 1969.
Etzel continued driving the Johnson/Beaupre entry in the 1970s, winning races at both Santa Fe and Kankakee. He ended up second in the points at Kankakee in 1970, winning four straight late model features in July and the 75-lap Mid-Season Championship in August.
In 1971, he was 10th in the final points tally at Santa Fe with feature wins to his credit including the track’s Stars & Stripes Classic.
Over at Kankakee, Etzel finished third in the final late model points with two feature wins to his credit. Racing at both Santa Fe and Kankakee (finishing seventh in the points) in 1972, Etzel would pretty much retire from driving at the end of the season. Etzel would end up with a career total of 29 feature wins at Kankakee, 24 in late model action and five in sportsman racing.
After his driving career was over, Etzel continued in the sport as he became the track promoter at both the Kankakee Fairgrounds Speedway in 1973 under Zelet Enterprises, and later at the Charleston Speedway, which he started promoting in 1983, in addition to the Vermillion County track in Danville.
During his tenure as a track promoter, Etzel became well versed in the subject of dirt track preparation and groomed and prepared various tracks after his promoting days were over.
