PEORIA, Ill. — Illinois, specifically the Peoria area, might be losing an auto racing facility as it was recently announced the Peoria Speedway will halt weekly stock car racing with the scheduled DIRTcar Summer Nationals and Summitt Racing Equipment Modified Nationals special set for this Thursday night, June 11, being the final race program.
The quarter-mile dirt track’s future remains uncertain as it has been put up for sale by its owner, Brandon Dean, who cited struggles with the economy and the demands of running the track alongside his other business interests.
Dean entered into the ownership of the raceway in December of 2013 and, at the time, was partnered with Jason Plumer.
Located on Farmington Road in Peoria, the track was constructed and finished by Frank Dixon in 1965 and replaced the old Peoria Midget Speedway, also known as Mount Hawley Speedway, which opened in 1949. The old track was located next to the Mount Hawley Airport on Roue 88.
One of the first racing events held at the new speedway in 1965 was a United States Auto Club midget program with Bob Tattersall, from just up the road in Streator, Ill., winning the 40-lap feature race on June 21, 1965. Tattersall wheeled his Bob Nowicke-owned midget to the checkered flag ahead of Mike McGreevy and Bob Wente. Peoria stock car favorite Herb Shannon finished 12th in the 17-car field. Earlier, Chuck Rodee set fast time during qualifying with a lap of 13.920 seconds.
Les Snow of Bloomington, Ill., is reported to have won the first stock car feature race on July 11, 1965, with Peoria’s Jim Strube being crowned the first stock car champion at the new dirt oval as he bested Les Peterson and Ernie Schaefer in the final points tally.
During its history, the speedway has been challenged by rain and flood waters with the track covered by some 20 feet of water and closed for five weeks in July of 1993. Chuck Hamilton and his wife, Sherrie, both deceased, owned the speedway from 1974 through 2010 with Curt Mottaz taking over the reins for 2011.
Peoria Speedway has hosted the DIRTcar Summer Nationals pretty much every year since 2000 with Brian Shirley having won five Summer Nationals main events there – his last win coming there in 2023. Drake Troutman was the Summer Nationals winner at Peoria last year.
The old Peoria Midget Speedway was built by I.G Lane and opened on May 14, 1949, with weekly midget racing on the schedule. Chicago’s Jimmy Caris won the track’s opening main event that night. By the end of July, popular-growing stock cars replaced the slumping midgets for the weekly Saturday night action with the midgets moving to Wednesday evenings.
The early stock car racing was sanctioned by the Championship Stock Car Club, headed by Chuck Scharf of Chicago. A number of stock car programs were held during the inaugural season with Don Odell, from Joliet, winning a 300-lap season finale on November 6. From 1950 on, weekly stock car racing was held.
What is the future of Peoria Speedway? Time will tell.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to racing historian Scott Shults and Bill Hill for gathering up much of this information regarding Peoria Speedway.
