Always wondered what happened to this

I had never been there, but I think this track could have done a lot better than Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.

For one thing, it was just a few miles outside Chicago. Compared to the 40+ miles of the one in Joliet. When it closed, a lot of the local residents were complaining of noise. Not sure if that's the only thing that lead to it closing, but that was probably one good reason.

Now we're stuck with a cookie cutter 1.5 mile track that's in one of the worst towns outside of Chicago.
 
I just finished reading the article.

Sounds like it was more because of the on-going IRL/CART split that the track closed. That was the main attraction at the track, but it was overshadowed by the Cup race in Joliet.

Too bad. The Chicago Motor Speedway was designed as a 1 mile version of Martinsville with banked turns. That gets a win in my book over Chicagoland's LMS clone.

If the Cup series had commited to Chicago Motor Speedway, it could have been one of the better and more original tracks on the curcuit. Plus, being just a mile or so outside Chicago, people wouldn't have to drive so far to see a race. That's a huge plus to get a largely stick and ball city interested in racing.

Plus, the whole city would see an economic boost from the out-of-town visitors to the track. Instead, the race is in a back-water dump of a town. There's two things to do in Joliet: Jack and sh*t. And Jack left town.
 
foehammer111 said:
There's two things to do in Joliet: Jack and sh*t. And Jack left town.
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But wait, there is that place with the big fence around it! :)

I know you live in my favorite city, but there is one big advantage to having the race in Joliet and that is traffic.

BTW, wouldn't it be fun to watch a road course race there in the Windy City up Lake Shore Dr to Wacker Dr. over to the Dan Ryan then down to Roosevelt Road then back to LSD? Shut down the city for that one.
 
buckaroo said:
But wait, there is that place with the big fence around it! :)

I know you live in my favorite city, but there is one big advantage to having the race in Joliet and that is traffic.

BTW, wouldn't it be fun to watch a road course race there in the Windy City up Lake Shore Dr to Wacker Dr. over to the Dan Ryan then down to Roosevelt Road then back to LSD? Shut down the city for that one.
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True, traffic is better controlled around Joliet.

The street course in downtown was actually being considered before either speedway was built. But NASCAR doesn't like street/road courses as much as ovals because it's harder to pack more fans in. Plus there's a lot of political buracracy that needs to be delt with when you're closing a large chunk of a major city to host a race.

Little known fact:
There's a Chicago street course in the NASCAR 2005 video game. Part of the track goes down LSD and Lower Wacker. There's also a "Chicago Pier" street course in NASCAR 09 that goes around Navy Pier. The NASCAR Kart Racing game on the Wii also has a track that's modeled after a Chicago street course.
 
foehammer111 said:
Little known fact:
There's a Chicago street course in the NASCAR 2005 video game. Part of the track goes down LSD and Lower Wacker. There's also a "Chicago Pier" street course in NASCAR 09 that goes around Navy Pier. The NASCAR Kart Racing game on the Wii also has a track that's modeled after a Chicago street course.
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Do I know my favorite city or what? Had my '72 Dodge MaxiVan stolen while parked just off LSD many moons ago. Always loved to go to Old Town and eat a gyro or two. At a buck and a quarter each, it was a real bargain.
 
I wish the dirt track near the joliet track was still running big shows. There are some you tube videos of the late model races they had there a couple years looked like a real nice track.


The big track is just a waste of space. There are a ton better tracks in Illinois to go watch races at besides Chicagoland. Around here thats where the people that watch racing one time a year go.

The rest go to Grundy, Rockford, Lasalle, Fairbury, Farmer City, Peoria or any of the other great short tracks around.
 
basscatcher89 said:
I wish the dirt track near the joliet track was still running big shows. There are some you tube videos of the late model races they had there a couple years looked like a real nice track.


The big track is just a waste of space. There are a ton better tracks in Illinois to go watch races at besides Chicagoland. Around here thats where the people that watch racing one time a year go.

The rest go to Grundy, Rockford, Lasalle, Fairbury, Farmer City, Peoria or any of the other great short tracks around.
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Do they still run down in Kankakee or over at Illiana?
 
Kankakee started this year but are having some trouble right now and should be back going from what we hear soon. Illiana is still racing weekly last i heard
 
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