Fantastic Video: Vintage Footage From The Stock Car Races At Soldier Field In Chicago!


Fantastic Video: Vintage Footage From The Stock Car Races At Soldier Field In Chicago!

Indianapolis Motor Speedway is one of the most iconic racing venues in the world and certainly the largest for seating capacity. Those are the kinds of places we think about when racing is mentioned not NFL stadiums, right? Long before it was the home of the Chicago Bears, Soldier Field was a very active racing facility with weekend stock car action being promoted by none other than Andy Granatelli. These were the kind of rip-roaring, pack ’em in and entertain ’em shows that included anything from backwards races, circus animals, and the occasional stunt driving exhibition as well. NASCAR itself actually ran a couple of big events at the track which is now a dedicated football field.

As the story goes, a cinder style running track was paved and later expanded into a flat oval that measured out right around a half mile. With a seating capacity of nearly 80,000 people back then it was Chicago’s hub for racing activity. For the years that Granatelli promoted the raced, the crowds were big because people always knew that they would see a show. How big is anyone’s guess but it is safe to say that they were at least 10-20,000 people there on a regular basis.  Many of the biggest names in NASCAR during the 1940s into the 1960s made appearances and even competed on the track.

Racing at Soldier Field wasn’t officially dead until about 1970 when the track was ripped out and the place was prepared for the Chicago Bears who made the move from Wrigley Field to Soldiers for the 1971 season apparently. While the Bears are keeping the lights on these days, it was the hard scrabble, fame seeking, fender banging stock car racers that served as the lifeblood and backbone of the facility for many, many years.

This video is proof. Look at the people!

Press play to see some cool footage of stock car racing at Chicago’s Soldier Field


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