If we told you that in the winter of 1962,1963, and 1964 an enterprising racing promoter in Chicago, Illinois, hosted indoor drag races at a massive building once used by the stockyards to move livestock, would you believe us? Of course you would, but that’s beside the point. The events did happen, and these photos show just how awesome they were.
We’ve heard lots of stuff about these events from some old timers that we know and the specifics are still at bit sketchy, but here’s what we do know. The course was either 330 or 440ft in length, the events were open to door slammers only, and some of the honest hitters of the day like Arnie Beswick and other showed up to compete in the 1963 and 1964 iterations.
You’ll notice some truly awesome stuff in these photos, like the guardrail that was installed inside to provide a “course” for the cars, the fact that they had to pass through overhead doors as part of the track (which we think is the shutdown area), the obvious haze in the air from these cars running (and apparently hundreds showed up to compete judging by the one photo of all the cars lined up outside!), and the packed spectator bleachers on the left side of the building. On the crazy size, there were points on the track where the cars had to pass through “doors” and you’ll see at least on Chrysler product that failed to navigate said opening successfully. Also, consider the smooth-as-a-baby’s-ass concrete floor and the hard slicks of the day. Traction had to have been at an extreme premium. Lastly, how about the noise? It had to have been deafening inside the building as the racing was going on between the hardcore competitors. Open manifold or header stock vehicles wouldn’t be too bad, but the hotted up iron of Beswick and others would have been ear splitting.
Sure, this seems like a fast track to Legionnaires disease, but who wouldn’t sacrifice a limb (or worse!) to have been there watching or even better, racing on that slick concrete floor. Think they allowed open headers? We hope so!
Hit the link below for all the great photos!
LINK: Chicago indoor drag racing from the 1960s
Would be a great idea today for Junior Dragsters.
Septinfer all the support columns.
I thought that’s what the Ted Williams tunnel was built for!
First time I ever heard of such a thing and I grew up in that era.
But I grew up in sunny Southern California where even winter wasn’t that cold.
Can’t imagine the fumes and the noise level inside. One crash into a column could
bring down the building.
Whomever promoted this were mindless morons.
Very Interesting though.
Races were held in the old International Ampitheatre, supposedly a Nitro car was ran which could only fume the place out.
More pictures in this link: http://www.thecamarosite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2385#post2385
D’oh, missed the link at the end of the article and posted the exact same one. Oops.
Today, just like back then, I like to stay well away from Chicago, except in bright day light. It’s healthier. I do know a few guys that raced at the Amphitheater, but they’re mostly gone now, except for Kenny Schnick.
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