AMC was always the underdog. No matter what the company was doing, they were always the small fish in the massive pond and that’s why their successes were even more sweet. The factory Trans-Am racing program of the late 1960s and early 1970s was arguably their biggest win and it was done on a budget that paled in comparison to Ford and Chevrolet and it sustained loads longer than the crummy Chrysler effort. The company was starting to feel their racing oats in 1968 when the operation really came together. In this video they are celebrating Peter Revson’s second place finish at Meadowdale International Raceway in Illinois.
The track is no longer there and we have no idea of the fate that faced the wrinkled up, hard run Javelin but the good news is that while racing is not happening at Meadowdale, we’re going exploring on the site. The track is now a series of walking paths through the woods and as best we know the whole place is still capable of being traversed on foot or via bicycle. The facility was not just a road course as drag racing was held there and that’s my particular interest in it. I am coming up on 150 tracks visited and as you are reading this, I’ll be snooping around Meadowdale to add it onto the list.
The video below shows how awesome and big this place was. It was created at breakneck speed and while its time as a racing facility was short, its memory is still being celebrated. From nitro funny cars to Javelins screaming around the course, to the Monza Wall turn that was at the end of the front straight for a short time, Meadowdale International Raceway was one star that burned brightly, if not for a long time.
Thanks, Brian, from a guy building a ’68 Javelin!