Just a brief update this week. There wasn’t a column last Friday, and that was by design. I’m working on a couple of projects this month, one of which is a lot more time consuming than I previously thought. Once complete, this will free up some time.
With that said, last week was an over/under week. For the entire week, I was either over stressed, or under the weather. Sometimes, I just had to stretch out on the couch for a while to get back to where I needed to be. It was in these moments of weakness, that one of the greatest small pleasures in life occurred.
Let me introduce you to Zoe.
We’ve had Zoe since 2019, and while she is timid, she is very loving to those who have earned her trust. Her way of showing her humans that she loves them is to lie next to them on the couch or bed. Literally, as I was typing that last sentence, she jumped up next to me.
There is nothing better when you are down in the dumps than having a pet who loves you showing affection. That’s why we love our pets. I’m grateful for Zoe. I know I won’t get to spend the rest of my life with her, but I’m happy she will spend the rest of my life with us.
I live in Evanston, Illinois. I’ve lived here my whole life. I love living here, and I can’t think of living anywhere else. Sure, Evanston has problems, but all cities, villages and towns have problems, but I still love Evanston.
In addition to loving Evanston, I also love auto racing. Until recently, I had no idea that Evanston had their own race track. Evanston Motor Speedway also known as Evanston Speedway, Tessville Motor Speedway, Chicago Motor Speedway, Chicago Midget Speedway and Lincolnwood Motor Speedway, operated from 1932 through 1936. This is from kalracing.com’s page on the subject:
The track was located in Tessville, which is now known as Lincolnwood, Ill. The track property was bordered to the north by Touhy Ave., to the south by Pratt Ave., to the northwest by railroad tracks and to the east by McCormick Blvd. and the North Shore Channel. Early newspaper stories, ads, etc. said location was at Lincoln & Devon and McCormick Blvd. Use of various computer aerials show track located north of Pratt Ave. with entrance to the speedway roughly at Pratt and St. Louis Ave. Track ran east and west and was bordered by today’s Central Park Ave on the west and Christiana Ave. on the east with main straightway north of current Northeast Parkway.
This is an Evanston Speedway program from 1934.
Here are some notes concerning the track, and it appears that these are the only surviving records:
-First mention of track was in the summer of 1932.
-Bill Kiser of Chicago’s south side was the feature winner in modified stock car competition there on August 7th, and 14th, 1932.
-Bill Kiser was later seriously injured there and later died from injuries suffered on August 21, 1932 which saw Indiana’s Virgil Livengood the winner of the 30-lap/15-mile feature race.
-According to a 1932 program, the track was known as Tessville Motor Speedway. This same program shows Len Barnard as President and Charles Barnard as Vice President, Miles E. Barry – Announcer, John Ugaste – Starter and Norman Ross – Publicity Director
-Stock cars and other race cars competed there in 1932, 1933 and 1934; Jimmy Snyder, Emil Andres and Cletus “Cowboy” O’Rourke got their starts there
-Emil Andres won 50-lap Central States Stock Car Championship on November 6, 1932.
-While the track was an originally a half-mile track, it was “cut down” to quarter-mile (or fifth-mile) for midget racing in 1935 and 1936.
-Ernie Carlson was the first feature winner of this new course on June 5, 1935.
-Midget racing was the fixture there in 1935 and 1936. At this time, the track was known as Chicago Midget Speedway.
-On July 19th, 1936, the track was opened back up to bigger cars. Around this time, the name of the track was known as Lincolnwood Motor Speedway, since Tessville became Lincolnwood in 1936.
-Though record keeping isn’t great, we do know that the last known race was on August 9, 1936, with Mike Salay the feature winner.
-The last known record of the speedway was when the Chicago Tribune reported that track property suffered “storm damage” with races scheduled for 8/16/36 being canceled. The track closed and was dismantled and plowed up in the spring of 1937.
-In researching this subject, I also learned something interesting. Evanston was part of the first auto race in America. This was how the event was described by Joshua Lipowski of dailydownforce.com:
“America’s First Auto Race: Chicago to Evanston, Thanksgiving 1895
Yes, the very first auto race in the history of the United States was held in Chicago, and sponsored by the now defunct local newspaper, the Chicago Times-Herald. The race was far from a smooth show, however.
According to EnjoyIllinois.com, 83 vehicles were originally slated to enter, but only six made it to the starting grid. The race was also delayed by almost four weeks partially due to automobiles being illegal. EnjoyIllinois.com also reports that this race played a role in automobiles being legalized in Chicago.
As for the race, it was eventually held on November 28, 1895, Thanksgiving Day. Of course, weather was cold, and there was snow on the ground. The 54 mile race featured only two finishers, but auto racing in America was now a thing, albeit a long way off from what it would become through the years.”
So, Evanston, Illinois was not only the site of the first auto race in American history, it was also the site of the first NCAA Championship Basketball game, on March 30, 1939, which saw the Oregon Webfoots, now the Ducks beat the Ohio State Buckeyes 46 to 33. It’s kind of amazing these two tidbits of information aren’t more widely known.
So the 2026 Daytona 500 is behind us, and it was actually a good race. The Duels were good, and the race as a whole was good. I will say that, like a lot of fans, I’m over a few things. First, when it comes to FOX, I do NOT need to hear Larry McReynolds say “You can’t make mistakes on pit road” every telecast. We get it. Making a mistake at a critical point in the race is bad.
But the other thing I’m over is stage racing. Seriously, nobody wanted this to begin with, and most fans are done with it. Maybe the drivers like it, or maybe the teams, but as a long-time fan, I’m done. I don’t see how this is a net positive for anyone here. Let the drivers race.
But I’m posting this just after the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Daytona 500. Growing up, the first race I ever watched was the 1990 Daytona 500. I saw that black and silver #3 Chevy Lumina running at the front, and I was hooked! That love carried stayed until the 2001 Daytona 500. I’ve never been able to have a favorite driver since Earnhardt’s death. One of my all-time favorite photos of myself is me next to one of Dale’s Luminas, taken at the museum at Talladega in 1999.
Dale’s death hit me hard. I cried in my dorm room after my roommate went to work out. I had just lost my idol, and a huge piece of inspiration. 25 years later, I’m still not fully over it, and neither is NASCAR. Sure, new drivers have slowly replaced the old guard, but with Dale Earnhardt, he was so much more. He was a true legend in every sense of the word. But his legacy means so much more to auto racing.
Dale Earnhardt’s death was a moment that robbed us of one of the greatest drivers of the modern era, but also was a water shed moment for racing safety. Auto racing safety has always been written in blood. It’s also a constantly moving target. As the cars get faster and more technically complex, the safety standards have to change too. Sometimes these changes are made in good faith, other times, blood has to be spilt.
After the 2001 Daytona 500, there was a massive shift in the way racing viewed safety. Before, for a lot of racing, the approach was a matter of fixing problems after they happen. After Earnhardt’s death, that switched to trying to fix problems before they lead to serious injury or death. While there had been pushes for new safety standards, Earnhardt’s death kicked all of that into high gear.
While I was thinking about this column, I came to a realization. F1 had already started that approach after Ayrton Senna’s death in 1994, but somehow, no real changes outside of F1 took place between 1994 and 2001. A major driver was going to have to die before this approach was implemented. The question I began to think about was, who would that driver have been?
Thinking about this, it’s a pretty horrifying thought. Would it have been Jeff Gordon? Dale Jarrett? Mark Martin? Michael Andretti? John Force? That number was going to land on someone, and on February 18, 2001, that someone was Dale Earnhardt Sr.
Another thought that I had was, what if none of the major drivers died? Sure, there were plenty of other drivers who were killed in wrecks across the world, but nobody’s death was more critical to the overall safety culture of the sport than Dale Earnhardt Sr. So if this major death never happened, what would auto racing look in 2026?
First, I can promise that there would have been a lot more deaths in auto racing across the board. Second, a lot of safety features, many of which are taken for granted, wouldn’t be as uniformly implemented as they are now. Eventually that major death would have happened, but there would be a much bigger body count.
In the end, Dale Earnhardt’s death was tragic. While NASCAR hasn’t recovered from it, there are countless race car drivers who owe their lives to the safety culture his death helped create. I can say for sure, his death wasn’t in vain. Rest in peace Dale.
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