If you ever visited Cicero, Illinois, one of the main attractions you will notice is a racetrack that features horse racing known as the Hawthorne Race Course. Just in front of it is a Walmart, Breakthru Beverage Illinois, and other stores on side of them like Wendy’s. But, did you know that those stores sit on the site of a former racetrack? That racetrack was known at Chicago Motor Speedway.
Chicago Motor Speedway was a short-lived speedway that broke ground in 1997 at the cost of $70 million and opened in 1999 by a group of owners led by Chip Ganassi. It was a 1.029-mile (1.656 km) oval-shaped track.
However, shortly after the track opened, International Speedway Corporation broke ground on a new track located in Joliet, Illinois, known as Chicagoland Speedway.
The speedway hosted four CART races, two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, two Indy Lights, two ASA National Tour, and one NASCAR Midwest Series.
In 1999, Juan Pablo Montoya won the first CART race over Dario Franchitti. Cristiano da Matta won the event in 2000, followed by Kenny Brack in 2001, and Cristiano da Matta won the final race in 2002. In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Joe Ruttman won in 2000 and Scott Riggs in 2001 before the series left for good.
Other drivers to win at Chicago Motor Speedway were Scott Dixon twice in the Indy Lights Series (1999,2000), Nathan Haseleu in the NASCAR Midwest Series (2000), Mike Garvey for ASA National Tour in 2000, and Johnny Sauter in 2001 also for the ASA National Tour.
Once Chicagoland Speedway opened up, many events like CART moved their races over there following the 2002 season. 2002 would be the final season for Chicago Motor Speedway.
In addition to motor racing, the track also hosted several horse races but due to the hard surface, many of the races were canceled and moved to the Hawthorne Race Course. The track suspended operations due to financial conditions in the motorsports industry and closed for good in 2003. Later, the National Jockey Club sued Chip Ganassi for $35 million for allegedly failing to pay its share of project debt. The lawsuit was later terminated.
The city of Cicero purchased the track for $18 million in 2003. Two years later, demolition began in 2005 with the main grandstands. Four years later, the track was fully demolished, and later a Walmart, and Wirtz Beverage Group set up shop on the western side of the track while a public park was built on the eastern side.
Chicago Motor Speedway, while short-lived provided some fantastic CART races. One wonders if this track would’ve survived had Chicagoland Speedway never existed. Chicagoland Speedway hosted motorsport events until 2019. However, they will host SuperMotorcross World Championship Playoff Round 2 on September 16th, 2023. Chicago Motor Speedway may be gone but it will never be forgotten.
