Chicago, home to this weekend’s first NASCAR Cup Series street race, is an outlier in the world of stock car racing.
The capitals of racing in American-made sedans always will be Daytona Beach, Darlington, Charlotte and Martinsville. But Chicago, best known in the sports world as home to the Bulls, Blackhawks, Cubs, White Sox and, of course, Da Bears, has a racing background bigger than most might anticipate.
Racing outside the Southeastern heartland of NASCAR is nothing new, even in the sport’s early days. In fact, in 1949, the first season of what now is the Cup Series, three of the schedule’s eight races were outside the South (two in Pennsylvania and one in New York).
Illinois checks in with perhaps a surprising number of NASCAR personalities – and one very large presence. In 1956, the Cup Series raced at Soldier Field, which 15 years later would become the home of the National Football League Bears. Sunday’s Chicago Street Race will bring NASCAR thunder back to the streetscape near Soldier Field, almost 70 years after the great Fireball Roberts won that 200-lapper on July 21, 1956.
Across the years, Illinois names have raced under the NASCAR spotlight – some shining brighter than others.
Here's some of Illinois' finest:
Fred Lorenzen
Fearless Freddy is the name most often associated with NASCAR and the Chicago area. A native of Elmhurst, about 20 miles west of Chicago, Lorenzen was a stock car superstar in the 1960s. He won 26 Cup races on the way to ultimate election to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in the Class of 2015.
Tom Pistone
The appropriately named Pistone was one of the street-tough hot-rodders who grew up around the edges of Chicago’s downtown and turned their love for fast cars into success on track. Pistone eventually moved to North Carolina but was a star of weekly stock car racing events at Soldier Field prior to his jump into NASCAR.
Pistone and other Chicago-area drivers were hometown heroes at Soldier Field, where motorsports entrepreneur Andy Granatelli put tens of thousands in the grandstands to watch wild Late Model events. Pistone won Cup races at Trenton, N.J. and Richmond, Va. in 1959.
Danica Patrick
Patrick is from Roscoe, Ill., about 90 miles northwest of Chicago. Although she was winless (and also without a top-five finish) in 191 starts in the Cup Series, Patrick drew attention in virtually every NASCAR garage she visited from 2012 to 2018. Her highlight was a Daytona 500 pole win in 2013.
Ted Musgrave
Musgrave, from Waukegan, Ill., ran 305 Cup races from 1990 to 2010, scoring 20 top fives without a victory.
Justin Allgaier
Perennial Xfinity contender Allgaier is from Riverton, Ill., about 200 miles southwest of Chicago. He has 20 Xfinity wins. He has also started 81 times in the Cup Series.
Bobby Dotter
Dotter, a NASCAR journeyman, is part of a Chicago racing family. He made 209 Xfinity starts, scoring one win and 12 top fives. His win came in 1992.
Sal Tovella
Tovella, another graduate of the neighborhood hot-rod scene in Chicago, was among the drivers who challenged the short track at Soldier Field in Late Models. Tovella and long-time friend Tom Pistone both won track championships at Soldier Field. Tovella made 14 Cup starts from 1956 to 1964.
Bobby Wawak
Wawak raced out of Villa Park, Ill. in a career that included 141 Cup starts from 1965 to 1988.
Gary Bettenhausen
Known more for his IndyCar successes that included six wins, Bettenhausen started eight NASCAR Cup races from 1967-74. The best career finish in NASCAR Cup Series for the racer from Blue Island, Ill., was fourth at Michigan in 1974 for team owner Roger Penske.
