Anyone race in central Illinois 80s-90s?

[RaythO]

Hi Guys,
anyone ever race in central IL/IN back then?? I used to race at Magnum speedway in Danville, slot and wings Champaign, ameritrack in matoon once, main street hobbies in Lafayette In and CR hobbies in milford IL. I just drug out a bunch of my olds stuff, a heavily modded rc10 track master tranny, left offset chassiss, delta shocks. I`ve got an old RC10 grafite box filled with tires and lots of little parts I`m going to get some pics of and do some trading to get the old car back running.

[bristol]

I raced at thunderdome in Joliet, remotely daytonas in alsip, 4 seasons raceway, Lysle park dist. redline, and omni ovals.

[Doug Carter]

I raced at thunderdome in Joliet, remotely daytonas in alsip, 4 seasons raceway, Lysle park dist. redline, and omni ovals.


Woa... flashbacks.



My brother and I were just talking last weekend about the Thunderdome. That place was fun.

Combine that with Monee, the Joliet JOROCC two ovalsThere was a time in the late 80s that if you wanted to, you could race dirt oval 3 or 4 times a week. a year and the track in Preston Wakeland's backyard (did he call that Omni?), there was a lot of great oval racing in this area.


Too bad it's almost entirely gone away. :(

[Stetler17]

I ran at Terry Dines place for a while and then up to Milford when Terry closed up shop.

Your name sounds familar, you run the 1/8 scales at Dine's?

[Eugene Ryder]

Hi Guys,
anyone ever race in central IL/IN back then?? I used to race at Magnum speedway in Danville, slot and wings Champaign, ameritrack in matoon once, main street hobbies in Lafayette In and CR hobbies in milford IL.


I raced at all of the tracks mentioned back then. There are still a lot of dirt ovals in Illinois. Racing will be starting soon at a track near you........stay tuned.

Eugene Ryder

[RaythO]

I ran at Terry Dines place for a while and then up to Milford when Terry closed up shop.

Your name sounds familar, you run the 1/8 scales at Dine's?

Dines was Magnum speedway. I ran both stock east coast modified and trucks, both were painted gold and black with Miller Genuine draft graphics. number was 2 on both. I`d go to milford some (Ray Craighead I think ran it) At Terry`s I ran almost all the time wed. and sat. nights I ran a music wire sprint for a bit but they never caught on there. would love to find another with a body. I can build the wing. My first name is Rayth. I work at the go kart track south of Covington if you are into karts. what`s your name and what cars did you drive back then??

[tyler]

i ran monee for about 5 years in the early 90s first year might have been 89 saw a lot of cool stuff there back then ran at a track in ind(cider lake )tq raceway

[AscotConversion]

Wow Tq in Cedar Lake..I used to race at TQ when it was in Thornton IL. The Cedar Lake place had the driver's stand at the end of the straight right?

I raced at Redline and worked there for a bit, raced at Remotely's a little and 4 Seasons, like 1 or 2 times.

It was amazing how many tracks were around Chicago, let alone the rest of the state:thumbsup:

[tyler]

yes tq did have the drivers stand in the end of the track in turn 3&4 what a hard track to race at the end he moved the stand to the back strech by then it wass preaty much done wish some of thoes tracks were still a round.............i rember racing at monee with a gearbox sprint car that preston waklend bult ,and a wedge body side dam, home made left hand chasi rc10 at tq thoes were the days:p :p :p

[Doug Carter]

...that preston waklend built

Anyone know what he's doing now? His backyard track was really fun to race at.

[tyler]

doug i herd that he pased away a year or to a go but i could be wrong:(

[bristol]

Prestons track (Omni Ovals) was one of the best places around.. I had the most fun racing there. I still have some old flyers from when he did the hoovers hobbies race.

[tyler]

HOOVERS o to have a shop like that again, george was a great guy!!! i miss the good old days:(

[bristol]

what ever happened to george? didnt he have a bird at his store named r/c ?

[Doug Carter]

Last I had heard was more than 6 or 7 years ago, he was selling luggage in a mall department store chain. I haven't heard anything in the last few years.

Yeah, RC was his store pet Cockatiel. He had clipped wings to keep him grounded, and I remember one summer afternoon standing in the shop, and RC flew right by me and out the open front door. We were all shocked—especially George, who didn't think he could fly.

[bristol]

doug i herd that he pased away a year or to a go but i could be wrong:(
is this true... i hope not

[bristol]

it would be nice to relive the old days of dirt oval racing.. I now have kids and would for them to have that same experiance..

[shoemaker]

Many dirt ovals were in this area in the 80s and 90s such as Mod Stock Raceway, Ogden raceway, Rochester Raceway, Brighton raceway, Performance Raceway, Brockport International Raceway,Fountain Raceway, K.D. Natiomal, Sodus Raceway, Seneca Raceway, Victor raceway, Macedon raceways ( 2 Tracks), Mt Morris Raceway, Arkport Raceway, Hornell Raceway, Bishopville Raceway, all tracks close to Rochester, NY. All tracks Now Gone--None in this area.

[Ovaltraxxas]

What was the name of the track that was in Albion, Il? I remember riding for what seemed like forever when I was a kid to go race there with a Hotshot II in a class of Dominators.

[MK Race]

Rector's RC

Bob Rector and his Wife. It was one of the best dirt ovals I've ever been too.

I just found an old VCR tape that has racing from the early 90s from that track.

[FULLT1LT]

anyone on here that used to race at hobby corner in decatur or in springfield at mckays race shop?

[AscotConversion]

Rector's RC

Bob Rector and his Wife. It was one of the best dirt ovals I've ever been too.

I just found an old VCR tape that has racing from the early 90s from that track.

Put it up on YouTube:thumbsup:

[MK Race]

I'll try to get it on Youtube when I get it on disc.

I raced at McKays a few times. Nice little track and McKay quite a character.
Hey Eugene, how about the time your sprint car had that speedo problem and your car ended up going off the track and across the street?

I also have some video from the indoor track that was in Bloominton Illinois.