The Elgin Road Races: When Elgin Was a Racing Town
From 1910 to 1920, and again in 1933, some of the fastest cars in America raced on closed country roads west of Elgin. The story of the Elgin National Road Races.
Before Indy was the only race anyone talked about, some of the biggest names in American racing came to the farm roads west of Elgin.
The races
The Elgin National Road Races ran on closed public roads west of town, starting in 1910. The course was about 8.5 miles of dirt and gravel country road, oiled to keep the dust down.
- 1910: the first races. Early entries were stock cars with the fenders and windshields taken off.
- 1911 on: purpose-built race cars, including the same kinds of cars that ran the Indianapolis 500, were allowed in.
- The Elgin National Trophy became one of the big prizes in early American racing.
The races stopped during World War I and came back in 1919 and 1920.
1933: one more time
The races were revived in 1933 to go along with Chicago's Century of Progress World's Fair. One of the 1933 races was among the first organized stock car races in the country, and a Ford V8 roadster took the win. Then that was it.
Why they ended
Racing on public roads had problems:
- Farmers and drivers objected to having roads closed.
- Safety. Fast cars, dirt roads, crowds along the fences.
- Tracks were taking over. Purpose-built speedways were safer and easier to run.
Where the course was
The course ran through farmland on the west side of the Fox River, on roads that are now Larkin Avenue, McLean Boulevard, Highland Avenue and Coombs Road. There's a historical marker along the old route, and the Elgin History Museum keeps the story alive.
Grandstand Place
Just off the old course is a small street called Grandstand Place. It sits on higher ground less than 100 feet from Larkin Avenue, a natural spot to watch cars fly by. The Elgin Area Historical Society says the name is a reminder of the thousands of people who came to watch the races. Each August, antique cars still take a lap of the old route at the Elgin Road Race Car Show.
Elgin's other famous name
Elgin was already famous for something else: watches. The Elgin National Watch Company was one of the biggest watchmakers in the world. See the Elgin National Watch Company.
A Fox Valley story
For a few summers, people came from all over the country to stand along the fences outside Elgin and watch cars go by at speeds most had never seen. Not bad for a Fox River town.
Sources (6)
Wikipedia: Elgin Road Races · Elgin History Museum: The Elgin Road Race (PDF) · HMdb: Elgin Road Races historical marker · Elgin History Museum: Days Gone By (street names) · KAL Racing: Elgin National Road Races history · Daily Herald, Aug. 18, 2024: Car show revives memory of when Elgin was car racing epicenter
Photo: Road race, Elgin, Illinois LCCN2017656411 by Price, Albert M., 1873-1957, photographer, Public domain.