Angeles in October of that year. Potsy Goacher of Anderson, Ind. was the champ in 1950.
Weekly midget racing at the arena became a thing of the past, although “spot” dates, featuring AAA and, later, United States Auto Club (USAC) speedsters were part of the Soldier Field summer schedule with Mike McGreevy winning the last USAC midget feature race on July 23, 1966. United Auto Racing Association (UARA) were part of the last season of racing at the “Field” in 1968 with George Kladis and Bill Kollman winning 20-lap UARA features on June 2.
Hot rod racing was introduced to Soldier Field fans in 1947 when Andy Granatelli convinced promoter Folz to stage a hot rod event in July of that year. A crowd of nearly 25,000 gathered to watch local hot rodders compete. Granatelli, of STP fame, would be part of the track’s promotional team through the mid 1950’s. Racing under Granatelli’s Hurricane Hot Rod Association banner, Gilbert “Skippy” Michaels was the hot rod champ at lakefront speed plant in 1949, racing against the likes of future Indianapolis 500 winners Pat Flaherty and Jim Rathmann.
When stock cars replaced the “short-lived” hot rods at Soldier Field in 1950, Rathmann grabbed track championship honors for the Wednesday night action. Rathmann repeated the trick the following season with Michaels capturing a Soldier Field stock car title in 1952. Over the years, it has been said that a lot of Granatelli’s races were “staged.” Staged or not, the racing provided fans plenty of thrills with tens of thousands witnessing the competition every year. Chicago’s Tom Pistone would win three straight stock car championships from 1953 through 1955. The 5’6” tall “racing dynamo” had a fast 1952 Pontiac in 1953, winning the championship against the likes of Kenny Netzel, Larry Odo, Herman Jordan and Al Shear. The 5/13/53 issue of National Speed Sport News carried the headline “Gene Marmor’s Buick 1St in Soldier Field Opener.” 38,078 fans were on hand for that season-opening Police Benevolent Fund race.
Soldier Field was the site of the annual Chicago Park District Police Benevolent Association Gold Trophy Race from 1946 through 1958. Tens of thousands of fans would attend these race events with these programs usually being the best-attended races of the year. Over 40,000 fans were on hand when Pistone won in 1951 and a reported 45,000 fans saw Darel Dieringer win in 1956 over Pistone and Red Duvall. Chicago area political and TV/radio personalities were usually in attendance to present trophies, awards, etc. Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley presented Marmor his trophy for his 50-lap victory in 1955. Police Benevolent stock car race winners included Pistone (1951), Michaels (1952), Marmor (1953), Odo (1954), Marmor (1955), Dieringer (1956), Pistone (1957) and finally, Don Oldenberg in 1958 with over 50,000 in attendance. Oldenberg and his 1955 Buick won the 40-lap contest ahead of Bill Lutz, Whitey Gerken, Fred Lorenzen and Marmor on Saturday night, June 14, 1958, which was the last benevolent race held.
NASCAR racing came to the big stadium with a bang in 1956 as three “National Championship” events were held. Pistone wheeled his own 1956 Chevy “rag top” to victory in the NASCAR Convertible Division 200 lapper on the Field’s half-mile oval on June 30, 1956, besting Curtis Turner and Lutz. Glenn “Fireball” Roberts won a NASCAR Grand National (today’s Winston Cup division) 200 lapper on July 22, piloting his factory-backed 1956 Ford to the win over Jim Paschal and Ralph Moody. With a reported 17,585 fans on hand, the final NASCAR race of the 1956 season was a 500-lap affair with Turner driving his “factory” ’56 Ford convertible to the win ahead of Joe Weatherly and Bob Welborn. One more NASCAR race would be held at Soldier Field with Glen Wood (of the famous Wood Brothers racing team) winning a 100-lap convertible race on June 29, 1957.
A note on the half mile NASCAR track—the track probably measured more like 3/8’s of a mile, similar to track USAC ran on in 1961 (one race) and again in 1967 which extended turns three and four down to the far 