SOLDIER FIELD HISTORY
By Stan Kalwasinski
Chicago, Ill.—Remember when they use to race stock cars at Soldier Field? Racing at Soldier Field? The Bears have played football there for years. How could they have raced stock cars there?
Automobile racing did take place at the huge lakefront arena, which is currently undergoing a gigantic renovation and redesigning program. From 1935 and until June 9,1968, Soldier Field hosted midget auto races, demolition derbies and, for a number of years, weekly stock car racing.
Construction of Soldier Field, located at 14th Street and Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, began in 1922 and was completed in 1926 at a cost of $10 million. Plans began being formulated for the 100,000-seat arena in 1919. Blueprints called for a u-shaped plan in classic Greek style with monumental porticos on the east and west sides. It was first called Municipal Grant Park Stadium, but it was changed to Soldier Field in honor of Chicago area war veterans who died in World War I. The first event held at the new stadium was on October 9, 1924 and was a re-enactment of the Great Chicago Fire, which saw a crowd of 60,000 in attendance.
The first midget auto race was held at the ‘Field” on May 19, 1935 as midget auto racing was in its infancy, having just gotten underway in California a few years before with the Chicago area seeing its first midget event at the old Calumet Speedbowl in Lansing in 1934. Early midget racing star Marshall Lewis, a native of Los Angeles, was the first winner at Soldier Field, capturing the main event on a cinder track inside of the huge stadium.
A number of “spotty” events were held after that initial event but some “big plans” were laid out for the summer of 1939. The American Automobile Association (AAA), the sanctioning body of the Indianapolis 500 at the time, would host the World’s Championship Midget Auto Races on a specially-built, quarter-mile, high-banked, wooden board track that would be erected just for the five-race series. Built at a cost of some $25,000, the board track would see both local and out-of-town racers compete with proceeds from the event to benefit the Shriners’ Hospital for Crippled Children, Chicago Unit. A $10,000 purse would be posted for the series, which would be held on June 18, 20, 22, 24 and 25.
California speedster Sam Hanks, who would go on to win the 1957 Indianapolis 500, grabbed top honors in the opening main event on June 18. Two days later, Hanks was victorious again. The June 22 event was rained out and run the next day with another California driver, Mel Hansen, claiming the win in the 50-lap feature race. Hanks set the track record that night during qualifying with a “super quick” lap of 11.85 seconds. Hansen again rang the victory bell on June 24 with another 50-lap win. Still another West Coast “hot dog,” Ronnie Householder was the winner of the series finale on June 25, winning the 100 lap main event and claiming the World’s Championship crown.
The old cinder track was replaced by a new clay oval in 1941, but World War II erupted and racing came to a halt in the summer of 1942. When racing resumed after the war, Soldier Field would become a midget racing “hotbed.”
With its offices located at Gate “O” at Soldier Field, the Chicago Auto Racing Association, headed by ex-Chicago Cardinals football player, Art Folz, paved the quarter mile track in 1946 and weekly midget racing was presented for a number of years. Chicago area front running midget ace Ted Duncan was the Soldier Field midget champion in 1946 and 1947 with Johnny McDowell taking the title in 1948. California’s Eddie Haddad was the track titlist in 1949 and held the one lap qualifying track record with a lap of 16.27 seconds set on June 29, 1949. Haddad was the man to beat during the weekly Wednesday AAA-sanctioned midget races at Soldier Field in 1949. Haddad won a half dozen or so feature races, including the100-lap Mid Season Championship event on July 27th and the 75-lap Police Benevolent race on August 17. Sadly, Haddad would die in a midget racing crash at Gilmore Stadium near Los 