Hundreds drawn to Meadowdale reunion
The racing ended decades ago, but the warm memories are still fresh.
Hundreds attended the 50th Reunion and Festival celebrating the old Meadowdale International Raceways Saturday at Raceway Woods off Route 31 north of Route 72 in Carpentersville. It was on this land where the sports car racetrack opened in September of 1958, and portions of the original track remain. The track closed in 1969 for financial reasons.
The event included a display of about 200 original and replica sports cars, information on the track's history, memorabilia, food, music and children's events.
It was truly a reunion for Don Devine, 68, of Inverness, who raced a Scarab at the Meadowdale track in 1962 and 1963, and Greg Besinger, 68, of West Dundee.
Devine was at Saturday's event with a re-creation of his 1958 Scarab racing car. The original was built in England by Lance Reventlow, heir to the Woolworth fortune. Devine was a racing teammate of Harry Heuer, whose family owned Meisterbrau Brewing Company.
Besinger's late father, Leonard, was the developer of the Meadowdale community who built the track in 1958. Devine and Besinger were school mates in the Oak Park/River Forest area.
Besinger was a teenager when his father visited the racetrack in Elkhart, Wis., and decided to build his own.
"He owned all the companies that did the work," Besinger said. "They started to build in June of 1958 and the first race was held in September of that year."
Neither Besinger nor his father owned a race car or drove one, but Greg Besinger spent a lot of time at the track.
"I think it's wonderful that people want to keep this place alive," Besinger said of the event. "It's a shame we couldn't keep it going. A lot of people here want to buy the memorabilia. To me, it's remembering what's in your head and what's in your heart."
Meadowdale Raceway featured 16 variations of race tracks, including a 3.27-mile road course. A key feature was the Monza Wall, a 180-degree steeply banked turn. The track hosted races sponsored by the Sports Car Club of America.
Besinger said he has heard reports that as many as 150,000 fans attended the races at Meadowdale, but he estimates that the bigger crowds were about 50,000.
There was little vegetation when the track was built and conditions could be like a dust bowl, Besinger said. He reasoned that the dusty conditions led to dwindling crowds.
Many in attendance Saturday remembered fond times at the racetrack, like friends Steve Foli and Greg Busey of Lemont.
"We lived in Plano and we'd come here with a group of guys," said Busey as he and Foli poured over racing memorabilia.
Raceway Woods is now about 122 acres owned in roughly equal portions by Dundee Township, the Dundee Township Park District, and the Kane County Forest Preserve.
Proceeds from Saturday's event will go toward its restoration.
"What you see here today is going to stay this way," said Larry Brasch, Dundee Township highway commissioner. "We don't want any housing development here."