Residents want to save remains of Meadowdale International Racetrack

Two years ago, a group of activists, educators and elected officials led a successful push to save the historic silo in Carpentersville's Raceway Woods Forest Preserve.

In an effort reminiscent of that fight, some Dundee Township residents and officials are trying to rescue the Meadowdale International Racetrack that gives the forest preserve its name.

The 3.27-mile auto racing track operated from 1958 to the late '60s, drawing some of the biggest names in racing and thousands of spectators.

The Kane County Forest Preserve District, which owns most of Raceway Woods, plans to rip up the asphalt remnants of the track and replace them with a trail.

"The plan isn't to remove the track completely," said Laurie Metanchuk, spokeswoman for the forest preserve district. "We would take out the bumps and the trees and the gravel that's on there now and replace it with a paved trail."

The $200,000 project to replace the track is scheduled to start in September and end by late October, Metanchuk said.

But some residents say the racetrack is a part of Dundee Township's history and should be kept, even in its present deteriorated state.

"Why do I have to remember something that's there? Leave it alone," said Wayne Bastiaans, a volunteer with the Meadowdale International Raceway Preservation Association. "We might as well fill in the Grand Canyon and remember that."

Forest preserve district staffers acknowledged residents' concerns but said they can serve more people with an updated trail system.

"I know that the public is sensitive - but we want it to be someplace that everybody can use - with a nod to what was there previously," Metanchuk said.

The decision may be out of the staff's hands. Forest preserve district board members Holly Kissane, John Fahy and John Mayer, all from Dundee Township, want the board to reconsider the district's plans for the racetrack later this month.

"We want to readdress this. We'd like to talk to the people who live in the area to see what they want," Kissane said. "There's so much history there, and it's stuff we should really be proud of."

Fahy said he was caught off guard by the forest preserve district's plans, even though local officials say the racetrack replacement has been in a master plan for years.

"Wait a minute, you sold us trail reconstruction. Trail reconstruction and demolition of the track are two different things," Fahy said. "I think there is a strong case to preserve the history, very similar to the fight that was held to preserve the silo."