Road races great part of history

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend the dedication ceremony for the Illinois State Historical Society marker sponsored by the Elgin Historical Society for the Elgin Road Races.

While the newspapers did a nice job of telling people this was coming up, there was no coverage that day, and I wanted to tell everybody how nice it was.

More than 150 people came to this ceremony held in front of The National Bank at Route 20 and Nesler Road. The bank is on the original route of these races that were first held 100 years ago. They also had great pictures inside for people to see.

I have been a lifelong racing fan and know these open road races were an important part of history and brought many of the same drivers and cars to Elgin that raced at the Indianapolis 500. They were held for the last time in Elgin in 1933.

At least six of us who were there during the last race in Elgin were asked by the project co-chairs Jerry Turnquist and Bill Briska to take part in the unveiling. This was a special honor for us.

I encourage everyone to stop and read this marker when passing by the bank and would suggest the papers run a picture of it sometime.

Marshall Schneider

West Dundee