St. Charles Speedway

Greetings from St. Charles, Missouri

From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser”

St. Charles Speedway

Lifetime track #110

The St. Charles Speedway is officially listed as my 110th lifetime racetrack to see.  St. Charles was the first track I ever saw in Missouri.  I was there on a Sunday evening May 2, 1982.  That afternoon I had been to the Illinois State Fairgrounds for some sprint car racing on their one-mile dirt oval.  Danny Smith won the World of Outlaws feature and Larry Dickson won the USCA feature in the Illinois capital.  The previous night I had been to the “Little Springfield” Speedway seeing Ken Schrader takes the feature honors.  On that Saturday afternoon I saw Sammy Swindell win the WOO feature at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.  I had not really discovered the hobby of trackchasing at that point.  I simply went racing to see the best sprint car and stock drivers regardless of whether I had been to the track one time or fifty times.

I didn’t begin writing my famous Trackchaser Reports until about track #400.  Therefore all I have to go on is my memory of the night’s activity.  I also didn’t begin doing much in the way of photos or videos at that time either.  It was “pre-technology time”.

However, I do know that Don Klein in #28 won the main event at St. Charles.  Don Klein was one of the winningest drivers to ever hit the dirt tracks.  During his more than 50 years of racing he won more than 550 feature events.

I also remember them interviewing Kenny Schrader at intermission.  Schrader would go on from there to have a very successful NASCAR Sprint Cup career.  I’ve had the chance to meet Kenny a time or two.  He is definitely a “racer’s racer” traveling all over the country to race just about anything anywhere.  Ken Schrader is a RACING trackchaser.

Seeing racing at the St. Charles Speedway was a lot like what racing was like in the 50s.  The experience was a definite step back in time.  The track had opened in 1956.  It would later close for good in 2000.

Back in the 1960s St. Charles Speedway was home to Super Modified racing.  Those cars would morph into the earliest stages of late model stock car racing.  In my mind this was the “golden era” of dirt bullring racing.  Check out and support the Midwest Motorsports Museum.  They provided these historical photos.  It is group’s like this that keep the memory of these great racing times alive.

You might have remembrances about the St. Charles Speedway.  If so, please feel free to share in the comments section below.  If you have any photos from back in the day, send them to me at Ranlay@yahoo.com.  I’ll try to include them here.