Meadowdale International Raceway

Welcome to the Carpentersville Memories Meadowdale Raceway Page. Our goal is to bring back some fun memories of growing up in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. Please take your time and check out all of the Meadowdale Raceway images and files, they are sure to bring back many memories.

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Did you spend any time at the races?

Where did you see your first auto race? If you lived in the Carpentersville area, any time between 1958 and 1968, it was probably Meadowdale International Raceway.

If you have any images of the raceway to share please contact us.

The History of Meadowdale International Raceway

Meadowdale International Raceway was a 3.27 mile track located in Carpentersville, Illinois. This challenging course combined features of both oval track and open road racing. A 4000 foot long main straight and huge Monza Wall were just two of its more notable features. Most of the track was laid out on flat, open farmland, but the eastern portion featured curves, climbs and esses that undulated through a forest and over the western side of the Fox River Valley.

The facility opened during the weekend of September 13-14, 1958 – a mere six months after the building permit was issued. A reported 150,000 spectators saw Chuck Daigh win the Feature Race in a Scarab. Racing continued at Meadowdale into the mid-60’s, but attendance steadily declined. The decline was primarily do to, massive traffic jams caused by the limited local infrastructure, changing race schedules resulting from conflicts with various sanctioning organizations, and poor spectator conditions (long walks from the parking area, heat, dust, etc).

The course underwent a major renovation about 1967, during which the famous Monza Wall was leveled, and other improvements made. Efforts to boost attendance by altering the original course, promoting motorcycle and snow-mobile racing, and changing management all proved fruitless. Racing all but ceased after the 1968 season. By the early 1970’s the track had deteriorated to the point where talk of reopening the facility stopped.

In 1994, a group of local park districts purchased the north 90 acres of the track’s land for use as part of a new forest preserve, and purchased the remainder of the site in 2002. The track site is now, formally, a forest and nature preserve and recreational area known as “Raceway Woods”. However, the volunteers who maintain the site have recognized its importance as a race track, and have done much to keep the original track and related structures in place in the form of a hiking trail.

Raceway Woods is maintained by the Dundee Township Park District and the Forest Preserve District of Kane County.

Please check out all of the great Meadowdale Raceway images and files from the past.