Meadowdale Raceways Presentation Blueprint

At some point between dreams and actual development of a new race track detailed blueprints of every aspect of the project are drawn up to illustrate the vision of the developers and dreamers. And to help recruit other dreamers, the top copy on this stack of blueprints not only depicts the layout of the entire circuit but is also embellished with the architect's renditions of key elements. This original presentation or "top copy" blueprint of the historic Meadowdale Raceways track northwest of Chicago is offered here for the serious motorsports memorabilia collector.

Conceived in the mid-1950s, the vision for Meadowdale Raceway was as a professional road circuit similar to those in Europe of the time. Indeed, the circuit featured a 45 degree banked "Monza Wall" that led out onto a very, very long and very downhill main straight-away. Through the 1960s the track hosted many club races, sports car races, notably the USAC Road Racing Series and the SCCA Trans-Am in the heyday of the Chevy-Ford-AMC rivalry. By the mid 70s though the property was worth more for housing development and the track was closed.

At 34" x 46.75" this piece of art will be the centerpiece of any motorsports enthusiast's home or office. Forty-five years of aging have definitely left their mark on the piece as, unfortunately, thirty years of its existence has apparently been spent folded and poorly kept. But rather than the fading and discoloration detracting from its majesty, it renders the piece a sort of rustic authentication. Below, we've photographed the blueprint in quarters and reassembled it to not only illustrate it's overall condition but to give you an idea of the scale and detail of the artwork.

The blueprint is steeped in detail, leaving nothing to the imagination. Spectator and parking areas, entrance gates, access tunnels and official's observation towers are all labeled. Every corner's radius, every straight's length and even roadbed elevation change is noted.

As often happens, the final configuration of the track diverged a bit from the initial vision as described on this document. First, the course length is planned as 4.1 miles but was closer to 3.75 miles when the track was opened. Also, the plans here show a complete oval made up by the Monza Wall at the south end. No one I've ever talked to mentioned the oval and published track maps I've seen did not depict one. Several veteran racers did describe the sensation of driving down the long downhill straight, running faster than they had ever gone at any other club track, only to be faced (although hidden by a brow) with the long right-hander that fell away even more steeply. Legend has it that at some point the word "PRAY" was painted in huge letters on or near the pavement just before having to commit to turn one.

Interestingly, the artist that created the drawing apparently did not ask in which direction the racing traffic was to go and assumed flow would be counterclockwise in the American oval racing tradition. The renderings of the main straight (upper LH corner) and Monza Wall (lower RH corner) have the cars going against the clockwise European race direction. However, by the time he or she began drawing the scene in the lower right-hand corner, the cars we running clockwise. There, a car is approaching a left hand bend with cars on a straight in the background. This, it would seem, could only be Len's Hairpin as it was later labeled.

As one might expect, this is a highly cherished jewel in our limited collection of motorsport memorabilia. But secluded as it is under our ownership, it is underappreciated and perhaps the time has come that we part with this truly unique piece of American road racing history and what is likely one of the few remaining artifacts of the Meadowdale Raceways legacy. It is our hope that it will next be displayed in a place of prominence at a business or home of a racing enthusiast that will present its historical grandeur to many. Please express your interest in this article or references to those who might have interest by e-mail.