[Anderson36]

Everyone,

As announced yesterday Sat. July 18th, one "Last Call" to be run at the Joliet Memorial Stadium in Joliet Illinois.

Scheduled for September 11th and 12th with a rain date of Sept. 13th. The stadium track is set to be torn up and replaced with a track & field type surface for running. The old asphalt will be gone by winter. Sponsors and details are being worked out at the moment but the date is set for one last night.

At this time it will be open to all type of racecars including (most importantly) all vintage cars for plenty of track time.

More details to come in the weeks to follow.

Jimmy Anderson

[Crankin]

Originally Posted by Anderson36 Everyone, As announced yesterday Sat. July 18th, one "Last Call" to be run at the Joliet Memorial Stadium in Joliet Illinois. Scheduled for September 11th and 12th with a rain date of Sept. 13th. The stadium track is set to be torn up and replaced with a track & field type surface for running. The old asphalt will be gone by winter. Sponsors and details are being worked out at the moment but the date is set for one last night. At this time it will be open to all type of racecars including (most importantly) all vintage cars for plenty of track time. More details to come in the weeks to follow. Jimmy Anderson

Jim,
Where was this "announced"? Will this be an actual race, or an open track for vintage racers? Either way, this is a very cool thing!!!!! Thanks in advance for any more info!!

[Anderson36]

This is shaping up to be a race event. From preliminary discussion it looks like there will be different divisions running all day long finishing with the National style midgets running Saturday night.

The Joliet Park District has asked to have the racing portion finished by 9 or 9:30pm on Sat. night after which they want to have a band stage set-up for the grandstand spectators to come on to the track and infield for live entertainment.

The annoucement was broke Saturday morning on the "Racer's Forum" radio show in Joliet and also announced with a very warm welcome at the autograph session last night for my dad's memorial race Carter/Anderson Classic at Grundy County Speedway.

[egh170]

Originally Posted by Anderson36 This is shaping up to be a race event. From preliminary discussion it looks like there will be different divisions running all day long finishing with the National style midgets running Saturday night. The Joliet Park District has asked to have the racing portion finished by 9 or 9:30pm on Sat. night after which they want to have a band stage set-up for the grandstand spectators to come on to the track and infield for live entertainment. The annoucement was broke Saturday morning on the "Racer's Forum" radio show in Joliet and also announced with a very warm welcome at the autograph session last night for my dad's memorial race Carter/Anderson Classic at Grundy County Speedway.

To Add to Jimmy's Post,
Here is the press release on the event

JOLIET -- "They've got big hearts and a whole lot of horsepower. Brave souls with the will to win .... they're the local heroes, and they live for Saturday night."

That phrase used by EPSN's Dave Despain each week during the late 1980s and 1990s for the open-wheel show Saturday Night Thunder absolutely sums up the racers who did battle each Saturday night at Joliet Memorial Stadium for so many years.

Located next to the Armory on Joliet's west side, the historic venue has hosted tens, make that hundreds, of thousands who have watched local high school and college football talent play their way into the pros. For many Saturday nights each summer, many of the same fans would watch local talent such as Bob Tattersall, Russ Sweedler, Jim Gates, George and Danny Kladis, Tony Saylor and Henry and Danny Pens take on drivers from across the country in their attempt to make it to the big time.

Memorial Stadium was built in 1951 and is dedicated to Joliet residents who fought in World War I and World War II as well as the Korean Conflict. The facility was built for the purpose of hosting high school and college football as well as track and field events, but it also became home to UARA midget auto racing in May of 1952. Walt Weineke took the first checkered flag and some of the best drivers in the country raced each Saturday night of the summer there until Aug. 30, 1986, when Dennis Devea crossed the finish line as the last winner ever at the stadium.

Now, 57 years later, the facility is going through a facelift. After the final football game is played this fall, the paved track and grass football field will be torn up and replaced with a new Olympic-style running track and an artificial turf playing field. But not before one last racing event takes place on the historic, flat, quarter-mile paved track.

On Sept. 11-12, the United Midget Auto Racing Association will sanction the last auto racing event ever at the stadium. The event will include National, Sportsman and Ford Focus midgets as well as Vintage midgets and will likely also include Dwarf Cars, Legend Cars and go-karts.

Already the buzz has been tremendous.

Devea, who now resides near Apache Junction, Ariz., got wind of it a couple of weeks ago and has made plans to be here and is actively pursuing a ride for the event.

"I won the last event ever run there in '86, and I have to be there to defend my title," Devea said.

Klaus Wever, who was known as "Mr. Excitement" back in the stadium days and also recently transplanted to Arizona, is planning his return in September as well.

Don Carter Jr. won the 1978 and 1984 Memorial Stadium championships and is the only driver to win championships in the old UARA, WOOM and UMARA. Carter was on hand last Saturday at Grundy County Speedway for the UMARA Carter Anderson Classic and announced that he, too, would be pursuing a ride for the event.

Carter Jr. drove for owners Jim and Sharon Anderson of Joliet for years at the stadium. Now, Jim and Sharon's son Jimmy pilots the car and is the reigning UMARA National midget champion.

Anderson's eyes and grin grew large last fall when he was amidst a conversation with Joliet Park District President Dominic Egizio and host of 1340 WJOL's "Racers Forum" Mike Guglielmucci. Egizio asked Guglielmucci, "Do you know anyone who would be willing to bring a midget out and make a few laps before we tear the track up in the fall?"

Anderson couldn't get the word "yes" out of his mouth fast enough. "I was going to races at Joliet Stadium from the time I was about 2 weeks old. That would be a dream just to get a chance to drive my midget around that place, let alone race it there," Anderson said.

From that conversation, which also included UMARA announcer Joe Kirkeeng (nephew of Joe Paluga and Jim Eyeman, also former Joliet Stadium racers), the talk turned to an exhibition and then to an actual race. Several months and several meetings later, the dream of many locals finally came to fruition late last Friday.

Racing is a family sport and Sept. 11-12 will likely be the largest "family reunion" Joliet and Will County have seen, when the bruised and battered drivers of yesterday bring their vintage midgets to meet up with today's young guns and their high-dollar midgets for one last race at Joliet