by Jerry Bonkowski
“U.S. 30 Dragstrip – Where the Great Ones Ruuuunnnnnnnn!!!!”
If you’re a veteran drag racing fan — ok, that means you have a few years of mileage — and love grassroots drag racing, surely you must have heard legendary announcer Jan Gabriel tout what was one of the best drag racing palaces in the Midwest, U.S. 30 Dragstrip.
Sadly, after roughly 30 years of operation starting in the 1950s, the legendary track closed in 1984. Sure, it’s been 41 years since the roar of engines were heard at the Hobart, Indiana
facility (and no, it was NOT in nearby Gary, Ind., which is about five or more miles away), but memories are forever.
And one person who has some great and fond memories of U.S. 30 both as a driver and fan is NHRA Funny Car driver Dale Creasy Jr.
“Yeah, we raced there,” Creasy said. “My dad (Dale Sr.) raced there. I bracket raced there for 15, 20 years before I started doing this. We were out there three days a week. That was the place to go at that time.”
Creasy is from Beecher, Ill., literally a quick burnout from where U.S. 30 was located and about 40 miles south of downtown Chicago. It was the Creasy Family Motorsports’ home track and they loved racing there.
“It was an old school racetrack,” Creasy said. “I mean, it had guardrails, it had all the stuff you needed, but it wasn’t up to today’s standards.
“But back then the cars weren’t going as fast as they’re now. So it was fun. I mean, it was a lot of big nights. There was never a night, for Wednesday or Friday, that there weren’t 200 or 300 bracket cars there every night.
“And all the people, we had a good time and some of them are even still out here.”
Creasy climbed the sportsman ranks at U.S. 30 but didn’t drive a nitro Funny Car until the mid-1990s, roughly a decade after the track closed.
“I didn’t start (driving fuel cars) until probably 10 years after they closed or so, somewhere around there,” Creasy said. “But yeah, I would’ve if they would’ve.”
While Creasy didn’t drive a fuel car at U.S. 30, he studied those who did pilot the nitro cars that competed at the track.
“It was fun. I was young and I remember it, but it wasn’t, they were running 70s, 680s, 650s, at that time, which at that time was phenomenal,” Creasy said. “But it was weird watching it and it was a plenty long racetrack. It was a good track. It was a little narrow and it would be a challenge nowadays.”
Most of the greats of Funny Car in the 1960s, 70s and into the 80s raced at U.S. 30 until the track closed. We’re talking about stars like Don “Snake” Prudhomme, Tom “Mongoose” McEwen and Raymond “The Blue Mx” Beadle.”
“It was the place to go in our area, the Southern Chicago area,” Creasy said. “They’d bring in Pro Stocks every now and then, Grumpy (Jenkins) and Don Nicholson. It was cool to see.
“I didn’t know anything other than them, what an icon they were going to be in the sport at that time. But as growing up and watching them over the years, the people that I watched, the Funny Cars themselves, the Funny Cars you’re watching now, we were watching them when they weren’t nostalgic.
“They were the Funny Cars of the time. So to me, it’s like just looking back in time when I see nostalgia cars, they’re all painted, all had names on them. And it was a different era.”
Creasy’s home track now since it opened in 1998 is Route 66 Raceway in Joliet, Ill., a 47-mile commute.
“When it first opened, it was like everybody’s walking around like, ‘Wow, first stadium design racetrack that was ever built,’” Creasy said. “It’s still a good place. I mean, the pits are as good or better than anybody’s, and that’s one of the knocks on some of the racetracks that we go to.
“Nothing’s wrong with the pits, they just aren’t as nice as these.”
But like many drag racing fans and competitors in the Chicago area, Creasy has heard rumors that Route 66 and the adjacent Chicagoland Speedway may be closing soon and will reportedly be torn down.
“This track, I hope it stays open because it’s close to home,” Creasy said. “And to me it’s a double-edged sword. Being at home is wonderful, and being at home is not so wonderful sometimes. It’s just, there’s so much going on because you know a lot of people. And I try to explain to them that you’ll stop and talk to everybody, but we’re working here.
“We got a job to do here. But I like coming here. I can go sleep in my own bed at night and it’s just nice to be here.”
Creasy also laments that he’s probably one of the last drag racers currently competing that ever drove at U.S. 30.
“I don’t think there’s many of us left from that era racing out there,” he said. “Even bracket racing. A couple guys that I’ve known over the years are still doing some bracket racing, but there’s not that many left anymore.”
