Our local speedshop KNIOLA AUTOMOTIVE has been decorating the walls with old US 30 DRAGSTRIP photos. Attached is a picture of me racing my first car back in 1971. It was a MR. NORM 1967 Dodge Dart 383 big block 4 speed car. I was a senior in high school at the time. Back then if you had a muscle car 30 was the place to go. It was a big deal to come back to town with all the numbers on your car from racing that weekend. I have one of my time slips and the event ticket in the picture.
Enjoy! Mopar John

Here is another shot from the same event!

My uncle's used to race there a lot back in that time frame. They did a lot of street racing for cash back in the 60's in the chicagoland area and then progressed to the strip as they got older and wiser. I loved to hear all the old stories about their exploits between them and their friends.

My uncle Jim Evans usually owned the cars but his brother Flem usually drove. Back then they usually ran 4 speeds because Flem had such fast reaction shifting. Everyone thought he had to be cheating because he could shift so fast. Him and his high school buddy went on to be one of the more famous Karate experts in the nation. Their names were Ken Knudson (All American Karate Studios & Sybaris owner) and Flem Evans who fought and beat Bill Superfoot Wallace back in 1974.

Unfortunately my Uncle Jim passed away a few years ago of lung cancer. Ken Knudson died in a freak airplane incident a few years ago. My uncle Flem is doing well and runs Evans & Son Asphalt.

My 1964 Sport Fury is going to be kind of a tribute car to my uncle's and my dad. They were mostly Chevy guys but my uncle Ron used to own a 1964 Sport Fury 4 speed convertible. Got to love those old classic muscle cars.

In the early '70s there was a kid that moved in with his Sister down the road. He was from Gary and I think he was getting in too much trouble, so down to the farm he went. He had a '69 Bee called Acapulco Gold. It was yellow metalflake as deep as any bass boat, 440 and tunnelram. Anyone remember this car up at US 30 in the early 70s?

With a name like Acapulco Gold, the "trouble" is kind of obvious!

I knew some neat stories would follow. By 1971 I had bought my "RACECAR" a stolen and stripped 1970 PLYMOUTH GTX. Attached is a picture of it in the pits in 1973 with the US 30 snack bar in the background. If you had a racecar at 30 it had to have a name. My GTX was lime green so I named it the "BITTER LIME". I still race that car to this day. It is in all my posts.
Mopar John

KNIOLA AUTOMOTIVE are they still in business, haven't been in there in decades

Well here we go with what happened next. The 440 in my "RACECAR" went south and it was the summer of 1974. Once you have the disease to race you can't stop it. So I had bought a 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger with a built 340 as a second car to drive to work. I decided to race the Dart while the GTX was down. The attached picture is probably the best of the bunch. It has the new US 30 sign between the lanes.
Mopar John

I owned the Paranoid Roadrunner for about a year then sold it to Mark. I dont remember the exact year but it was right when the"Pro Street" thing was starting up and that was my plan for the car.It had a 440 with a tunnel ram and a four speed when I bought it. I found it sitting next to a house in ST John right off of RT 41 and flat towed it home with my Dads hippy van! Mark raced it at US30 and Oceola for a few years with wedges and a Hemi once but always with a four speed.
Bob

Next time I am in Chicago I will try to go see My Uncle Jim's widow in Marengo, IL. If she doesn't mind I will borrow some old photo's to scan and post. He had his old trophies of US 30 in his shop and hopefully they are still there.

Dennis,
Add some pictures when you have time. Greg, you speak of your uncles trophies. The little red Swinger was very consistant and I won my class 3 weeks in a row! Attached is my last 30 era picture with me sitting on the front fender with one of the trophies. I still have them!

It is a crying shame that they closed it down and even worse that they wont let anyone open it back up again. My dad and my uncles raced there a long time ago it would have been nice if I had a chance to as well, now the closest thing is Morocco!

I have a picture of my AA/FC running there in Aug 1971.

Greg,
Your Uncle was Jimmy Evans - raced some Mopars out of the Chicago area? UDRA?
Mark J

He ran mostly chevrolet's. He was from Carpentersville, IL and ran a trucking business called JETCO. My uncle Jim was one of a kind. I really enjoyed sitting and listening to all the exploits between my uncles and their friends.

I was emailing my uncle Flem the other day and he relayed this war story about US 30 and his younger years racing for my Uncle Jim. They grew up in Chicago and as they got older moved out to the suburbs. Before anyone comments yes I know it wasn't a mopar but it is still a good story about racing at US 30.



We (me & some racing buddies) use to meet up late almost every Saturday night at Skip's Fiesta Trolling for money races and if we didn't break the car, most of us would end up at US 30 in the early AM and be the first in line. We'd put our slicks on, open the headers and sleep till they woke you up to move thru the gate. We would get in our time trials right off the bat with none or very short lines and if we didn't have to make
any adjustments (which we hardly every did unless we broke something in a time trial) we'd get some more sleep until they got to your class. Oh the good old days. Here's the downside to that story; one time we showed up at US 30 about 3:00 AM in my 58 Chevy running a 409, Dual Quads, 4-speed, 488 Locked Rear End, yes I snapped a lot of axles
back then. We opened the headers put on the slicks, went to sleep and woke up with no
other cars in site and the ground covered with snow. Have you ever drove a car on snow
with slicks and open headers? I did, to the nearest plowed surface which was the gas
station.