Silence at the Speedway

PRINCETON — It has been over a year since the Bureau County Speedway shut down racing operations, and while a large contingent of area racers have continued to fill their need for speed, the loss of the Speedway has made things harder.

“There’s a certain group that’s still racing,” Speedway vet Randy Lucas of Princeton said. “Some of them go to LaSalle, some of them go to Moline, they don’t race all the time.”

For former Speedway racer Rich Bell of Sheffield, not having the local track has meant an increase in travel to and from races.

“It’s affected me quite a bit,” Bell said. “I had a home track that was really close, and now I have to drive all over heck to go racing. Besides LaSalle, everywhere else is a couple hours away.”

Along with LaSalle, Bell is racing at Fairbury, Farmer City, and Lincoln.

He said that the Friday night races of the Bureau County Speedway have been replaced by Farmer City, although not as frequently as he would like.

With his Ford diesel truck getting about nine or 10 miles a gallon pulling a trailer and race car, Bell does not have the luxury of traveling more than 100 miles each way to race every Friday.

“I only go there once in a while because it’s two and a half hours away and it’s kind of hard on the pocketbook,” Bell said.

For Bell, who was a three-time Speedway champ in the Street Stock division from 2001-3, and the 2006 Late Model champ, the Speedway’s closing not only brings an inconvenience, it brings an end to a lot of good memories.

“I grew up on that track, it’s the first place I started racing,” Bell said. “I miss racing there quite a bit.”

Lucas said that without the Speedway, he also races less than before.

“We run every Saturday night and try to run off and on on Sundays,” Lucas said, “before we were racing Friday and Saturday.”

Future of the Speedway

Both Bell and Lucas do not believe that the Speedway will re-open in the future.