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Quick Trip to the Racetrack
By Steve Buchtel
I find it difficult to justify to my coworkers the time I’ve
spent as the Chicagoland Bicycle Federation’s Southland Coordinator
promoting the idea of a Bike to NASCAR
event at Joliet’s
Chicagoland Motor Speedway. Not a protest ride, a la Critical
Mass’s Chicago Auto Show event. But a ride that any bicyclist
who is personally embarrassed by the rift between Dale Jr. and his
step mom might enjoy.
I usually fall back on the physical possibility of such an event:
the grandstands of the Speedway’s 1.5 mile oval loom Colosseum-like
across open fields of parking and RV hookups from the Wauponsee
Glacial Trail, Will County Forest Preserve’s excellent shared-use
path connecting the Plank Road Trail in Joliet south to the newly
restored Midewin Prairie.
Route 53 and Laraway Road, the two primary arterials that shovel
tens of thousands of vehicles into this gaping maw on NASCAR days,
could be neatly avoided by trail access to the Speedway gates. Fifty
bikes could be valet parked within the same footprint as the Penske
team’s motorcoach. Fans could set off from anywhere along
the Plank Road Trail, meet up in downtown Joliet (maybe at the new
Route 66 Museum), and head en masse largely off-street toward some
high octane tailgating and ground pounding oval action.
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| The Forest Preserve District of Will County’s
LEED-certified administration building also sits trailside,
across the road from the Speedway. No tailgating there, though. |
The “ground pounding oval action” is where I lose a
lot of bicycle advocates. Where I’d like to win them back
is with these three really cool considerations:
1. The track hosts more than 100,000 fans on Nextel Cup days who,
surveys show us, are prime demographics for bicycle ownership and
recreational use.
2. The uniqueness of the riding experience could easily support
a premium fundraising event that – thanks to the Wauponsee
Glacial Trail – is easy to produce and support.
3. I have a bike trailer with keg and lawnchair attachments. I was
compelled by an unseen intelligence to build it, and now I know
why. I know others are out there.
Truthfully, Bike to NASCAR is somewhat a stepchild to the Joliet
Bicycle Club’s Sudden Century in March, with ends with laps
around the high banks of the Speedway. I’ll be standing on
that event’s shoulders a bit as I try to develop Bike to NASCAR.
It’s a goofy idea that’s barely defensible. Like Bike
the Drive was, at one time.
Steve Buchtel is the Southland Coordinator for the Chicagoland
Bicycle Federation
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