1956 NASCAR Grand National Series race at Soldier Field

On July 21, 1956, the NASCAR Grand National Series (today known as the NASCAR Cup Series) held the 33rd race of its season at Soldier Field in Chicago. The race was won by Fireball Roberts, and is today considered the only NASCAR Cup Series race to have been held at the venue.

Background The NASCAR Grand National Series (today known as the NASCAR Cup Series) had first visited the Chicagoland area in 1954, when a reported crowd of 6,000 watched a race at the suburban Santa Fe Speedway. For the 1956 season, NASCAR held races at Soldier Field in Chicago, including this Grand National Series race and two Convertible Division races. Soldier Field had been regularly used as an auto racing venue since the 1940s.

This was the first NASCAR Grand National Series/NASCAR Cup Series race to be held in the city of Chicago. It is today regarded to have been the only NASCAR Cup Series race held at the Soldier Field.

To accommodate NASCAR races in 1956, a new half-mile track layout was added to the stadium by adding new paved track to the north end of the stadium. The race was promoted by Andy Granatelli, at the time the key promoter of races at Soldier Field. Granatelli worked with NASCAR head Bill France Sr. to schedule the race.

It had been thirteen days between the Soldier Field race and the previous NASCAR Grand National Series race at California State Fairgrounds. A race that had been scheduled to be held at Old Bridge Stadium in Old Bridge, New Jersey during the weekend in-between these two races was called-off due to rain.

Race summary Held July 21, 1956, the race used the stadium's half-mile short track configuration. At 200 laps, the race's length was 100 miles. Attendance at the race was 14,402. The race was contested by twenty-five drivers. While not an extraordinarily large number of drivers, some of the season's largest stars were among the competitors. Five competitors were future NASCAR Hall of Famers. The pole winner was Billy Myers.

The race was won by Fireball Roberts, who beat Jim Paschal by one car-length. Pascal had been the lap leader until the 194th lap, when Roberts surpassed him. Roberts was driving a Ford for Pete DePaolo's team. Third-place finisher Ralph Moody was also driving for DePaolo. The fourth, fifth, and sixth-place finishers (respectively: Speedy Thompson, Frank Mundy, and Buck Baker) all were racing for Carl Kiekhaefer's team, which had dominated the 1956 Grand National Series season. Ten cars failed to finish the race. Five of these were sidelined due to brake issues, a regular problem on short tracks.

Race stats + Stats Winning driver: Fireball Roberts Winning team: DePaolo Winning car make: 1956 Ford Track description: paved short track oval Laps: 200 Length: Competitors: 25 drivers Attendance: 14,402 Duration: 1:38:18 Avg. speed: Margin-of-victory: 1 car-length

Results Legend: Finish: Finishing place of driver Start Pos.: Starting position of driver Car #: Car number Driver: Driver's name Sponsor: Sponsor of driver Owner/Team: Owner/team for which driver drove Car make: Make of car driven Laps: Laps completed Money: Earnings for race Status: If car was running at end of race, or otherwise the reason it was out of the race

+ Summary by driver Finish StartPos. Car# Driver Sponsor Owner/ Team Carmake Laps Money Status 1 3 22 DePaolo Engineering 1956 Ford 200 $850 running 2 14 75 C U Later Alligator 1956 Mercury 200 $625 running 3 4 12 DePaolo Engineering 1956 Ford 200 $450 running 4 12 500 1956 Dodge 200 $350 running 5 8 500B 1956 Dodge 200 $310 running 6 9 502 1956 Dodge 199 $250 running 7 13 31 1956 Ford 199 $200 running 8 6 32 1956 Chevrolet 198 $150 running 9 7 719 1956 Dodge 192 $100 running 10 10 42 1956 Dodge 190 $100 running 11 20 7 – 1955 Oldsmobile 189 $100 running 12 23 33 – 1956 Chevrolet 182 $100 running 13 22 48 1956 Ford 176 $100 running 14 21 38 – 1956 Dodge 175 $100 running 15 15 66 1956 Ford 164 $100 running 16 24 2 – 1956 Ford 142 $100 brakes 17 1 14 1956 Mercury 140 $100 brakes 18 2 92 1956 Chevrolet 98 $100 crash 19 17 204 1956 Ford 86 $50 brakes 20 11 150 1956 Chevrolet 85 $50 brakes 21 16 40 – 1956 Pontiac 78 $50 spindle 22 5 3 – 1956 Chevrolet 50 $50 brakes 23 19 44 – 1955 Chevrolet 41 $50 crash 24 18 165 – 1955 Chevrolet 40 $50 engine 25 25 37 1956 Plymouth 36 $100 carburetor

Subsequent history of NASCAR in the Chicago area The 1957 edition of Soldier Field's annual Chicago Park District Police Benevolent Association Gold Trophy Race (held on June 15, 1957) was sanctioned by NASCAR as a 50-lap short track race under the "NASCAR Grand National" banner. Despite the 1957 race being considered at the time it was held to have been a NASCAR Grand National Series event, it is not retrospectively considered to have been an official part of the 1957 NASCAR Grand National Series. For reasons that are unclear, Soldier Field never held another NASCAR Cup Series race. NASCAR ceased holding any races at Soldier Field after 1957.

NASCAR Winston Racing Series races were held in the Chicagoland area at the Santa Fe Speedway, which was ultimately demolished in 1995. NASCAR returned to the Chicagoland area for the 2000 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, with the Sears Craftsman 175 being held at the Chicago Motor Speedway in Cicero, Illinois. The NASCAR Cup Series would not return to the Chicagoland area until 2002, when the 2002 Tropicana 400 was held at the Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Illinois. NASCAR would not return to the city proper again until 2023, when the Xfinity Series held The Loop 110 and the NASCAR Cup Series held the Grant Park 220 at the Chicago Street Course.

1956 NASCAR Grand National Series race at Soldier Field

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