Photograph of Soldier Field circa 1961Advertisement for the race, published in the Chicago Tribune on July 20, 1956
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.(note a)
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.[1][2] For the 1956 season, NASCAR held races at Soldier Field in Chicago, including this Grand National Series race and two Convertible Division races.[1] Soldier Field had been regularly used as an auto racing venue since the 1940s.[3]
This was the first NASCAR Grand National Series/NASCAR Cup Series race to be held in the city of Chicago.[4] It is today regarded to have been the only NASCAR Cup Series race held at the Soldier Field.[5][6][7][8](note a)
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.[9] The race was promoted by Andy Granatelli,[10] at the time the key promoter of races at Soldier Field.[11] Granatelli worked with NASCAR head Bill France Sr. to schedule the race.[10]
Held July 21, 1956,[4] the race used the stadium's half-mile short track configuration.[14] At 200 laps, the race's length was 100 miles.[15] Attendance at the race was 14,402.[4] 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.[3] Five competitors were future NASCAR Hall of Famers. The pole winner was Billy Myers.[16]
The race was won by Fireball Roberts, who beat Jim Pascal by one car-length.[4] Pascal had been the lap leader until the 194th lap, when Roberts surpassed him.[4] Roberts was driving a Ford for Pete DePaol'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,[10] which had dominated the 1956 Grand National Series season.[17] Ten cars failed to finish the race.[3] Five of these were sidelined due to brake issues, a regular problem on short tracks.[16]
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.[22] 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.[8] For reasons that are unclear, Soldier Field never held another NASCAR Cup Series race.[3] NASCAR ceased holding any races at Soldier Field after 1957.[23][24]
^note a 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.[22] It was won by Bill Brown. However, while this 1957 race was considered to be a NASCAR Grand National Series event at the time it was held, by the 2010s it did not appear on NASCAR's retrospective lists of Grand National events that were held in the 1957 NASCAR Grand National Series.[8]
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