NASCAR’s Chicago Street Race is quickly approaching and the controversy for the event still has not slowed down at all. Between the fans and many in Chicago being skeptical of the event it does not have a shortage of detractors and one of these is Chicago city alderman Brian Hopkins who has criticized the city’s traffic changes for NASCAR. This is how the Chicago street race has even more problems.
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52 comments
What are you looking forwards to most with the Chicago Street Race?
CHICAGOLAND CHICAGOLAND CHICAGOLAND
the checked flag because this will be a dumpster fire
Hopefully, Road America coming back, especially since the new package made COTA a banger. I’m not against NASCAR trying a street course. I just think the way NASCAR went about this was just all wrong.
Dale Jr “ OH TURN 1 we got a car in The whal
It’s definitely a change that people won’t be happy with but Toronto has had traffic issues when Indycar and the Pinty’s Series come to town so they don’t get to say that no other city deals with things like these.
Toronto isn’t even that bad of the car-centric hellhole that Chicago is, at least it has Public Transit that’s usable
do montreal have traffic issues everytime f1 came to town?
Toronto (and other Indy street courses) has established a fanbase that don’t mind the traffic, in addition to decent public transit. The operators already have experience in managing off-track issues.
I wonder if Detroit or long Beach have traffic issues when Indy car comes to town?
@Muammar Gibran Montreal’s race course is a permanent track, it’s not on the streets.
I think that if it gets canceled, Chicagoland would be a great replacement
@Ben Walter why would i trade out daytona for that tho?
Forget shitcago completely. How about go road Atlanta….
What about Laguna Seca? NASCAR never ran on Laguna Seca before. Kinda dope to see how it turns out.
Or maybe try run a NASCAR event on Big Sur highways on west coast USA
Chicago Street will be AWESOME! I it kinda blows my mind on the push back. Does anyone understand the demographics of the sport and our country??? Listen up everyone! We’re about to have a population implosion soon. The sport is propped up by boomers who in 10 years will mostly be gone…. NASCAR has to get into population centers which are big cities. We as a fan base need this to work and SHOULD be rooting for this.
Would make sense, chicagoland is 1 hour from Grant Park, and it is in race ready condition + the motorcross race aint until august
I wish they would just move the race to Chicagoland Speedway it was a good race track and needs to be back in NASCAR
I live in Chicago. Went to school a couple blocks away from the course and played flag football in the park they’re racing around. One of the biggest issues for the locals is going to be ticket price… with the cheapest tickets being around $200 no new fans will come out to the race and see what it’s about and instead see it as a nuisance. I started following the sport this year and was looking into tickets and was turned off by the prices. I think NASCAR could easily delve into this market but the street course may not be the best idea… Also the marketing has been subpar… I know a ton of people who have no idea this is coming up
@Mesousa Gaby yeah but F1 has historically charged more as they have less events higher previewed prestige and pedigree. But even then I can’t justify the cost of that either.
$250 got me a whole weekend at road america last year. A little more for camping. Worth it for an actual vacation, not a day trip downtown
It’s in a city. Find a building overlooking some part of the track and sit on the fire escape
I mean North Wilkesboro is literally rocking the same prices as Chicago. Was literally gonna go to North Wilkesboro til I seen the prices for that and said “uh yeah, fck no”. But yet people r still gonna show up for that. And even then the prices for North Wilkesboro in the long run will eventually hurt attendance anyway regardless of new or old fans. The “historic, founding track” deal ain’t gonna hold up with prices running $200-$300 a ticket. Add 3 and soon 4 short tracks in the same area and spending that much for 1 ticket might not be that worth it. so no, the prices at Chicago ain’t gonna make fans see it as a nuisance, it’ll be more of if the people enjoyed their time there. It’s like going to a concert with your friends to see a band u don’t really know/never listen to.
@Brandon Andrews Not to mention probably $50 or more to park, just like for Bears games or whatever else.
I like the idea of nascar trying a street course. With that said, I’d put my life savings on this event not making it past year 1. Maybe in the future try and join an already existing event like Long Beach or Nashville (I know there’s already Nashville superspeedway and fairgrounds I’m just using this for comparison sake)
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD I see no problems here, just an opportunity for a chaotically good street race. So yes Long Beach.
@GrahamCrackerGaming no Long Beach not a good opportunity.
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD jeez, what r u, the no fun police? Plus it it’s a really good opportunity, especially it being in the LA market.
@GrahamCrackerGaming if anything we should be trying to get Laguna Seca on the schedule.
@Run Rafa Run #THEBESTINTHEWORLD u make a pretty good point, I can see NASCAR running Laguna Seca….but in this case we’re talking street courses, so shush, go grab dad another beer, and let NASCAR run Long Beach
I would love if NASCAR return to Chicagoland speedway that’s the track I first saw my first NASCAR race
Nascar’s shattered 75th anniversary diamond is living up to the standards. What an absolute dumpster fire this past week has been
They lit the match by screwing up Auto Club’s future. This is just fanning the flames
@S.KullRandom My match was lit when they introduced the playoffs to compete with ball sports and stages. Steve and everyone at the top is so delusional its insane
7:07 Take it from an IndyCar fan: it’s not too late for the race to be cancelled. I’m not wishing it, though I don’t have enthusiasm for this race, but I’ve seen new street races cancelled as late as 38 days before the scheduled date. The race may go on, and it could easily be a one and done, but no one should bet their lives on it happening in 2023.
Without getting into the legal s*** yeah it’s too late for this year
I’m excited for this race, because I love seeing NASCAR try new things. That being said, I think it should stay a one-time event, and Road America should take it’s place.
Chicagoland would be great too!
Or Road Atlanta. Or hell, if they want a street course, Belle Isle is literally 4 hours away
@Aaron Lee SGBC Lieutenant the Indycar/IMSA move from Belle Isle was partially because local residents were increasingly hostile to the park being shut for as long as it needed to set up and tear down the track; plus I suspect the Detroit Council would not want to have two completely separate street races over the course of one summer in different places. So not possible.
Some crappy cities, Chicago, Detroit, there are alot of others I’m sure with better streets, governments, event planners, citizens support, not murder capital’s, safer areas for visitors, would gladly welcome this event.
I live in Chicago, I like NASACAR. I am pissed that they took away Road America in exchange for this circus act. Why would they drop such a great race venue? The best way to grow the sport is to have good races, and I just don’t see how having a street race on this track is going to be a good race.
The spectators turn out in huge numbers at Road America.
Especially when most of the corners are 90 degree nowhere to pass corners. It will be a disaster. I can make a much better street course layout with LEGOs. I’m currently making a stop motion out of it.
I was about to go an comment something similar. Road America is a proven venue that has hosted exciting Xfinity races for several years now, has had two good Cup Races there now, only be dropped by this event. I hope the Chicago event succeeds (as a resident of the Chicago suburbs) but Road America draws in fans from all of the Great Lakes regions, including Chicago and Minneapolis as this is the closest race for them. If the event does not succeed, I hope racing will return to Road America or Chicagoland Speedway
I’m so happy that you included the last part because I agree with you. Let’s see the new car at the now old Chicagoland Speedway.
NASCAR fan living in Chicago, about a mile north of the street race. I’d say most people here are upset than intrigued for a few reasons:
1. The street closures aren’t just street closures. It’s the two biggest road and highways that go thru downtown during its peak season. The nearby interstate is also under perpetual construction so most people I know are trying to leave the city during that time period.
2. Other events and festivals that take place in that same area, like lollapalooza, while even bigger than the race, don’t disrupt the city flow to any kind of magnitude as the race would
3. Mayor beetlejuice seemed to make this approval without the consent of many local officials, including the parks and rec and tourism folks, and also mislead folks about the logistical impact. Regardless of political views, EVERYONE disliked this woman because she always made self-interested decisions and consulted no one when she made them.
4. Chicago is already a big summer destination so the fear with race is that with the lack of accessibility around the city to not just certain attractions but activities (there are two harbors along the closures that may be inaccessible), there’s a big concern that whatever economic gain the race will bring is wiped out or superseded by the loss in normal tourism from folks coming from the burbs, nearby states, nationwide, etc.
Personally, I’d rather see Chicagoland back. As a fan here, I’m worried that all the issues will actually turn off more local folks than bring new ones in. I’d love to be wrong
As a college student from out of state in the Joliet/Romeoville area I would love to have a race near me. The race downtown is almost too far and inconvenient to go to while The speedway being something that I’ve flown over multiple times would be great to go to
I’m excited for this race as I don’t personally recall any street races like any of the open wheel series do, and if this does really well i could see a super weekend with nascar and indycar sharing a city in a weekend being a massive draw for fans
I hope it go through because then it opens the doors for other cities to host a race and try and feel if it is a good fit and try and get races at local tracks
Six week street closure is insane, most race tracks have the roads opened to traffic till days before the race while they are putting up barriers in one lane
im excited to go and got a few non nascar fans to go because they think the idea is great. But i can also see the problems, Lake Shore Drive is one of the biggest North-South road in the city so i can see why it will be a huge problem especially with the traffic closures for 6 weeks. If it is a one and done i do want chicagoland to comeback I miss going to the venue.