“She would’ve loved to see the race,” said Chicago native, Aaron Moy.
He stands alongside Clarence F. Buckingham Memorial Fountain decked out head-to-toe in NASCAR gear, complete with a checkered shirt and “DuPont Motorsports hat” with racing flags sticking out of it.
Unlike the race-goers surrounding him, the NASCAR lanyard that hangs from his neck doesn’t boast a VIP pass or a staff badge — it displays a picture of his deceased mother. “Our mom got us into NASCAR,” his sister, Amy Moy adds.
“We’re a big NASCAR family,” Aaron said. The inspiration for their mother’s enthusiasm? Stock car racing driver, Jeff Gordon, a four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. “My first race? Jeff Gordon won that. It was a big memory,” said Aaron. “One of the rare times of seeing my mother excited was seeing that.”
The first day of the weekend’s events was greeted by 80 degree weather with light bursts of rain throughout the morning. The race’s 17-full time teams came to town just days after Chicago bore the title of “the worst air quality in the world,” due to smoke from the Canadian WildFires.
While many online have expressed concerns over the potential impact of cars racing around downtown at top speeds on the city’s air quality, many NASCAR attendees don’t have significant concern.
“Chicago’s a driving city. It is what it is,” said Sam Balistrieri, a Milwaukee resident attending the NASCAR events for his 26th birthday. “I don’t think it’s gonna be a problem,” echoed Cody Alguive of Hampton, Illinois, who drove 3 hours to attend the race.
For many, this monumental day will be marked by NASCAR’s first Chicago street race. But for some, like the Moys, decked out in checkered flags and racing colors galore, this day means a lot more. It means family.
A similar familial sentiment rings true for Western Suburbs resident, Bob Rath. “I’ve been a race fan all my life,” he said, recalling the first-race he ever attended: The Time trials in Indianapolis 60 years ago. “I used to live in Cincinnati, Indianapolis was just 90 miles from me, so my parents took us up,” he said. Fast-forwarding to today’s festivities, Rath expressed his excitement for the new street racing course. “They like to beat and bang on one another on these road courses, so it’ll be fun to watch and see how they perform. Plus, it’s a historic event for Chicago, so it’s fun to be here and be a part of it.”
However, the crowds aren’t only populated with die-hard NASCAR fans. In the free village event for those who don’t have tickets to the weekend’s race, James Griffith, a Chicago dad, browses the booths with his three-year-old, Jack, tightly held in his arms. “I’m not big into NASCAR,” he said. Despite his lack of racing enthusiasm, his reason for attending the weekend’s event was simple, “Jack really likes cars,” he said with a shrug.
Dispersed around Butler field, a variety of vendors and advertisers stationed themselves. Near the entrance, Toni Rossi welcomes race-goers to the “design your own Hot Wheels car” booth. As an events-worker and actor, he has served at a variety of Chicago events, including last weekend’s pride festivities. He recalled chatting with his fellow employees and expressing his excitement for events, such as NASCAR, “providing so many different jobs” to Chicago communities. He said that these large-scale festivities provide incentive for Chicagoans to explore new interests, saying, “I don’t think I would have come down and checked it out if I wasn’t working.”
Staley, of the Chicago Bears, waves “hello” to passerbyers as his fellow Classic Chicago mascots wander amongst the crowd. Past the gathering of oversized furry creatures, and beyond the front gates labeled “NASCAR 75th Anniversary,” drivers and members of the pit crew are hard at work preparing for today’s first-of-its-kind event. The first crew in the line, decked out in Black and yellow, stands Team Live Fast Motorsports, led by Crew Chief David Ingram preparing the car for practice and warming up the motor.
The never-seen-before nature of today’s event appears to be on the front of racers’ minds. “The first time I saw the track in person, in real life was yesterday,” said Josh Bilicki, the driver for Live Fast. “Normally you have a lot of run-off area, like sand and gravel… here there’s just walls. So, you make a mistake, you’re gonna be in the wall and probably end your day,” he said. “Maybe instead of driving at 100%, you drive it at 90% and try to survive the race because some people are gonna push too hard and go off.”
From the loving family memories of the Moy family to the fast-paced preparation of Bilicki and his crew, one simple word encompasses each of their sentiments: excitement.