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 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 Pascal 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 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, 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.

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

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.