HAMMOND — A racetrack near the Indiana/Illinois state line that once drew thousands of spectators in the early days of auto racing has largely faded from memory, but its history has been preserved.
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Historical facts, memories and stories of the Roby Speedway were shared in the Community Room of the Hammond Public Library, not just by the presenters but by others who had tales to tell.
“This was a one-mile dirt track located between 108th and 112th streets in a small town named Roby, Ind., near the state boundary,” said auto racing historian Jerry Murawski of Chicago, as he began a two-hour slide presentation and history lesson.
Fellow race historian Stan Kalwasinski, also of Chicago, brought his pictures and memorabilia to take the stage with Murawski as they shared colorful stories about the racing venue, which welcomed thousands of spectators in the grandstands from 1920 to 1936.
Fatalities and lawsuits were thought to be the reasons the track closed, according to the two men.
“They didn’t have the safety features we have today,” Murawski said, as he showed a list of the eight fatalities that occurred during the 16-year run of the racetrack. “But also in that time, there were no injures to bystanders or those in the grandstand, except for one incident.”
That one incident was when a wheel that came loose and flew into the stands, injuring five people. It happened during the track’s last race in 1936.
More than 100 race enthusiasts were in the audience at the recent presentation, enjoying the impromptu discussion of times gone by, periodically adding their own memories in the telling of the racetrack’s story.
“I was told my great-grandfather used to sneak away from home for ‘the races,’ ” Dave Norridge of Hammond said. “For some people, the gambling that went on was taboo.”
Norridge added that the Roby Inn, which was built near the track and catered to its visitors, was revered as having the best frog legs and chicken dinners in the area, according to his family history.
Many of the fans who visited Roby Speedway were from Illinois, although a good number of Indiana residents attended as well.
“The racetrack was well-known, but many people didn’t know who exactly was racing,” Murawski said. “It was believed that Lester Gillis, aka ‘Baby Face Nelson’ (the notorious bank robber and murderer), raced on the Roby track in 1930.”
Another regular driver, Wilbur Shaw, was a three-time Indianapolis 500 winner who possessed skills that garnered many awards during his career.
Nothing more than some grass and a concrete road are left on the grounds that once housed the Roby Speedway and the Roby Inn.
Also at the event, Cass Casmir of Hammond parked his late 1920s-era Fronty Ford 88 yellow dirt car in front of the library. The unusual sunny winter day brought many people outside to take a look at the Model T Ford, which sported ads for local Indiana and Illinois businesses in existence during the 1920s.
“I have no factual history on this car, and we don’t know for sure if it was raced at Roby Speedway,” he told the crowd surrounding his car. “But there was no other racetrack around, and the wording (advertisements) on its sides show local companies of the time.”
Casmir also related the interesting way he came into possession of the race car.
“A few years ago, I was looking for spokes and wheels, and when I went to see them, I noticed something sticking out from under a large tarp in the garage,” he said. “It was a partially disassembled sprint car.”
Casmir met the challenge of putting the car back together again. Although it’s not in prime condition, it’s a pretty good model of what you would have observed lined up at the Roby Speedway of the 1920s, considering the many pictures seen at the presentation.
Sue Ellen Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
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