Parry at Mid-America (1984)

• Larry Lawrence

John Parry races his Yamaha TZ125 in a Midwest Cafe Racing Association (MCRA) race at Mid-America Raceway in July of 1984. Mid-America was one of those tracks that made you think ‘what if’. What if it had ownership who would have improved the track and gradually brought it up to modern standards? The track actually hosted an AMA Road Race National in 1965. It was won by Dick Mann. Riders who raced there praise the layout of the circuit, but by the mid-1980s the surface was deteriorating so badly that MCRA had to spend days patching things up as best they could before an event. Eventually it was too far gone and it faded into obscurity. Here are photos of what the track looked like in 2000.

John Parry races his Yamaha TZ250 in a Midwest Cafe Racing Association (MCRA) race at Mid-America Raceway in July of 1984. Mid-America was one of those tracks that made you think ‘what if’. What if it had ownership who would have improved the track and gradually brought it up to modern standards? (Larry Lawrence photo)

John Parry races his Yamaha TZ125 in a Midwest Cafe Racing Association (MCRA) race at Mid-America Raceway in July of 1984. Mid-America was one of those tracks that made you think ‘what if’. What if it had ownership who would have improved the track and gradually brought it up to modern standards? (Larry Lawrence photo)

9 thoughts on “Parry at Mid-America (1984)”

  6. Makes me feel the same ‘what if’ sadness that I get when I look at pictures of Meadowdale Raceway in Illinois….woulda, shoulda, coulda….

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  7. Gee…track doesn’t look much different in those satellite views now, than it did back then.

    I disagree about Meadowdale. MAR wasn’t the safest track in the world, but Meadowdale had one section of the track where traffic going the opposite direction was only separated by a gaurdrail. Definitely had some cool aspects, but way more dangerous.

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  8. I grew up in Wilmette, Ill. and Meadowdale was the closest track. My father raced there with SCCA and Midwest Council & some other clubs. The ‘Monza Wall’ was like an amusement park ride. I got shuttled around the track several times and it scared the shit out of me. I have a photograph from a motorcycle race there. The photographer was a close friend of my parents and took pictures for ‘Piston Patter’
    the SCCA Chicago region magazine. That was the 60’s…

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