Route 88 Dragway Strip (Sterling)

This strip eight miles south of Sterling opened on May 1, 1960, on what had been the Rynell Corporation’s private airport. It was 2,600 feet long and 60 feet wide and ran alongside Route 88, now Illinois Route 40 south of Route 172, which gave it its name. NHRA sanctioned its eighth-mile racing. About fifty cars ran in the opener, and Gene Behrens of Lanark won top eliminator. Jim Wadsworth managed the races. The track was fully lit and raced Saturday nights. Jimmy Russell of Hammond, Indiana, set the track record on July 3 at 144 mph in 6.68 seconds in his A/FD, and on August 20, 1960, Rod Stuckey of Kansas City came close with more than 140 mph in 6.41. The track held what it called the National 1/8th Mile Drag Racing Championships on September 10-11, 1960, with over $1,000 in prize money, and news reports said Joe Bush, Lyle Fisher and Arnie Beswick would be there. The Rock River Stockers Club ran the races in 1961. Nothing has turned up about racing after that.