CITY LIFE Local hero

A NASCAR champ who changed the sport and grew up in the Chicago suburbs

BY YOLANDA PERDOMO

When Chicago’s NASCAR events take over downtown streets in July, people may either leave town to avoid the spectacle or stay and curiously catch sight of something never seen in the city.

One person watching with great interest will be Fred Lorenzen, who will see the NASCAR events through the eyes of a guy who got dirty in the pits, gripped dangerous curves, and experienced the thrill of hoisting a victory trophy at the end of an exhausting race.

If there was a Mount Rushmore for Chicago-area sports stars, alongside Michael Jordan and Walter Payton, one could make the case that “Fearless Freddie” should be there— for his role in changing motorsports and for casting the mold of a new kind of racer.

Fred Lorenzen, also known as the “Elmhurst Express,” grew up in the suburbs, attended York High School in Elmhurst, and was the first notable northerner to make it in the sport of stock car racing, which was widely considered a “southern sport” through the mid-20th century.

In the late 1950s, Lorenzen raced at Soldier Field and the experience put him on the road for a stock car career. In 1965, Lorenzen won the Daytona 500 and came in first in more than 20 other races. In 1963, Lorenzen was also the first NASCAR driver to earn more than $100,000 in prize money in one season.

Lorenzen was a fan favorite for the way he carried himself. He was also widely described as articulate and clean-cut.

“He brought a new style and dimension to our sport,” said Ken Martin, director of historical content at NASCAR, adding that Lorenzen was photogenic and knew how to talk to the media.

“Fred was very smooth . . . On his dashboard, he had his team owner [Ralph] Moody write [the word] ‘THINK’ with an exclamation point. And when Fred would get into a tight situ- ation, he would look over at that word. And so Fred really had the reputation for being a thinking man’s driver. He was very well aware of his competition, but he knew strategy.”

That attitude set the Chicago-area native apart from others.

“Fred was very serious about his work,” Martin, who was able to see Lorenzen race, continued. “While some of the other drivers were out partying, Fred was in the garage, working on the cars. He looked at it as a business.”

Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom, Lorenzen’s daughter, has heard stories about how Lorenzen was di erent from other drivers while o the track.

“They’d say ‘Where’s Freddie?’ after a race. And then somebody would say ‘Oh, he’s on the phone with a stockbroker.’ So he would take the money that he won from the race and call a stockbroker back in Chicago and say ‘Hey I got this much money [for you] to invest for me.’ So he started to make money from the money he made.”

Lorenzen started in 158 races during his NASCAR career and enjoyed 26 wins. He also got the attention of Hollywood, starring in the 1968 “speedsploitation” film Speed Lovers. He retired from motorsports in 1970, while he was still at the top of his game.

“To be honest, I got tired of traveling,” Lorenzen said. “My pockets were full of money. I made plenty of money in that short span. And

I had endorsements. So I decided to just get away.”

In 2013, I interviewed Lorenzen for the NPR series Only A Game around the time that the exhibit “On the Road to Glory: Fred Lorenzen” was unveiled at the Elmhurst History Museum. After retiring, Lorenzen came back to the suburbs, sold real estate, picked his kids (Amanda and her brother Chris) up after school, played basketball with them, and took them and their friends to get ice cream or Portillo’s.

“The [other] kids loved him because he always knew everyone’s name. He always took the time to ask ‘How are you doing? What’s going on?’” said Lorenzen Gardstrom, whose family’s den was also Lorenzen’s trophy room.

“I accidentally had the pool stick hit the Daytona 500 trophy and broke one of the wings o the side of it. And I thought ‘Oh my gosh, Dad might get mad.’ I didn’t know what a big magnitude of a race that was until I became an adult.”

She said Lorenzen didn’t talk much to her about his glory years, but she heard others tell stories.

“There was a soldier that wrote from Vietnam and said he kept a picture of him in his helmet and would always look at it for inspiration,” said Lorenzen Gardstrom. “My dad was not just my hero but a legit hero to a ton of people during that time. My dad was, I would say, the first, the golden boy, the first superstar of NASCAR—having the good looks,

NASCAR’S CHICAGO STREET RACE WEEKEND

Sat 7/1-Sun 7/2 , gates open 9 AM, Grant Park, 337 E. Randolph, $269-$ 3016, full schedule of races and concerts at nascarchicago.com having the charisma, and the drive and determination he had, and then having the class. I would ask him, ‘What made you go fast?’ And he always would say, ‘Well, the fans made me go fast. I wanted to go fast for them.’”

Lorenzen, inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015, will watch the Chicago race from an assisted living facility in Oak Brook where he currently lives. Lorenzen Gardstrom said that people in Chicago who’ve never seen a race up close are in for a lot of fun.

“I think it’s going to be very exciting. It’s something NASCAR has never done before. It’s definitely going to draw some new fans just to see what it’s all about,” Lorenzen Gardstrom said.

At the Chicago race’s “Fan Zone,” there will be a life-size photo of Lorenzen’s stock car (emblazoned with his number, 28) to take pictures with. Lorenzen Gardstrom’s memories don’t involve images of her dad holding trophies because his connection to the sport during her youth was no longer fast nor furious.

She remembered that on Sundays Lorenzen would sit at a table and write to fans wanting to connect with their sports hero.

“And he would always—no matter who called—he would always sign the autographs, and talk on the phone, and return the fan mail. And I just think that’s really awesome.”

@yolandanews