Eldon Schrader

 

One of the standouts in supermodifieds at Berlin Raceway after the track was paved for the 1966 season was Eldon Schrader, who was born in Sturgis, Michigan in 1931.

 

Mottville Speedway opened in 1950 and when Schrader watched the jalopies race there, he got the racing bug. At age 19, he built himself a stock car and went racing at Mottville.

 

When Prairie River Speedway opened up in 1951, Schrader raced there until 1955, and then he began traveling. Before he hung up his helmet, Schrader had raced at the following Michigan tracks: Berlin Raceway, Butler Speedway, Jackson Motor Speedway, Spartan Speedway, Kalamazoo Speedway, Galesburg Speedway, Hastings Speedway, Hartford Motor Speedway, Grand Rapids Speedrome, Auto City Speedway, Dixie Speedway, M113 Raceway, and Northern Michigan Raceway. Eldon also raced at Angola Speedway, South Bend Speedway, and South Anthony Speedway in Indiana; New Bremen Raceway, Eldora Raceway, and Toledo Raceway in Ohio; Oswego Speedway in New York; and Cayuga Speedway in Canada.

 

When asked which of these was his favorite track, Schrader replied, “Oswego in New York, because it paid the highest purse, but it was a long haul and you had to have a fast car to compete there. I also had my worst accident there when I cleared the wall at the track. Fortunately, I was not seriously injured, but hurt enough that I had to have someone else drive our rig back to Michigan.”

 

Schrader talked about the good times he and his family had while racing. He would go to Northern Michigan Raceway, located near Elmira, Michigan, not only to race but to spend several days mushrooming in the area.

 

Although he raced at Berlin Raceway on both the dirt and paved tracks, Eldon had his best success in 1968 when he won four supermodified features against some tough competition.

 

Eldon loved the speed of racing. Towards the end of his career, he limited his racing to Kalamazoo Speedway and South Bend Raceway. He climbed out of his last racecar in 1984.