Less than a week ago, Illinois’ Macon Speedway suffered considerable damage from a severe thunderstorm that rolled through the region. Grandstands, billboards, concession buildings, and the scoring tower all experienced varying degrees of damage. Since then, the track has been making repairs as quickly and safely as possible ahead of this week’s three nights of racing that begins on Thursday.

Many areas of Illinois saw winds estimated at 100 mph as the derecho ripped through Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri last Thursday.

Macon Speedway officials said that the strong winds tore apart the backstretch grandstand, leaving much of it collapsed. The wind also destroyed billboard signage, tore the roof off one of the concession stand buildings, and broke windows in the scoring tower.

Now the track and a group of volunteers are working to make repairs to as much of the facility as possible ahead of its three biggest nights of racing in its entire 78-year history.

The week begins on Thursday with the 43rd running of the Herald & Review 100 for the DIRTCar Summer Nationals Late Models. On Friday night, Macon will hold its first ever USAC National Sprint Car Series event, plus the biggest firework display the track has ever conducted. The week will conclude on Saturday night with a second night of action for the USAC Sprint Cars.

Last Thursday’s derecho was the second time this year that Macon Speedway suffered damage from a storm. The track saw newly-erected billboards get torn down, several poles knocked over, fencing ripped up, and another window broken in the tower from a storm on Mach 31 before their racing season began.

The track was forced to cancel its July 1 Fan Appreciation Night racing program to focus on making repairs in time for this week’s three-night race week. As of now, all three nights are still on as scheduled.

Race fans can watch both nights of the “Top Gun” event for the USAC National Sprint Cars Series live on FloRacing. Fans can subscribe to FloRacing by clicking here.