Hall of Famer Izzo Sr. dies at 82
Tony Izzo Sr., a standout Chicagoland racer and Hall of Fame driver-promoter who captured nine championships at the competitive Santa Fe Speedway, died in his sleep Sunday evening at his Homer Glen, Ill., home at age 82. His son Tony Izzo Jr. said he had been battling pneumonia.
The elder Izzo, a winner of more than 500 feature races on dirt and asphalt tracks, many of them at Santa Fe driving his famed No. 66, was inducted into the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame as a driver in 2016 and, along with other members of the Izzo clan, as a promoter in 2025.
Three times Izzo captured Santa Fe's National Clay Track Championships (1974, '77-'78) and twice won Santa Fe's Prairie Dirt Classic ('83, '85). He also had a pair of NASCAR Busch All-Star Tour victories at Santa Fe and Sycamore (Ill.) Speedway while notching seven career Busch Central States Tour triumphs. Among his biggest asphalt victories was the 1978 Tony Bettenhausen Memorial at Illiana Motor Speedway (pictured).
"He was an absolute legend and giant in my life," Dan Izzo wrote Monday in announcing his father's passing.
Tony Izzo Jr. remembers watching his father, often having to start deep in the field with other dash cars, rallying to overtake more than a dozen drivers on his way to victories.
"My dad would always help the guys he raced against with their cars and it would make me so mad," Tony Izzo Jr. recalled. "And I would say, 'Why do you help everyone else?' And he said because then he didn't have to worry about them spinning out in front of him and taking him out of a race!"
Following his driving career, Izzo joined family members in promoting Illinois dirt tracks in Kankakee (1988-99) and La Salle (1992-2002).
Tony Jr. and his brother Joey also had dirt racing careers with Tony Jr. continuing in a variety of promotional roles, including operating Sixteens Promotions and for three seasons the MARS circuit.
Arrangements are pending.
