Dirt race tracks are not strangers to race weekend chaos. But what happens when the biggest challenge arrives in the form of a tornado? This is exactly what the Cole County Speedway experienced on Wednesday night.

A tornado that moved through the Mattoon, Illinois, region between Wednesday night and Thursday morning damaged the property to a great extent. The speedway promoter, Brian Rieck, detailed the damage the track endured in a Facebook video.

According to Rieck, the natural calamity destroyed the backstretch of the dirt track, with the catch fence taking the brunt of the disaster. He also reported that the billboards, along with the scoreboard, were destroyed. 

Another part of the track that was heavily damaged was the track's medical center, as a tree was knocked down on it due to heavy winds. Among these damages, the track's bleachers managed to survive the impact of the tornado. 

In a video, Rieck further shared that the track was insured and that racing will resume at the dirt track shortly. 

"We're in pretty good shape insurance-wise. We will race again — that's 100 percent for sure. But it's going to take a lot of work." 

In these tough times, the Coles County Speedway promoter has called upon volunteers to help clean up the debris off the speedway to help speed up the process of fixing the track. 

"We will definitely need a lot of help. We'll definitely need some volunteers and lots of chainsaws, probably some trailers to haul all these trees and stuff off."

The track hosted its first Late Model race back in September 2025. Just a few days before the track was torn down by the tornado, it was a host to the Summer Nationals on June 12th.

The authorities have time to fix the track until September before the second round of Road to the Dome, slated to take place on September 27th. 

While Cole County dirt track continues to recover from the damage caused by the tornado, a similar story about a tornado ripping through a dirt track, which held immense value for an active NASCAR star, has played out before.

When a tornado ripped through the Oklahoma dirt track

In a similar fashion to the tornado ripping apart Coles County Speedway, back in 2013, a tornado ripped through the 1/5-mile dirt track at Riverside Speedway, where Cup Series driver Christopher Bell had turned his very first racing laps as a kid. The track suffered heavy damage.

Track owner Mark Banister recalled the moments leading up to the tornado hitting the half-mile speedway. He had spoken about how the weather looked like it was just an average thunderstorm that would eventually pass. But that was not the case. 

"I need to go into town and get some parts," said Banister. "So, I left. About 15 minutes later, the tornado hit. The fence was all down. All the trees were uprooted. Everything was gone."

Despite the dirt track not being fully repaired, races continued to take place. However, fast forward to 2018, Christopher Bell, with the help of Toyota, managed to help in completing the track repairs.

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Written by

Chionia Libania Colaco

Edited by

Yash Kotak