There is something that is not quite right about doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results. This brings to mind the NASCAR race on Chicago\u2019s lakefront streets for the past three years.<\/p>\n
Since the city of Chicago and NASCAR agree there will be no race in 2026, that gives everyone a chance to take a deep breath and start thinking outside the box or, in this case, outside the makeshift road course that doesn\u2019t seem to make anybody happy.<\/p>\n
How about a NASCAR Festival at Navy Pier or even at McCormick Place? Think Chicago Auto Show but for NASCAR devotees and all kinds of car geeks. Giant screens showing historic NASCAR races and highlights. Cars, drivers, pit crews, vendors, entertainers and even sponsors could be showcased over a couple of days along our magnificent lakefront. Navy Pier has tons of space outdoors and inside. McCormick Place already has a blueprint for showcasing cars and trucks, plus all the neat car stuff you can imagine.<\/p>\n
If the whole purpose of what transpired in Chicago over the past three years was to build the NASCAR brand and get Chicagoans to fall in love with everything NASCAR, while bringing revenue to the city, then think what a festival could do. More people could possibly attend. Chicago\u2019s weather would be much less of a factor. There could be ample opportunities to let folks actually touch the cars and listen to, or talk to, those who are devoted to everything NASCAR.<\/p>\n
The people on both sides who are responsible for what will happen here in 2027 have ample time to figure out the actual opportunities and costs without shutting down a single street.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Susan Burritt, Chicago<\/p>\n
Goodbye, NASCAR<\/p>\n
After learning that NASCAR decided not to return to Chicago in 2026, my first reaction was: \u201cYeah!\u201d<\/p>\n
My second reaction was: Thanks for returning Grant Park back to Chicago.<\/p>\n
My third reaction was: Now let\u2019s return the Taste of Chicago to Grant Park in July, when it is supposed to be, and let\u2019s return it to at least a full-week schedule and with more activities, like it used to be, and not the measly, reduced-size, three-day weekend as is scheduled this year.<\/p>\n
And also, let\u2019s return the Fourth of July fireworks to the Grant Park lakefront instead of the out-of-the-way, hard-to-get-to, overcrowded Navy Pier.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Mario Caruso, Chicago<\/p>\n
National park visitors<\/p>\n
In their July 23 op-ed (\u201cHow do we help America\u2019s national parks? Make global visitors pay more\u201d<\/a>), Tate Watkins and Sharon Suiwen Zou advocate making international visitors to our national parks pay higher admission fees. They embrace the administration\u2019s \u201cAmerica First\u201d policy under the pretense of generating more revenue to \u201csustain our most treasured public lands for visitors of all types\u201d \u2014 you know, those foreign types!<\/p>\n This is the same administration cutting national parks staff, looking to open up parks for private development and starting global tariff wars (with many countries that have been America\u2019s biggest source of tourism). How do you think that\u2019s going to play out? Want to visit the Eiffel Tower, the Vatican or Tower of London? Oh, you\u2019re an American? You have to pay more.<\/p>\n America\u2019s 85 million acres of national parks are places where everyone is welcome to experience the natural beauty of the United States. Raising fees for global visitors would drive more tourism away than add any meaningful funding for the park system. Throughout our history, presidents, Congress and leaders of industry have protected and invested with pride in keeping national parks pristine and accessible. They didn\u2019t scheme to make a land grab for mining minerals, drilling for oil or building condos.<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t about budgetary constraints or political correctness. It\u2019s a foreign policy message. Let\u2019s not hide behind \u201cAmerica First\u201d and wind up \u201cAmerica Last.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2014 Lindsay Resnick, Chicago<\/p>\n Church\u2019s inclusivity<\/p>\n Thank you for the article regarding Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church (\u201cWill Pope Leo XIV forge greater LGBTQ+ inclusion?\u201d<\/a> July 20). Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been a keystone of LGBTQ+ inclusivity for decades.<\/p>\n I remember 40 years ago turning to the church after an egregious life event and was welcomed by one of the deacons there, who not only was empathetic but also invited me and my partner to the rectory and his own home. I will never forget this kindness and the empathy extended to us!<\/p>\n Thank you so much for highlighting this wonderful community inclusion.<\/p>\n \u2014 Jeff Hale, Chicago<\/p>\n Great sundae place<\/p>\n Thank you for the \u201cSundae school\u201d<\/a> article in the Wednesday Food & Health section. My wife and I went that day to the Karak Cafe on Ogden Avenue in Lisle to congratulate them on their being highlighted in the article and try the Dubai chocolate sundae that was featured. The very friendly and gracious family there was unaware of your front-page section article but was pleased that we let them know about it. Also, the Dubai chocolate sundae is not on the cafe\u2019s posted menu, but fortunately, it is available upon request.<\/p>\n \u2014 John Edinger, Burr Ridge<\/p>\n Mass transit woes<\/p>\n Why did I sit on a bus bench recently for over an hour, contemplating the dire future of our planet that is heating up at an alarming rate? I\u2019ll tell you why: because no bus came, neither a city bus nor a free bus, while a thousand cars and trucks trundled by or stopped to idle noisily at a red light before continuing on.<\/p>\n Four other people joined my vigil, each staring at their phone, naturally. Every person I asked about a possible arrival time for the bus had a different version: five minutes, 12 minutes, 14 minutes, etc. Finally, a fifth soul came along whose phone told her that the bus was \u201ccanceled.\u201d<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mind that I simply walked back home without completing my little shopping trip. I do mind that we should be cutting down on traffic, thereby helping prevent dangerous air pollution. We encourage people to take public transportation to help save our planet. But who wants to take buses and trains that can\u2019t be relied upon? And can we blame people for taking their cars knowing they can make three or four stops in an hour and still be home by lunchtime?<\/p>\n Future public transportation is going to have to be some kind of wonderful if we have any hopes of reducing the number of cars and trucks on the streets of our cities.<\/p>\n \u2014 Kathleen Melia, Niles<\/p>\n Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here<\/a> or email letters@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is something that is not quite right about doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting different results.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":93878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[7281,1406,1269,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-93877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","9":"tag-nascar","10":"tag-opinion","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114919138190101783","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}