Drag racing continues at Big Marsh Park despite City of Chicago crackdown, BGA investigation says

City issues $150 tickets for drag racers

WLS logo
Saturday, October 1, 2022
Drag racing continues at Big Marsh Park despite City of Chicago crackdown, BGA investigation says
Despite attempts to crackdown, drag racing continues to be an issue at Big Marsh Park on the city's South Side.

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Despite attempts to crackdown, drag racing continues to be an issue at Big Marsh Park on Chicago's Far South Side.

The city issues $150 tickets for drag racers and spectators for parking in the bike lane.

A Better Government Association analysis discovered more than 520 of the tickets, carrying about $78,000 in fines, were written since the beginning of 2020 along an isolated stretch of Stony Island Avenue at Big Marsh. That's nearly six times the number of bike lane infractions Chicago police have issued in that time along all of Milwaukee Avenue, one of Chicago's busiest cycling thoroughfares.

Chicago police told the BGA they continue to, "adjust resources on a regular basis to address problems like drag racing and other illegal activities."

City officials and park advocates said that speed bumps or cameras are needed to put the brakes on racing, and they may soon be coming.

Read the BGA's full analysis here.