Autobahn Country Club in Joliet celebrates 10 years of racing

Mark Basso’s dream of starting up the Autobahn Country Club stems as far back as his high school days when he would hang out at his parents’ golf country club.

“I thought ‘Oh, this is really cool, except for the golf,’ ” said Basso. “I was always a car guy. I had a Trans-Am and always wanted to race it on the golf course, but they didn’t like that idea.”

After years of amateur racing across the Midwest, Basso wanted to create his own exclusive playground for racing hobbyists who could pay big bucks to drive some of the finest cars from all around the world.

“In the Chicago area, there are all these car clubs, but they had nowhere to go, you know,” Basso said.

That’s how the Autobahn Country Club was born: Basso’s ambition, along with the help of 50 founding members chipping in $100,000 each to join, and another 50 club members contributing $10,000 each.

Saturday’s celebration of Autobahn Country Club’s 10th anniversary gave Basso and other club members the opportunity to look back on what brought them there in the first place.

For Naperville’s Tony Weir, 46, it started in high school.

“After one summer, three speeding tickets and two sets of tires that I had burned off, I pretty much could tell that was my future,” he said. “I knew my future was always going to be going fast in some car.”

Weir’s only in his second year with the country club, but he already has three dedicated race cars – a Porsche Cayman S, a Radical SR3 and a Formula Mazda. The fleet fits in nicely with the Ferraris, Porsches, Mustangs and other models owned by the 400-plus other members.

Weir said when he bought his Porsche Cayman S in 2012, he drove the car straight to the club so they could gut it and turn it into a full-fledged racing car.

“I jumped in with both feet. I have a problem,” he laughed. “But I love it. You can just go out, burn up the track and release all your tensions and anxieties from work and stress and life and just have fun,” he said.

For Mike Newlander, 50, of Skokie, his love for cars started when he sat in his very first Corvette in middle school.

“All I remember is getting in a car and I couldn’t see out of the windshield, I couldn’t see out of the side window. All I could see was the dashboard,” Newlander said. “But to me, it felt like a rocket ship.”

As a nine-year member, Newlander said the Autobahn Country Club is like a second home for him. Even with the two-hour drive from his hometown of Skokie in bumper-to-bumper traffic it is worth it, he said, because “the camaraderie” is second-to-none.

Basso said many members over the years have purchased lots at the club to build garages – known as “Garage Mahals” by members – and personal condos, Basso said. Members pay a $35,000 initiation fee and then $4,000 in yearly dues. Personal lots are an additional expense.

With membership, drivers get a 3.56-mile main track that can be split into two winding north and south circuits – all equipped with tire walls, guard rails and sloping curbs intended to keep the drivers safe. Ten years ago, the club started with everyone driving street cars, but eventually evolved into a venue for professional racing series for members, Basso said.

With the $35,000 membership fee, drivers get all the amenities the club has to offer, including opportunity to test drive the latest models each summer, thanks to a long list of big-name car manufacturers, including Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Lexus, Jaguar and Porsche, that partner with the club, Basso said.

With the creation of condos and garages on the property, the sense of community has only grown with each year, he said.