Race simulator rental in Chicago
In shortMcCormick Place is the most exhibitor-friendly major convention floor in the country, with constraints that catch people out. The NASCAR street race is gone. Racing demand now sits at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet.
We ship rigs into Chicago and staff them. We do not have a Chicago office and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
What we do have is the operational detail that decides whether an activation at McCormick Place works, and most of it is not on any other vendor's Chicago page.
The thing most Chicago racing pages get wrong
The NASCAR Chicago Street Race ran in Grant Park from 2023 through 2025 and it is not coming back. NASCAR paused it for 2026 when the initial three-year contract ended, and confirmed on 08/18/2026 that it would not return in 2027 after talks with the city on resources and funding stalled.
NASCAR is back at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet instead. The Cup Series races the weekend of 06/25/2027, and it is the only NASCAR event in the Chicago market that year.
If a vendor is still pitching you a racing activation built around street race weekend, they have not checked since 2025.
McCormick Place, and what exhibitors may actually do
Chicago is the most permissive major convention city in the country for exhibitor self-work, and it is not close. Under the Exhibitor Bill of Rights, exhibitor employees may work in a booth of any size. There is no square-footage threshold and no crew-size cap, which is the single biggest difference from most other major US convention floors.
| You may | You may not |
|---|---|
| Work in a booth of any size, with any crew size | Use forklifts, scissor lifts, scooters or any motorised or hydraulic equipment |
| Use your own ladders, hand tools, cordless and power tools | Take power from the building yourself |
| Skid, position and re-skid your own equipment with your own non-motorised hand trucks and dollies | Use exhibitor credentials to get a contractor past security screening |
| Plug in, interconnect and operate your own electrical equipment | Release restraining straps on large items without rigging labor |
| Operate, load and unload your own vehicles at the docks | Fly a drone anywhere in the complex |
The catch that costs people money. An exhibitor employee means someone employed full time by the exhibitor for at least six months before opening day, and management may request proof within 24 hours. A freelancer hired for one show does not qualify, and exhibitor credentials cannot be used to get contractors through security screening.
That rule is why we crew Chicago with tenured staff rather than local day hires. A vendor who staffs a Chicago show with freelancers is either paying union labor they did not budget for, or operating outside the venue's rules.
Self-unloading, and why it does not work for every rig
McCormick Place runs a free self-unload program for small vehicles. You check in at the marshalling yard at 3050 South Moe Drive, collect a pass, and are directed to a designated dock in the right building. You cannot drive straight to the dock.
What that means for a racing simulator. A static cockpit in a road case is realistic inside those constraints. A motion platform almost certainly is not, and we budget union material handling for it from the start rather than running out of clock at the dock with a queue of trucks behind us.
This is the single most common way a Chicago budget goes wrong. A planner reads that Chicago lets you do your own work, budgets zero material handling, and then pays union rates anyway because the rig was never going to clear a 20 minute window on a dolly.
Published labor rates, which is rare and useful
Chicago publishes its convention labor rates, which almost no other major venue does. These are McCormick Place's own figures as of 01/31/2026, per hour including fringe, and they exclude unemployment insurance, workers compensation and FICA.
| Trade | Straight time | Overtime | Call minimum |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electricians | $102.49 | $146.75 | 4 hours |
| Riggers | $100.59 | $126.42 | 4 hours |
| Carpenters | $99.22 | $127.58 | 4 hours |
| Stagehands | $89.72 | $134.59 | 8 hours |
| Teamsters | $79.55 | $105.40 | 4 hours |
The line worth noticing is stagehands. Every other trade carries a four hour minimum; stagehands carry eight. A one hour fix called to a stagehand costs eight hours.
Straight time runs 6am to 10pm Monday to Friday. Work past 4:30pm during setup requires notice to the service desk by 1:30pm the same day, and labor before 8am the next day requires notice by 1:30pm the day before.
The Chicago show calendar
| Month | Show | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| February | Chicago Auto Show | McCormick Place | 02/13/2027 to 02/21/2027. 119th edition. |
| March | The Inspired Home Show | McCormick Place | Final Chicago edition is March 2027. It moves to Atlanta from January 2028. |
| April | ProMat | McCormick Place | 04/19/2027 to 04/21/2027. Biennial, odd years. |
| May | National Restaurant Association Show | McCormick Place | 05/22/2027 to 05/25/2027. Distorts hotel pricing. |
| June | NASCAR Cup Series | Chicagoland Speedway, Joliet | Weekend of 06/25/2027. The only NASCAR event in the market. |
| September | IMTS | McCormick Place | Biennial, even years. 2026 ran 1.17 million square feet of exhibit space. 2028 dates not yet published. |
| October | PACK EXPO International | McCormick Place | Biennial, even years. Uses North, South, West and Lakeside Center. |
| November | RSNA Annual Meeting | McCormick Place | 11/29/2026 to 12/03/2026, then 11/14/2027 to 11/18/2027. Distorts hotel pricing. |
The brutal stretch is mid-September through early December in even years. IMTS, then PACK EXPO International, then RSNA, all at McCormick Place. Hotel pricing and vendor availability across the city move with those three.
One change worth planning around: The Inspired Home Show's March 2027 edition is its last in Chicago. It moves to Atlanta from January 2028, so a recurring March presence built around it has a two-year runway rather than an indefinite one.
Getting there, and the thing nobody uses
The Metra Electric District from Millennium Station is a seven minute ride and it arrives inside the building, on Level 2.5 of the Grand Concourse in McCormick Place South. Not near the building. Inside it. It beats a rideshare in show traffic and almost nobody takes it.
The CTA Green Line at Cermak-McCormick Place is roughly a seven minute walk to the West Building.
What visitors get wrong: they assume McCormick Place is downtown. It is on the near South Side and the walk to the Loop is long. Book the campus hotels and use the skybridges rather than fighting the commute twice a day.
Where to stay
| Hotel | From McCormick Place | Tier | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hyatt Regency McCormick Place | 0.1 mi | Upper | The closest option. Skybridge access to the campus. |
| Marriott Marquis Chicago | 0.3 mi | Upper | Officially connected via skybridge to Wintrust Arena and McCormick Place. The crew and client hotel. |
| Hampton Inn McCormick Place | 0.4 mi | Mid | Free hot breakfast from 6am, which matters for a 6am straight-time load-in call. |
| Home2 Suites McCormick Place | 0.4 mi | Mid | Suites with kitchens. Best value for a crew staying a week. |
| Hilton Garden Inn McCormick Place | 0.4 mi | Mid | Mid-tier with on-site dining. |
| SpringHill Suites Chicago Chinatown | 0.8 mi | Mid | Highest guest score of the cluster. Chinatown dining at the door. |
| Hilton Garden Inn Downtown South Loop | 1.2 mi | Mid | For separating work from evenings. |
| Sentral Michigan Avenue | 1.4 mi | Upper | Apartment-style with full kitchens. Good for a multi-week install. |
One cost note. Chicago City Council passed a Tourism Improvement District on 03/18/2026 adding 1.5 percentage points on top of the existing 17.5 percent combined rate, giving a 19 percent hotel tax at participating hotels with 100 or more rooms, including the McCormick Place area. Budget rates pre-tax and add it.
On skybridges: the Marriott Marquis states its own connection officially. Other hotel-specific skybridge routes appear in third-party listings but are not confirmed on official venue or hotel pages, so confirm before you rely on one.
Where to eat, by occasion
| Occasion | Where | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Impress a client | Chicago Cut Steakhouse, River North | Steakhouse with river views that holds up to the setting. Bookable, moderate difficulty. |
| Impress a client | Gibsons Bar and Steakhouse, Gold Coast | The iconic Chicago steakhouse, relaxed rather than stiff. Takes big groups. |
| Team dinner, 10 to 20 | Chicago Firehouse Restaurant, South Loop | Private rooms for 20 to 225 in a landmark firehouse. Short hop from the hall. |
| Team dinner, 10 to 20 | MingHin Cuisine, Chinatown | Michelin Bib Gourmand, private dining for 6 to 200. Flexible when a crew of 15 becomes 25. |
| Fast lunch near the hall | Pizano's Pizza and Pasta, 2106 S Indiana Ave | Across the street from the convention center. Walk in. |
| Fast lunch near the hall | The Spoke and Bird, 205 E 18th St | Sandwiches and salads. The answer when nobody has 45 minutes. |
| A genuine institution | Manny's Cafeteria and Delicatessen, 1141 S Jefferson St | Founded 1942, at the Jefferson Street location since 1964, still run by the Raskin family. Cafeteria line, no reservation. |
Honest note on the immediate area: the food directly around the hall is thin. Pizano's and Il Culaccino are across the street and genuinely useful for a crew lunch. For anything that matters, go further into the South Loop or Chinatown, or take a rideshare.
Taking a client out
Chicago Architecture Center. Private and group tours plus the river cruise. Group pricing starts at 20 or more guests, booked through group sales. Confirm river cruise season for a winter show.
The Second City. Private and corporate events, including custom-written shows about your workplace, plus team-building workshops. Room capacities are not published, so confirm directly.
Wintrust Arena. DePaul basketball or a Chicago Sky game, 10,000 seats on the McCormick Square campus. The operational advantage: clients walk there indoors from the Marriott Marquis or Hyatt Regency without a car.
If you want the racing tie-in, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet and the karting facilities in the same area are the real options. Confirm group availability directly, because published corporate-event detail for those venues is thin.
Chicago livery, without borrowing anyone's marks
The Chicago municipal flag is the strongest civic visual in the country and residents put it on everything. White field, two light blue horizontal bands, four red six-pointed stars. Unchanged since 1939.
That gives a clean, non-infringing livery language that Chicagoans read instantly: white ground, light blue bands, red accent. The horizontal band geometry maps naturally onto a cockpit side panel or a wrap's shoulder line, and the abstracted six-pointed star works as a repeating motif.
What we will not do: anything resembling a sports team's marks. We keep red paired with the flag's light blue and white rather than with black, so it reads as civic rather than as a team colourway.
Proof, stated honestly
We have not published a Chicago case study yet, and we are not going to imply one. When we do, it will name the client, the venue and the number they were measured on.
What we can point at is precedent that driving experiences work inside McCormick Place. Chicago Drives Electric has run an indoor test track at the venue alongside the Chicago Auto Show, delivering over 6,100 electric vehicle experiences across 40 models according to trade press reporting of the organizer's own figures. That is their number, not ours, and we cite it as theirs.
The Chicago Auto Show also launched Chi-Town Alley in 2026, a show-floor exhibit built with local clubs including Chi-Town Exotic Car Group, Fully Drivn, Orale Chicago Car Club and Northern Mustang Corral. Chicago car culture is real, organized and show-floor adjacent, which is a better foundation for an activation than a generic assertion that the city likes cars.
Chicago questions
Can our own staff set up a booth at McCormick Place?
Yes, and Chicago is unusually permissive about it. The Exhibitor Bill of Rights lets exhibitor employees work in a booth of any size, with no crew-size cap, using their own ladders, hand tools and cordless tools, and their own non-motorized hand trucks and dollies.
There is a catch that catches most people out. An 'exhibitor employee' means someone employed full time by the exhibitor for at least six months before opening day, and management can ask for proof within 24 hours. A freelancer hired for one show does not qualify. That rule is why we crew Chicago with tenured staff rather than local day hires.
Do we have to use union labor for a racing simulator?
For the power drop, yes. Electricians handle anything drawing power from the building's electrical system, along with wiring and hookups. Plugging our own equipment into that delivered drop, interconnecting it and running it is exhibitor work.
For moving the rig in, it depends on weight and whether we can use the self-unload program. Riggers handle un-crating and positioning machinery, and large items that need tools to release restraining straps require rigging labor.
What is ASUV and can you use it?
It is McCormick Place's self-unload program for small vehicles, and it is free. You check in at the marshalling yard at 3050 South Moe Drive, collect a pass, and are directed to a designated dock.
The constraints are tight: a 20 minute unload window, a minimum of two people, one of whom must stay with the vehicle, and non-motorised, non-hydraulic hand trucks only. A static cockpit in a road case is realistic under those rules. A motion platform almost certainly is not, and we budget union material handling for it from the start rather than discovering the problem at the dock.
How early can we ship equipment to the venue?
You cannot. McCormick Place will not accept freight at the venue or the marshalling facility before the licensed move-in date, and there is no venue-operated advance warehouse. Early shipments go to the general service contractor, who may offer warehousing.
Planners used to venues with an in-house advance warehouse ship early and have it turned away. We route to the show's general contractor instead.
Is the NASCAR Chicago Street Race still running?
No. It ran 2023 through 2025 only. NASCAR paused it for 2026 after the initial three-year contract ended, and confirmed on 08/18/2026 that it would not return in 2027 after talks on resources and funding stalled.
NASCAR is back at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet instead. The Cup Series races there the weekend of 06/25/2027, and it is the only NASCAR event in the Chicago market that year. If you are planning a racing activation around race weekend, that is the weekend and Joliet is the place.
What is the best way to get to McCormick Place?
The Metra Electric District from Millennium Station, and almost nobody uses it. It is a seven minute ride and it arrives on Level 2.5 of the Grand Concourse inside McCormick Place South, so you are in the building rather than near it. The CTA Green Line at Cermak-McCormick Place is about a seven minute walk to the West Building.
Should our team rent a car or use rideshare?
Rideshare, with one Chicago-specific wrinkle worth knowing. The city's $1.50 congestion surcharge applies to rides starting or ending downtown between 6am and 10pm, but McCormick Place and Navy Pier are both excluded from the congestion zones. Rides to and from the hall do not carry it; rides into the Loop for a client dinner do.
You still need a vehicle if you intend to self-unload under ASUV, because that program requires a qualifying vehicle at the dock.
Does Chicago allow driving experiences inside the convention center?
Yes, and there is a well-documented precedent. Chicago Drives Electric has operated at McCormick Place alongside the Chicago Auto Show with an indoor test track, having delivered over 6,100 electric vehicle experiences across 40 models according to trade press reporting of the organizer's figures.
One caveat we are honest about: the venue's facility regulations require hazardous demonstration approval 60 days before move-in for certain equipment, and the document does not address motion platforms either way. We confirm with the venue's Fire and Safety Manager per event rather than assuming, and on a show booked eight weeks out that window is already a consideration.
What does a Chicago activation cost compared to other cities?
Our pricing does not change by city. Freight is inside the quoted price everywhere in the continental United States.
What does change is what the venue charges you. Chicago's labor rates are published, which is unusual and useful: as of 01/31/2026 McCormick Place lists electricians at $102.49 an hour straight time and riggers at $100.59, both with a four hour call minimum. Stagehands carry an eight hour minimum rather than four, which is worth knowing before anyone calls one out for a one hour fix.
Are drones allowed at McCormick Place?
No. The facility regulations prohibit drones within the complex entirely. It is worth flagging because our parent company also runs drone activations, and that element has to be dropped or moved outdoors with separate approval.
What we are still confirming
Published in the same spirit as the rest of this page. McCormick Place does not publish dock counts or freight elevator specifications per building, and its facility regulations do not address motion platforms or floor load limits either way.
We confirm both with the venue per event rather than assuming, and the hazardous demonstration approval path carries a 60 day lead time, which is a real scheduling consideration on a show booked eight weeks out.
Get a quote
Tell us about your event.
Tell us the venue, the dates and the booth. We will work through the Chicago specifics with you, including whether your rig clears the self-unload window or needs material handling budgeted from the start.
Open the form in a new tab if it does not load.