Chicago standout Magee earns harness racing top honor.(Chicago Tribune)

CHICAGO _ Like all Chicago drivers, Dave Magee worries about traffic. But the jams that concern the 47-year-old mostly involve harness horses, not cars. Because of his ability to maneuver standardbreds to the winner's circle, Magee was inducted into the sport's Hall of Fame Sunday in Goshen, N.Y.

"I'm humbled because many of my idols from my youth are in the Hall of Fame," Magee said. "It was a plateau that I never really expected to reach."

Magee entered the year as the fifth winningest driver (8,617) and 10th leading money earner ($64.8 million) in harness racing history.

Not bad for a guy who grew up on the family dairy farm in Pulaski, Wis., west of Green Bay.

Magee got involved with harness horses in his youth during summer vacations at his grandfather's farm. He took his first horse out on the track at age nine. Later he began driving on the Wisconsin fair circuit where competitors raced for "$200 and a (horse) blanket."

In the early 1970s he came to Chicago to groom horses for his uncle Elwood. He took out his license and started driving in qualifying races and at Illinois fairs.

"From there I traveled around to bush tracks, just knocked around for a couple of years and picked up experience," Magee said. "Eventually we decided to take a shot at racing in Chicago and been there ever since."