The Marchbanks Speedway

Hanford California

Part One- the early history of the first superspeedway west of the Mississippi River


This article previously appeared in the Classic Racing Times - subscribe at http://theclassicracingtimes.com/subscribe

Bircha Lewis “B.L”. Marchbanks was born in 1895 and grew up to become a cattle rancher in Lamb County in the southern part of the Texas panhandle until he went bankrupt in 1924 and lost his ranch. Marchbanks arrived in California nearly penniless and settled in Kings County in the Central Valley near the small town of Hanford.  

Through years of hard work he and his two sons-in law built a large cotton and corn farm southeast of Hanford, and in 1950 Marchbanks decided to devote 160 acres to the construction of a new stadium venue located at the corner of the Central Valley Highway (also known as 8th street in Hanford) and Idaho Avenue.

Marchbanks Stadium included a rodeo grounds and a half-mile dirt track with a quarter-mile long straightaway that would also be used for quarter-horse racing. The first rodeo took place during 1950, but B.L.’s hopes of pari-mutuel gambling never materialized, and automobile racing debuted with jalopy races on May 12, 1951.  

One of the more unusual features of the new facility was the building that was used primarily for the driver’s meetings – B. L. Marchbanks bought the old one-room  King Schoolhouse building and had it moved to the race track site which was just north and east of his ranch home at 6888 Idaho Avenue.  

Later that year, the fledgling National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) group staged five Grand National races in California; three at the half-mile dirt Carrell Speedway in Gardena, one at the 5/8-mile high-banked oil-dirt Oakland Stadium, and on October 28 1951, a 200-lapper at the new Marchbanks Stadium.  

Admission to the race promoted by Johnny Mantz, the winner of the inaugural NASCAR ‘Southern 500’ the previous year, offered grandstand seats for $2.40 each while box seats were priced at $3.60 apiece.

The fans that arrived early to watch qualifying which began at 2:30 PM saw Danny Letner of Downey emerge as the fastest qualifier of the 31 cars with a best lap of 29.92 seconds. Other entries that aimed for their portion of the $3,550 total purse included North Carolina’s Marvin Panch, Oregon racer Herschel McGriff, sprint car and midget standout Allen Heath, and Indianapolis 500-mile race veterans Harold “Hal” Cole and James “Dick” Rathman.    

Herb Thomas, on his way to capturing the 1951 NASCAR championship with six wins already that season, led the first 34 laps in a 1951 Hudson owned by Marshall Teague until he was involved in a crash which handed the lead to second place starter Truman ‘Fonty’ Flock. ‘Fonty’  held the point until lap 74 when his ‘Red Devil’ 1951 Oldsmobile dropped out of the race on the same lap that the day’s fast qualifier Letner crashed out in spectacular fashion as barrel-rolled his 1951 Hudson three times.

Denny (sometimes stated as Danny) Weinberg in a 1951 Studebaker Commander V-8 owned by Tony Sampo of Downey picked up the lead on lap 75. Weinberg led the rest of the way and local newspapers reported that Weinberg “outlasted the nation’s point leaders to win” with only five cars reportedly running when Weinberg took the checkered flag.

Weinberg was a member of the family that owned and operated the Coastal Grain Company in Norwalk California a firm that processed and stored dairy feed and made loans to its customers to finance their farm and livestock operations. Robert Weinberg, a vice-president of Coastal Grain fielded entries for three years on the AAA Championship circuit from 1950 to 1952 for former Southern California track roadster standout Manny Auyolo.

During the 1952 racing season, B.L. Marchbanks staged a weekly slate of race that featured jalopies, hardtops and roadsters under the sanction of the Valley Jalopy Racing Association (VJRA).  On Friday Memorial Day 1952 Marchbanks Stadium held a 100-lap VJRA jalopy race that proved to have high a level of attrition as many cars failed to finish due to broken axles, tire blowouts and crashes into the retaining wall.

The VJRA, run by Ed Spellman, appears to have been a short-lived organization that sanctioned races only during the 1952 season at Marchbanks, and nearby Central Valley tracks in Visalia and Selma.   

An aerial photograph of the Marchbanks facility taken during 1953 showed off the addition of some new features - a one-third mile oval (oiled dirt) within the half-mile oval and a new short infield section that created a five-eighth mile road course. In addition to the newly constructed permanent parking facilities, the half-mile track had been paved with asphalt, and the facility opened on Mother’s Day May 9 1954 with a heavily-advertised race on the half-mile paved track for the URA “sprint cars.” Driver Bud Richmond suffered a concussion when his car crashed during warm-up laps.

For the 1954 racing season NASCAR had expanded to the West Coast under the direction of former champion midget driver turned race promoter Bob Barkheimer. The NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model circuit presented a nine-race schedule at venues throughout California with   Marchbanks Stadium’s 100-lap race scheduled for Saturday June 26.

Don Basile who had previously managed Carrell and Clovis Speedways, told local newspaper reporters that NASCAR and the track planned for a 24-car field with at least eight different makes and models, but after qualifying was completed, only 22 cars representing six different makes started the race.

The field included entries from a pair of competitors that had participated in the 1951 NASCAR Marchbanks race, Danny Letner and Marvin Panch, but the 1951 winner Denny Weinberg had retired from racing. In addition to the race with a $2,500 guaranteed purse, the night’s admission price included a “free full half-hour” of fireworks.

The fast qualifier was John Soares who posted a lap at 29.264 seconds, almost 6/10 of a second faster than the 1951 pole position time. Soares led the first two circuits in his 1954 Dodge until he yielded to Panch’s similar machine, and Panch led the rest of the race to win $450 with Soares second and eventual inaugural NASCAR Pacific Coast series champion Lloyd Dane in eighth position.

NASCAR established a strong position and served as the regular sanctioning body for Marchbanks Stadium. After the 1955 season when it co-sanctioned the jalopies, modified hard tops and claiming races (for amateurs) with the Valley Stock Car Racing Association (VSCRA), NASCAR became the track’s sanctioning body for many years.

   

On July 23 1954 the Northern California-based Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) and the Southern California based United Racing Association (URA) staged an unusual mid-season jointly sanctioned 100-lap midget race on the Marchbanks Stadium 1/3 mile oiled dirt track which was won by BCRA two-time defending Johnny Baldwin.

Nearly a month later, on August 21 1954, BCRA and URA co-sanctioned another 100-lapper won by the URA points leader Billy Garrett with Baldwin second trailed by BCRA regulars Earl Motter and Norm Rapp in third and fourth places respectively. The midgets returned to the Marchbanks 1/3-mile track one more time during the 1955 season with the August 27 BCRA sanctioned race won by Johnny Baldwin.

 On Sunday October 10th 1954 Marchbanks Stadium hosted a $1,000 purse jalopy and modified hardtop race on the “speedy half-mile paved track” that featured such emerging Central Valley racing stars Frank Secrist and Johnny Mello. In late July 1955 regular competitor Ronald McLane was critically injured when he inexplicably walked across the track during a yellow caution flag period of the 500-lap race. Struck by a passing race car, the impact broke both of McLane’s legs and his pelvis and he was reportedly off work for a year.

Marchbanks Stadium hosted a “Little Indianapolis” 500-lap race for jalopies and hardtops during the Memorial Day holiday in both 1956 and 1957 but the events were marred by tragedy. During the May 29 1956 running of the race, Arlen Smith a 22-year old mechanic for the car of ‘Chick’ Connery was struck in the back and shoulder by a wheel that had left the race car driven by Fred Dudley of San Jose.

Smith a resident of Las Vegas suffered a concussion when his head hit the ground after he was knocked down and he unfortunately died at the Hanford Community Hospital two hours after the accident.

One year and a day later, during the 1957 “Little Indianapolis” race, Ernest “Ernie” Cornelson, a successful Central Valley area jalopy and modified racer perished when his “Beacon Propane Special” rolled over several times, slammed into the retaining wall and burst into flames. Newspapers reported that the 30-year old Cornelson was mercifully killed instantly in the crash, and the race which had just completed its 148th lap was stopped for over an hour as the wreckage was cleared.

During the 1958 season the Marchbanks Sports Club Inc. appeared as the sponsor of the amateur claiming jalopy races sanctioned by NASCAR held every Saturday night during the season.  On Saturday September 20 the Marchbanks Stadium featured California Racing Association-sanctioned "big car" races, and the Marchbanks 1958 season closed with a visit from the NASCAR modified and sportsman series which drew entries from both the southern and northern California series.

For the 1959 season, B. L. Marchbanks under the guise of his company Marchbanks Sports Club Inc. became the promoter of the Bakersfield Speedway in Oildale California, and he made dramatic changes to the facility that included paving the racing surface with asphalt. The renovated facility opened on May 30 1959 with a double-header program of claimer jalopies and modified stock cars with the jalopy feature won by Ron McLane and the modified feature won by Johnny Mello who scored a bonus of 100 silver dollars from promoter B. L. Marchbanks.     

Marchbanks Stadium meantime had opened its 1959 season on May 10 and in early June Marchbanks’ two paved tracks featured back-to-back Saturday and Sunday night URA midget programs. The Marchbanks Stadium 1959 racing season closed in October with the “Valley Championships” for the modified hardtops and jalopies.   Big changes were on the horizon for the 1960 season at Marchbanks Stadium which will be detailed in the second and final installment of the history of the Hanford superspeedway.

1968 Gurney AAR Eagle

One of the stars of the recent Vintage Motor Racing exhibit with a special tribute to Dan Gurney at the Lyon Air Museum was Dan Gurney’s own 1968 Eagle race car.

The 1968 Eagle chassis designed by former Lola engineer Tony Southgate featured a lower flatter nose due to the use of outboard suspension assemblies. The car’s main tub was also lower in profile, with a laid-back windscreen and a body/engine cover which ended with a squared off tail section instead of the earlier rounded tail used in the 1966 and 1967 Eagle designs.

There were five 1968 Eagles built by All American Racers on Santa Ana California in the 33-car starting field for the 1968 Indianapolis 500-mile race,  First was the featured car owned by Gurney’s primary sponsor Oscar L “Ozzie” Olson of the Olsonite Corporation, manufacturer of molded one-piece plastic toilet seats. 

Gurney’s entry was powered by a 303-cubic inch stock-block Ford V-8 engine fitted with Gurney-Weslake Mark Four cylinder heads. For qualifying with the addition of nitromethane to the alcohol fuel the Gurney-Weslake engine could develop 525 horsepower.

1968 was the height of innovation at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway which was reflected in the variety of powerplants fitted to the other AAR Eagles that were entered. Roger McCluskey drove an Eagle owned by Atlanta sportsman Lindsey Hopkins that was powered by a 159-cubic inch 4-cylinder Offenhauser engine fitted with a turbocharger which was sponsored by G C Murphy stores. 

Bobby Unser drove a similar chassis and engine combination owned by Bob Wilke’s Leader Card Racers with sponsorship from Rislone oil treatment. IN 1968, a turbocharged Offehauser engine could develop 625 horsepower in qualifying trim.  

Gurney’s teammate on the Olsonite team for the ‘500” would be 1967 Formula One world champion Denis Hulme who became available after his original entry, the Shelby-Wallis turbine powered machine was withdrawn. Hulme drove the #42 Olsonite AAR Eagle which was powered a conventional 255-cubic inch DOHC (double overhead camshaft) Ford V-8 engine.   

The last Eagle entry in the Indianapolis 500-mile race field was owned by PSA airline heir Tom Friedkin powered by a 159-cubic inch turbocharged DOHC Ford engine driven by Jerry Grant with sponsorship from Bardahl oil treatment. 

While it could potentially produce the highest horsepower of the available engine, at high boost levels, the Schwitzer turbocharged Ford engine suffered both head gasket and fuel distribution issues which resulted in burned pistons.

In qualifying time trials, Unser led the Eagle contingent as he started third, on the outside of the front row, with McCluskey next in seventh place. Gurney himself started the 1968 ‘500’ in tenth place, while Grant started fifteenth, and Hulme in a late-developing program started in twentieth place.

After the leading STP Lotus turbines broke with nine laps left in the race, Bobby Unser lead the final nine laps and won by 53.81 seconds over Gurney. In a stunning debut, the 1968 AAR Eagles swept three of the top five finishing positions as Hulme finished in fourth place.

Two weeks later at the mid-June 1968 two-heat ‘Telegraph Trophy 200’ at the Mosport International Raceway in Bowmanville Ontario Canada, Gurney and his Eagle swept the program. 

A new 1968 Eagle powered by a 305-cubic inch Chevrolet V-8 stock-block engine built by Traco Engineering was entered for the event by Roger Penske for sports car ace Mark Donohue which finished in the top five of both heat races. This marked Penske’s first Indianapolis type racing car entry.

Gurney started from the pole position with a 110 MPH (mile per hour) average speed around the 2.5-mile road course. At the drop of the green flag, Dan led all forty laps of the first heat as Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Bobby Unser crashed his 1968 Eagle on the first lap. In the second Mosport heat with only 15 starters, Gurney again dominated from the pole position,as he led every lap and finished the 100-mile heat race in 55 minutes.  

Gurney did not race his Eagle Indy Car again for five and half months as he next appeared at the 1968 United States Auto Club (USAC) season finale at the Riverside International Raceway for the ‘Rex Mays 300.’ 

Gurney qualified the AAR Eagle now fitted with stubby front wings on the nose and a rudimentary wing that spanned across the rear exhaust pipes, qualified for the pole position with an average speed of 118-1/2 MPH around the historic 2.6-mile road course.

Gurney led the first four laps of the race, before Mario Andretti in a tight battle for the 1968 USAC national championship led the next four circuits. Gurney surged back into the lead on lap nine and never looked back as he led the remaining 108 laps and won by a lap over Bobby Unser’s 1968 Eagle which had been repaired from its Mosport damage and fitted with a DOHC Ford engine. 

The #48 Olsonite AAR Eagle raced five times during the 1968 USAC season and scored three victories and one second place result  was displayed at the Lyon Air Museum as it appeared at its final race as a tribute to Dan Gurney who passed away on January 14 2018.  

Bugatti 35B race car 

As part of their Vintage Motor Racing exhibit the Lyon Air Museum displayed a  Bugatti 35 B Grand Prix race car. This car is powered by a 138-cubic inch straight eight-cylinder SOHC (single overhead camshaft) engine fed by a single stage Roots-type supercharger through a single Zenith carburetor to develop a remarkable 135 horsepower.


The Bugatti 35B originally known as the 35TC was a development of the original type 35 that debuted in 1924. The 35B was a state of the art race car for its day, with a curb weight of just 1510 pounds, and 19-inch aluminum wheels that used integral drum brakes. The front axle was hollow and the semi-elliptical front springs actually pass thorough the axle. The front wheels exhibit the characteristic Type 35 positive camber with the tops of the front wheels lean out away from the car. 


The 35B is indeed a rare machine as only 45 examples were built. A 35B won the 1928 Targa Florio, the 1929 French Grand Prix, and the 1930 Czech and Monaco Grands Prix.       

All photos by the author

The 1972 AAR "Mystery Eagle" on display 

The Lyon Air Museum of Santa Ana California recently hosted the “Vintage Motor Racing exhibit” with a special tribute to Dan Gurney. This was a fitting memorial as Gurney’s All American Racers has been based in Santa Ana since 1970. One of the two AAR Eagle race cars on display was a recreation of the historic 1972 “Mystery Eagle.” shown as it appeared at the 1972 ‘California 500.’

Veteran racer Jerry Grant began the month of May 1972 without a ride for the Indianapolis 500-mile race but campaigned for the seat in the second Eagle for Dan Gurney’s All-American Racers (AAR) team. Grant was an ideal candidate for the highly sought-after ride in second AAR Eagle, but there was a problem: Gurney had a fast machine but no sponsorship.

Photo of Jerry Grant in 1972 courtesy of

the IUPUI University of Digital Studies

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection

Gurney and Grant had a long relationship which dated back to 1965, when Grant first co-drove with Gurney in a Lotus 19 in the Daytona 2000-kilometer race. Grant had driven for All-American Racers in 1966 in the ill-fated Gurney-Weslake Ford engine powered Lola T70 sports car in the USRRC and SCCA Can-Am series.

On Thursday, May 18, 1972 Jerry Grant was formally announced as the driver of the second AAR 1972 Eagle painted purple and white and dubbed “the Mystery Eagle.” The car appeared to outsiders to be unsponsored, as aside from contingency decals, there was only the logo of CV Enterprises on the rear wing and the company logo “You Name it” emblazoned across the nose of the car and on the rear wing end plates.  

CV Enterprises was a company operated by the mysterious Christopher A. Vallo Junior, a self-described millionaire from the Chicago suburb of Highland Indiana who also owned property and a restaurant in Minnesota.  Vallo, a Korean War veteran of Greek descent, had been convicted in 1965 of passing counterfeit currency and was sentenced to three years of probation.

In late 1970, the 265-pound Vallo approached stock car builder and racer Ray Nichels and his son Terry with a check for $1 million for the Nichels’ to build Vallo a team of winning Pontiac stock cars.  In November 1971 Nichels filed an $8 million lawsuit against Vallo that alleged non-payment per their contract terms.  

According to fellow historian and writer William LaDow, the contact for the 1972 Indianapolis ‘500’ CV Enterprises sponsorship came through Bobby Unser, who introduced Vallo to Gurney during the month of May when Gurney was desperately searching for sponsorship for a second Indianapolis entry. In hindsight, given the nationwide publicity given to Nichels’ lawsuit, one wonders why (or if) Gurney was not wary of Chris Vallo, or perhaps he was that desperate for sponsorship.  

The terms of the agreement between the pair was never revealed, but Grant got the ride on May 18 over Unser’s objections, as Unser reportedly wanted a sprint car driver as his teammate according to Gordon Kirby. On Friday May 19, 1972, Grant took his first laps in the #48 “Mystery Eagle” and after just 20 or so laps of practice, posted a best lap of 186.881 MPH.

The following day, after the remaining “first day” qualifiers failed to knock Unser from the pole position, Grant qualified for the 1972 Indianapolis 500, his sixth Indianapolis start, in the 15th position. Grant’s four-lap average speed of 189.294 MPH with the last lap run at 191.164 MPH, was the fourth fastest run overall, and the fastest qualifier of the third day non-pole position eligible cars.

 

In a post-qualifying interview with the Associated Press, Grant commented on such a fast run after so few practice laps. “Sure, I’m excited. But it’s easy to explain. I have the world’s best former driver as a car owner and the world’s best current driver as a teammate.” According to Gordon Kirby, however, there was tension behind the scenes, as Unser who had done all the testing and development work, resented Grant’s immediate success. 

The 1972 Indianapolis 500 featured a new rule that required that, a car take on fuel during at least four mandatory pit stops during the 500-mile race. The rule further stated that “approved procedures under this supplementary regulation will be covered in bulletin form.”  The total amount of fuel allowed for each car to complete the 500 miles was 325 gallons, the same as 1971 but with one additional stop required.

Each car started the race with 75 gallons of methanol fuel on board, and the pit tank limited to 250 gallons. While a total of 325 gallons seems like a lot of fuel today with contemporary electronic engine controls, it was going to be close for many teams in 1972 to average better than 1-1/2 miles to the gallon with their mechanical fuel injected turbocharged engines. 

At the start of the 1972 Indianapolis ‘500’ on Saturday May 27, pole-sitter Bobby Unser took the lead at the drop of the green flag and led the first 30 laps until his car retired on lap 31 with ignition problems. Gary Bettenhausen, in Roger Penske’s McLaren then took control of the race.  

Grant battled with Bettenhausen and took the race lead of lap 162 when Gary pitted and then held it for three laps until he pitted and Bettenhausen resumed the lead. On lap 175, Grant retook the lead and held on while Bettenhausen’s car retired on lap 182 with ignition problems. Bettenhausen’s teammate Mark Donohue inherited second place but was nearly a lap in arrears.   

While in the lead, Grant’s Eagle began to vibrate and “push” or understeer entering the turns with what Grant thought was a bad right front tire, so with just thirteen laps to go, Grant was forced to pit a fifth time. Without working team radio communications since early in the race, with only hand signals from the driver, Gurney and the crew surmised that Grant’s Eagle was running out of fuel. With the “Mystery Eagle’s” 250-gallon pit side fuel tank empty, the crew stopped Grant in teammate Unser’s stall.  

In a chaotic situation, the crew connected the fuel hoses, and then Gurney realized the problem was not fuel and ordered the crew to disconnect the hoses. The AAR crew changed the right front tire before they realized the problem was with the left front tire. 

By the time the disastrous pit stop was over, Grant’s car had been stationary for 38 seconds and Mark Donohue in the Sunoco DX- sponsored McLaren had swept past into the lead. Over the final 12 laps, Grant could not close the gap and crossed the finish line nearly a lap behind Donohue.

To finish second after he led the ‘500’ with thirteen laps to go must have been a crushing disappointment to Grant and the AAR team, but the worst was yet to come.

George Bignotti, crew chief for Vel’s Parnelli Jones Racing, owner of third-place finisher Al Unser’s ‘Viceroy Special’ filed a post-race protest which claimed that Grant’s car should have been “automatically disqualified “after it took fuel from Unser’s fueling tank. Bignotti’s protest was reviewed by the stewards overnight, and meanwhile, the AAR team studied videotape as they suspected that the USAC scoring was wrong and that Grant had actually won the 1972 Indianapolis ‘500.’

When the official race results were posted at 8 AM on Sunday morning May 28 1972 , Jerry Grant and the “Mystery Eagle” were placed twelfth in the finishing order. Chief Steward Harlan Fengler, Referee Don Cummins, and Steward Walt Myers had upheld Bignotti’s protest and that Grant was not credited any laps after the pit violation, just as if the car had retired at that point.  

After a hearing the USAC Appeal Board announced their decision on Wednesday afternoon June 7 1972.  While the panel agreed with Dan Gurney’s claim that the lap 188 refueling of Grant’s car was a mistake, as the car did not need fuel to complete the race, Chief Judge Charlie Brockman said that Gurney’s  “line of testimony is not relevant. The stewards cannot be responsible for the mistake of a contestant. The panel respects Mr. Gurney’s forthright honesty as he admitted that he would have taken the same action and chanced whatever penalty had he positively identified the need for more fuel.”  

The USAC Appeal Panel determined that a violation of the rules had occurred and cited the 1972 500-mile race Approved Supplementary Regulation #23 which stated that the maximum fuel supply other than that carried in the car was 250 gallons.  

On the heels of the stunning loss of more than $71,000 of Indianapolis ‘500’ prize money, Gurney and Grant found that the mysterious Chris Vallo had disappeared. Like Ray Nichels and David Pearson the pair wound being owed a lot of money which they would never collect.  Until his death Jerry Grant would show visitors to his home a copy of 1972 check for $10,000 from CV Enterprises stamped twice by the bank “NSF” (Insufficient Funds). 

In March 1976, the law finally caught with Chris Vallo, then 45 years old, as he was convicted on several federal counts: failing to file income tax returns, making false statements to obtain bank loans and firearms and possession of firearms as a convicted felon.  Vallo who had earlier filed for bankruptcy to escape several civil judgments was sentenced to five years in federal prison. Upon his release, Vallo remained out of the public eye and passed away in 2000.

Grant’s promising 1972 USAC season came to a halt for lack of sponsorship with the purple and white #48 AAR Eagle grounded for three months. In mid-August, Gurney’s primary sponsor Oscar L “Ozzie” Olson of the Olsonite Corporation, manufacturer of molded one-piece plastic toilet seats, announced that he had purchased the “Mystery Eagle.” 

Olson announced that Jerry Grant would run the final three USAC races on the 1972 schedule, starting with the third leg of the USAC ”Triple Crown” the ‘California 500’ at the 2-1/2 mile “Indianapolis of the West,” Ontario Motor Speedway.

Practice at Ontario California began on August 22 1972 and both the Eagles of Grant and teammate Bobby Unser soon posted practice lap speeds of over 200 miles per hour (MPH). Experts calculated that the turbocharged Offenhauser engines in the AAR Eagles had to produce nearly 1,100 horsepower to accomplish the 200 MPH feat.

That huge amount of horsepower from 159 cubic inches of engine displacement came at a price as the high level of boost pressure put a tremendous strain of the engine’s internal components.  Unser experienced two engine failures in practice and then in pre-qualifying practice on the morning of August 26, Unser’s car suffered another engine failure, which opened the door for Grant.

Jerry Grant’s first lap around the Ontario Motor Speedway in the purple and white #48 “Olsonite Eagle” lap was completed in 44.7 seconds, or 201.414 MPH. Jerry Grant was the first man to officially turn a lap in an Indianapolis-type championship race car at over 200 MPH. Grant’s lap broke Peter Revson’s day-old Ontario track record of 194.470 MPH and set a new world’s closed course speed record and took the two-year old "world’s closed course speed record" away from NASCAR stock car racer Bobby Issac.

Grant’s last three laps of his 10-mile time trial run were progressively slower, but he would start the ‘California 500’ from the pole position with a four-lap average of 199.600 MPH. In a post-qualifying interview, Grant explained “I didn’t want to push it, so I backed off a little after that first lap. The track is slick, and I didn’t want to make a stupid mistake.”

Grant seemed a bit underwhelmed by his accomplishment. “Going 200 MPH to say you’ve gone 200 MPH is not the object. I want to get a good starting position in the race and any of the three in the front will be fine with me.”    

Meanwhile, the AAR crew replaced the engine in Unser’s car in time for him to make his time trial run later on Saturday, but rain showers in the area kept Unser off the track and therefore he was ineligible to make a run for the pole position. The next day, Sunday August 27, Unser’s Eagle blazed to a new track and world’s record with a lap of 201.965 MPH and a four-lap average of 201.374 MPH but because his run came a day too late, Unser started the 1972 ‘California 500’ from the twenty-third starting position.

If there was any question of the level of animosity between Grant and Unser, it was answered by Grant’s quote printed by the Associated Press after Unser’s record-setting run. “Isn’t it ironic?” said Grant, “the B team is sitting on the pole and the A team is back in 23rd?”  Unser later told Preston Lerner "that record should have been mine.  Letting Jerry get the record irks me like hell because I did all the development work on the car.”

In pre-race publicity, AJ Foyt predicted race laps would be in the 175-180 MPH range with engine turbocharger boost levels reduced and the cars carrying full fuel loads. In final practice on September 1, Grant ran a lap with full tanks at 190.779 MPH, and Unser practiced at 192.028 MPH. In an article published the day before the race the Long Beach Press-Telegram ranked Grant as a 10-1 favorite to win the race to be held on September 3 1972.  

Jerry Grant’s “Mystery Eagle” failed to complete the first parade lap of the third annual $700,000 “California 500” before a rod bolt in the Offenhauser engine broke. The magical flight of the "Mystery Eagle" at Ontario was over.


In an interview days later with Ohio sportswriter Rick Yocum, Grant revealed “I never felt more confident about a race in my life than I did about Ontario. Usually we change the engine after qualifying, but mine was running good, and you hate to fool with something that’s working so well. We changed pistons, valves and bearings, but not the bolts.” 

 Grant ran the two final 1972 USAC races - the penultimate event at Trenton New Jersey where the engine failed after 53 laps, then in the season finale at Phoenix were he was flagged as the eighth place finisher. While the 1972 season certainly did not have the results Grant and Gurney hoped for, Grant will forever be remembered as the first man to post an official lap in an IndyCar at over 200 MPH. 

Fellow historian Jacques Dresang noted that the original "Mystery Eagle" was sold to Bruce Crower in 1973 who still owns the chassis. The car shown at the Lyon Air Museum is a tribute built up with a NOS (New Old Stock) tub.     

All photos by the author except as noted

Howard Segur Jr. 

Racing was in his blood

Howard Segur Jr. a Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA) Hall of Fame member passed away on August 18, 2018 at the age of 77. The entire BCRA family is deeply saddened by the loss of this man who was an important part of the history of the club and midget racing in Northern California. 

 

courtesy of M&M Racing Photos

The entire BCRA family extends our sympathies to the Segur family for their loss and to honor Howard’s memory, before the racing program at Placerville Speedway on Saturday night August 25, defending BCRA midget racing champion Maria Cofer took a memorial lap in Howard’s honor while family gathered in the infield.




In 1939 Howard’s father Howard Sr. was one of the racers who transformed the Bay Cities Roadster Racing Association (BCRRA) into the midget organization that we know today. Segur Sr. was as a driver in the early days of BCRA and later a car owner with such drivers as Norm Rapp, Bert Moreland and Tommy Morrow.

Segur family legend has it that as a young man, Junior was banned from the family garage after he threw a handful of nuts and bolts in the engine of his Dad’s race car. In his early 20’s Howard kept losing weight and doctors gave him just months to live, but he overcame that setback and in 1966 bought his own midget race car. 


That car was a Ford V-8 60 powered Kurtis-Kraft chassis which he bought from BCRA legendary car owner Charlie Springer. Prior to Howard’s ownership, the Springer Kurtis-Kraft machine had been driven by BCRA standout Earl Motter

After Howard spent time updating and rebuilding the machine, he debuted as the driver of his own car at Bakersfield in 1968, the race of a driving career that lasted through the 1986 season. After a few years away from the sport, Howard returned as a car owner with drivers that included 1990 BCRA champion Tim Joyce, before both Howard and Tim retired from BCRA competition at the end of the 2004 season.  

Howard devoted 38 years to the BCRA in a multitude of roles - driver, car owner, member of the Board of Directors, and served as the club’s President from 1978 through 1980. Through the years Howard, his wife Karen, and daughters Carole Ann and Catherine selflessly gave their time, energy, and funds to help sustain the Bay Cities Racing Association. 

Tim Joyce, left ,and Howard Segur Jr, right ,at their

 BCRA Hall of Fame induction in 2006

courtesy of M&M Racing Photos

 

Both Howard and Karen were recognized as recipients of the annual Lloyd Nygren Sportsmanship Award, and in 2006, Howard was honored as he joined his father as a member of the BCRA Hall of Fame the same year as his former driver Tim Joyce.

Despite suffering from failing health in the last few years of his life, Howard worked on the restoration of his first midget race car and provided the funding to start the racing career of his grandson Robert Carson. 

The author extends his thanks to the Segur family, Bob Roza, Matt Sublett, Tim Joyce, and historians Floyd Busby and Tom Motter for their assistance in providing the background information for this article.    

 

The Wally Stokes story

Part three

For the 1948 racing season, Wally Stokes who now lived in the suburb of Gates Mill east of Cleveland Ohio, concentrated on ‘big car’ (today known as a sprint car) racing with his car owner fellow Northeastern Ohioan Andy Dunlop’s blue #2 255-cubic inch Offenhauser powered machine. Stokes became the featured performer in John Sloan’s American Booking Agency promoted 1948 racing programs, and Stokes and Dunlop competed in both IMCA (International Motor Contest Association), the CSRA (Central States Racing Association) and a handful of independent events. 

Throughout the 1948 season, pre-race press reports continued to identify Stokes’ hometown as Honolulu, and stories frequently referred to him as “the rim riding Hawaiian.” Some stories such as the one in the Burlington Iowa Hawkeye Gazette went so far as to call Wally “the Hawaiian pineapple king” and related that he “takes time off from his Honolulu pineapple canning factory for 3 months of racing.” While it made a good story, in truth Stokes was born and raised in the Cleveland area, never visited Hawaii and certainly did not own a pineapple cannery.  

The CSRA season opened on April 18 with a race at the half-mile Celina Speedway on the Mercer County Ohio Fairgrounds with another race a week later at the high banked half-mile south of Greenville Ohio. Both of those tracks were promoted by Arthur Zimmer’s Valli Enterprises which was based in Dayton Ohio as was the CSRA. Stokes was mentioned as an entrant at Celina along with Jimmy Daywalt who drove Franklin Merkler’s “404” ‘big car’ powered by a “Hisso” engine, a 359-cubic inch, single overhead cam, 4-cylinder power plant created from one half of a World War era 718-cubic inch Hispano Suiza aluminum block V-8 aircraft engine.

The April 18 Celina race was won by Bobby Grim as he drove what was described in press reports as a “brand new Offenhauser.” It seems entirely possible that Stokes although listed as an entrant, did not appear at Celina, as Andy Dunlop in his book, Damn Few Died in Bed, written with Thomas Saal, recalled that the team’s first race for the 1948 season was at Greenville “in late April.” Stokes won the 20-lap feature April 25 at Greenville over Cliff Griffith, Red Bales and Carl Hooper.   A month later, when the CSRA ‘big car’ circuit visited Greenville Speedway Stokes again won the 20-lap feature.   

During the 1948 season, in the days before the interstate highway system, the Dunlop team sometimes traveled long distances between races. They took part in the first annual Shrine Memorial Day races held on May 30 the Iowa State Fair track in Des Moines promoted by the Za-Ga-Zig Shrine temple of Altoona Iowa. In front of a crowd of 7,500 fans, Stokes, in the Dunlop Offenhauser powered blue #2 ‘big car’ grabbed three victories during the five-race program – his heat race, the trophy dash and the day’s 10-lap finale on the half-mile dirt track.

The next night. May 31, Stokes was entered in the ‘big car’ race at Heidelberg Raceway, a new 5/8-mile dirt track located a few miles southwest of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania which was more than 800 miles east of Des Moines. The Dunlop team members made the trek to the inaugural event at Heidelberg by driving in shifts but they arrived at the track late.


The Heidelberg track manager Henry P Miller certain got his money’s worth for the $800 he paid Dunlop in appearance money, as during qualifying Stokes recorded a best lap of 23.92 seconds, which reportedly broke the standing “world’s 5/8-mile one-lap record which had stood since 1938." Stokes’ fast lap was more than a second faster than Everett Saylor’s old record.  According to Dunlop’s book, Stokes once again won his heat, the trophy dash and the feature which was shortened from 30 to 20 laps by dusty track conditions.    

Stokes stayed on his winning streak as the CSRA circuit headed back to Greenville Ohio for a special Father’s Day race, and before the race it was reported that Wally led the CSRA standings over Daywalt, Grim and George Tichenor. 


On June 27, the teams revisited Heidelberg Raceway with much the same results as earlier in the season, as Stokes won over Daywalt and Tichenor as Wally completed the 20-lap feature in eight minutes and 17.71 seconds. Back in Iowa for races over the July 4^th holiday, Stokes scored his eleventh and twelfth wins of the season in back-to-back races at Burlington and Des Moines.

The September 19 MDTRA (Midwest Dirt Track Racing Association) program at the Johnson County Fairgrounds in Franklin Indiana serves to remind historians just how dangerous dirt track racing during this era. In one tragic afternoon, James “Chick” Smith and 40-year-old Indianapolis veteran racer Les Adair were struck down in separate accidents.   

During an early heat race, two cars driven by Adair and Webb Reed locked wheels, crashed through the outer fence and flipped with Reed's car coming to rest on top of Adair’s machine.   Reed was hurt in the crash but Les received fatal head injuries.


On the first lap of the feature event Smith from Louisville Kentucky crashed when his car’s throttle stuck open, then the car crashed through the wooden fence and overturned. Smith was taken to the Johnson County Hospital in Franklin in critical condition, where he succumbed to his head injuries the following day.  Stokes won the feature race that sad day at Franklin.

Stokes and Dunlop traveled to Hagerstown Maryland to race on Sunday afternoon October 3^rd at the year-old ½-mile banked clay Conococheague Speedway. During time trials, Stokes’ CSRA rival Bobby Grim toured the track in 24.67 seconds which broke the “world’s half mile record.” Later when Stokes had his chance to qualify the blue Dunlop #2, Wally was even faster, and completed his lap in just 24.15 seconds which broke the old mark set at Williams Grove Speedway by .63 seconds.

Later in the afternoon program, Stokes won the 20-lap feature at Conococheague as he bested Grim, Paul Becker, Woody Hill and Bob O’Neil. The October 4^th edition of the Hagerstown Morning Herald newspaper reported that as a bonus for the 3,800 fans, after the feature was completed, Stokes and Grim ran a match race of indeterminate laps which finished in what fans described as a ‘dead heat.’

Over the course of the 1948 racing season, Wally Stokes won 13 of 14 CSRA races and was crowned the 1948 CSRA champion over Jimmy Daywalt, George Tichenor, Bobby Grim and Carl Scarborough. In IMCA competition, Wally also won 11 of 13 IMCA sanctioned races he competed in during 1948, but because he ran so few IMCA races, he was only scored 13^th in the season-ending points totals. Overall, Wally Stokes’ documented record for 1948, recounted in the Dunlop book, was 27 wins in 30 races, truly a “dream season.”     

Wally Stokes wanted to move up to AAA (American Automobile Association) championship racing, but Dunlop did not have a sponsor to financially support that effort so Stokes left the team.  During the 1949 season, without a steady ride, Stokes made occasional midget racing starts at familiar tracks namely Sportsman’s Park in Ohio and Ebensburg and Heidelberg Speedways in Pennsylvania.   

In April, Wally was nominated as the driver for the 33^rd running of the famed Indianapolis 500-mile race in a “new car” powered by a 270-cubic inch 4-cylinder Offenhauser engine owned by Thomas Kupiec of Hamtramck Michigan.


Nothing is known about this car or car owner beyond what was learned from a May 27, 1949 Associated Press report that identified the Kupiec car as one of four cars that never reached the 2-1/2-mile brick paved oval. The author was unable to discover any other details of the construction or ownership of the Kupiec machine.   

Wally’s next appearance on the 1949 AAA championship trail came on July 31 for the non-points "Indianapolis Sweepstakes" held at the ½-mile Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. According to the Somerset Daily American newspaper James Lamb, the Secretary of the AAA told Williams Grove Park owner Roy Richwine that ‘the sanctioning of this type of program on the Williams Grove Speedway is an experiment and does not establish a precedent.“


The article stated many of the the big stars of the AAA were expected and specifically named the 1949 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Bill Holland, Rex Mays, Johnny Mantz, the 1949 ‘500’ second place finisher  as a rookie, Johnnie Parsons, and fellow ‘500’ rookie Troy Ruttman as entries.  

Advertisements in local newspaper printed the week before the “Indianapolis Sweepstakes” stated that “this race is definitely limited to all Indianapolis drivers and championship cars only. Open only to cars with a maximum displacement limit of 183-cubic inches supercharged and 274-cubic inches supercharged that meet national championship specifications.”

Parsons and Ruttman were not among the twelve drivers that appeared for the race, and Holland’s ‘Marion Special’ and Stokes’ ‘Lutes Truck Parts Special’ suffered mechanical troubles and did not start the 50-lap (25 mile) feature. Witnessed by a massive crowd of 38,156 fans, Johnny Mantz won the feature which took only 24 ½ minutes to run as he finished ahead of Duane Carter and Rex Mays.

AAA officials and promoter Richwine must have considered the experimental race on the half-mile at Williams Grove a success, as Indianapolis cars and stars continued to appear at the non-championship “Indianapolis Sweepstakes” at Williams Grove until 1955, then it continued under USAC (United States Auto Club) sanction through 1959. The 1959 running of the “Indianapolis Sweepstakes” attracted 12,000 fans who saw the fatal crash of Pennsylvania’s Van Johnson who died in the same car owned by Jake Vargo that had claimed the life of Dick Linder at Trenton Speedway in April 1959.   

Wally Stokes entered an Offenhauser powered ‘big car’ (not Dunlop’s) for the races held on August 14 at Hawkeye Downs in association with the All-Iowa Fair. In an article in the Cedar Rapids Gazette newspaper, Hawkeye Downs track superintendent R K “Doc” Hunter said that Stokes told him that “it was doubtful if he could pilot the machine personally, that the driver would probably be Gene Aldrich. “

On Saturday afternoon August 20 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds mile dirt track in Springfield, Stokes made his first AAA championship start in the ‘Springfield 100.” Wally qualified the Offenhauser powered car owned by WJ Lutes of Detroit for the ninth starting position in the eighteen-car field, then was credited with a thirteenth-place finish in a poorly documented race won by Mel Hanson.  After the race was completed, Wally and his wife Grace left immediately, headed East so Stokes could compete in a midget race scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Bainbridge Ohio.

In the early hours of Sunday morning August 21, west of Springfield Ohio with Wally asleep in the passenger’s seat as his wife drove, the right front tire on their car blew out, the car went out of control and struck a tree. Grace Stokes was injured but Wally, who had just hours earlier had completed his first championship race, was killed in the accident. Wallace E Stokes was interred a few days later in the village cemetery of his hometown of Willoughby Ohio.

In his book Damn Few Died in Bed written with Thomas Saal, Andy Dunlop remembered that “Wally was a great driver and fierce competitor, not only one of the most talented race drivers I ever knew but he was also good with mechanical design and fabrication.”  We are proud to research and publish the Wally Stokes story as a remembrance of a great racer who fell victim to the hazards faced by racers as they traveled the roads before the interstate highway system.