The short life of the Oxnard Speedway

The short life of the Oxnard Speedway

The history of the Oxnard Speedway is closely associated with the story of the Carpinteria Thunderbowl, and its story to presented as an addendum to the Thunderbowl story.

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl advertised that its 1957 season-opener on Monday May 6th would feature “new talent,” because the races there were no longer sanctioned by the Tri-County Racing Association (TCRA) as the members of the TCRA were in the midst of planning and building their own race track, the Oxnard Speedway.

The TCRA received county approval to begin construction of the quarter-mile track in mid-March located by the Santa Clara River at the north end of Ventura Road three miles north of Oxnard near the intersection with Wagon Wheel Road. 

After the issuance of a building permit, construction of the race track, a 3500-seat grandstand built into the hillside, snack bar, and rest rooms began in early May. Quoted for an article in the May 7th issue of the Ventura County Star-Free Press, Dave Revard, the TCRA spokesman, predicted the first Sunday afternoon racing program at Oxnard would run “about the first of June.”  Revard’s prediction proved to be overly optimistic.

The new Oxnard Speedway, managed by Paul Lang, hosted its first race on Thursday afternoon July 4, 1957 and opened a new chapter of racing in Ventura County. The crowd, reported as either 1200 or 2000 fans, saw a dusty program, with the 30-lap feature won by Dave Revard in his 1934 Ford coupe. In addition to the TCRA jalopies, “several big sprint cars and a midget” made exhibitions laps. After the race, Lang promised that the track “should be in much better shape for the Sunday races,” scheduled for July 7th.

Frank Kephart took the lead on the seventh lap at Oxnard on Sunday afternoon the 7th and led the remaining 23 laps to win by half a car length over Bob Young before a crowd of 500 fans. Dick Jump won the following Sunday, and Lee Andrews won at Oxnard on the 21st before 600 fans.

On the afternoon of July 28th, Oxnard Speedway hosted “Indianapolis-type sprint car racing” with the cars and stars of the California Racing Association.   Roy Prosser, “the little man with the big right foot,” set quick time in qualifying in the Cecil Shaw Chevrolet powered sprint car but lost to Howard Gardner in the trophy dash.

Prosser rebounded to win the “fast” 6-lap heat race; other heat race winners included Lloyd Woolever, Phoenix’s Fred Coombs and North Tonawanda, New York driver Jim Hurtubise.  Colby Scroggin won the 15-lap semi-main, then Prosser easily won the 30-lap feature over one-armed Allen Heath before 2000 excited fans.

Attendance at Oxnard continued to be a problem, and in mid-August, the Oxnard Speedway hired a new managing director, William “Bill” Loadvine, previously the owner and promoter of the Culver City Speedway. Among Loadvine’s first acts at Oxnard was to slash the admission fee from $1.50 to 90 cents for a weekly program and $1.00 for a special program. Paul Lang returned to race driving and immediately won in his first race back on August 18th.  

On Sunday October 13, “full-size midgets and big-time drivers” were scheduled at Oxnard Speedway but that date rained out and the program was run on October 20. The United Racing Association (URA) sanctioned the event, which featured headliners Lowell Sachs, Bill Cantrell, and the defending URA champion and points leader Don Cameron. Parnelli Jones, in one of his earliest midget rides, won the first heat race along with other heat race winners Buddy Lee and Willie Swift.

Bob Burbridge won the URA midget 15-lap semi-main which was marred by Johnny McFadden’s spectacular series of flips that sent him to Oxnard’s St John’s Hospital in serious condition. Johnny Wood, a former motorcycle racer who lived in North Hollywood, started fourth in the 30-lap feature, then worked his way to the front and won his third consecutive URA feature ahead of Clay Robbins. 

Days later, McFadden, still hospitalized with a broken wrist, abrasions and several broken ribs, called Oxnard Speedway track president John Gallagher whom he asked to retrieve the wrist watch that he lost in the crash.  Gallagher walked the track and amazingly found McFadden’s watch, which was still running.

The TCRA instituted a rules change in late October that allowed “souped up engines” over the original stock engine requirement.  The rules allowed “any modifications not visible from the outside” and meant faster lap speeds.

 

The “Grand Prix” on November 24th highlighted late season racing at Oxnard with a $500 purse, a two-for-one admission ticket newspaper coupon and fifty turkeys given away. The 30-lap “Grand Prix” settled the 1957 TCRA championship among the top point earners - Buford Lane, Lee Andrews and Dave Revard. Reportedly more than 3000 fans turned out to watch Andrews capture the TCRA title for the second time in Bob Ellsworth’s Chevrolet. 

Don Younce of Ventura waited until the final race of the season at Oxnard on December 8 to win his first feature followed by Ted Parrish. Lee Andrews received the champion’s accolades at the Tri-Counties Racing Association banquet held December 28 at the Knights of Columbus hall in Ventura.

In 1958, Oxnard Speedway, with Randy Clowes as the track new manager, struggled all season with low attendance, despite a wider, improved track surface and the shift to Saturday night racing. Dave Revard and Buford Lane consistently finished up front in the weekly “pre-war modified racing” programs.

On Saturday night August 9th, Oxnard Speedway scheduled the National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) Pacific Coast Convertible Division for a 100-lap race. Entrants included current point leader Johnny Potter of Inglewood, Bruce Worrell of Lakewood, Johnny Jones and Arley Scranton of Compton. The author has so far been unable to locate results from this event – historian Ken Clapp believes that the Oxnard race was only an exhibition, as the NASCAR convertibles ran a televised race in Gardena the following day. 

In mid-August the TCRA Board of Directors took control of Oxnard Speedway and Dick Jump replaced Clowes as the manager assisted by Lee Hammock and George Pilfe. As the season continued Revard and Lane doggedly battled for the championship. Revard won at Oxnard on September 20th which cut Lane’s lead to just 35 points before the finale. 

Buford Lane won the September 27th feature and emerged as the 1958 TCRA champion. Racing continued weekly at Oxnard through October with the points earned counting towards the 1959 TCRA championship.

The close of the 1958 season marked the end of racing the Oxnard Speedway, as the track became a victim of community progress. Early in 1959, Ventura County officials announced the Army Corps of Engineers’ plans to build a five-mile levee along the south side of the Santa Clara River. The condemnation of the land spelled the end of racing at the Oxnard Speedway. The last event was a horse show held on site in April 1959 and levee construction began on June 1 1959. 

The Tri-Counties Racing Association sanctioned “hot rod jalopies” at Saugus Speedway later in 1959 then the group disbanded. Buford Lane kept his jalopy behind his Mobil service station in Ventura for several more years, but with the end of racing in Ventura County, he began to race the #614 Corvette owned by Santa Barbara Chevrolet dealer Shelton Washburn.

Buford raced on road courses at Santa Barbara, Pomona, Laguna Seca, and Del Mar, and Lane was a consistent top-three finisher in SCCA B-Production racing on the West Coast through early 1961 when Bob Bondurant replaced him as the driver of the Washburn Corvette.