1950 Indianapolis '500' pole winner 

On display in Duman’s Turn 4 Restorations shop during the IRMA Bench Racing Weekend tour was the record-setting Kurtis 2000 which captured the pole position for the 1950 Indianapolis 500-mile race driven by rookie Walt Faulkner.

In early 1948, racing promoter Joshua “JC” Agajanian bought this car, chassis #318, the second of eleven Kurtis-Kraft 2000 Championship cars built, to race at the Indianapolis 500-mile race.  

Agajanian’s plan quickly went awry, when the American Automobile Association (AAA) the governing body of championship car racing, ruled that JC could not enter a car at Indianapolis because he was the president of an “outlaw” racing organization (in other words, a non-AAA affiliate), the Western Racing Association (WRA), which sanctioned “big car” races in California.   

Because of the AAA edict, the car, powered by a 270-cubic inch four-cylinder Offenhauser engine, was officially entered by Agajanian’s two mechanics, Clay Smith and Danny Jones. Johnny Mantz qualified eighth for the 33-car 1948 Indianapolis starting field and finished in the 13^th position.

At the August  AAA race at Milwaukee the second of three AAA races on the dirt State Fairgrounds mile,  Mantz qualified for the pole position, led early, then passed Emil Andres on the final lap and won the 100-mile race. Later in the year in the season finale at DuQuoin Illinois, Mantz was involved in the Ted Horn fatal crash and the Kurtis was sent to Los Angeles craftsman Eddie Kuzma for off-season repairs that included a modification of the front axle and suspension.

Mantz drove the #98 Agajanian entry again for the 1949 AAA season with lukewarm results, and Mantz was entered as the driver of the ‘Grant Piston Ring Special,’ for the Indianapolis ‘500’ but in early April Johnny Mantz announced his retirement from track racing and instead competed in the Mexican Road Race with the Lincoln factory team.

Days later, Agajanian named midget racing star Walt Faulkner as the driver of his cream and red #98.  Faulkner a native Texan, started racing midgets in 1940 in Southern California, scored 28 pre-war midget feature wins and the United Midget Association championship in 1941 and 40 wins with the prestigious United Racing Association (URA) through 1949. 

Walt who stood only 5 feet 4 inches tall and weighed less than 130 pounds was nicknamed “The Little Dynamo” and like most drivers, Walt was superstitious; he always climbed into a race car from the left side and carried an old penny in one of his shoes.

Walt passed his “rookie test” at the Speedway on May 11, 1950 and on “Pole Day” May 13, 1950, Faulkner’s inaugural Speedway qualifying run started just as the gun fired that signaled the end of the first day of qualifying.

1950 Walt Faulkner qualifying photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection

Note the wire wheels 

Many members of the crowd of 50,000 fans were filing towards the exits as the unknown California began his run , but when the track public address announcer called out Walt’s first lap speed – 132.743 miles per hour (MPH) many in the crowd reversed their tracks. 

The second lap was even faster- 134.811 MPH and the third lap was the fastest official lap ever turned at the old 2-1/2-mile brick oval - 136.013 MPH!  Walt eased off for his fourth and final lap to record a new record ten-mile average of 134.343 MPH.

Faulkner became the first rookie to set the fastest qualifying time since Georges Boillot in 1914 and he smashed the one- and four-lap speed records which had stood since 1946, set by the late Ralph Hepburn in the NOVI.  

For the 500-mile race, chief mechanic Clay Smith switched the Offenhauser engine over to run on gasoline which improved the car’s fuel mileage but cut power and the car’s top speed. 

1950 IMS official Walt Faulkner photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection

 note the Halibrand wheels 

Another change on race day was the use of the “new” Halibrand solid magnesium wheels after the car qualified on wire wheels. Walt ran among the top five positions through most of the race and was scored in seventh place when rain came and ended the race at 345 miles (138 laps). The Rookie-of-the-Year award was not awarded at Indianapolis until 1952, but clearly Walt would have won the Rookie award had it been awarded in 1950.  

On August 27^th, Walt won his first AAA championship race on the dirt one-mile oval at Milwaukee as he battled Tony Bettenhausen and Paul Russo for the win. Bettenhausen led the first 75 circuits until he made a pit stop, which handed the lead to Faulkner who led until he too pitted on the 113^th lap.  

Russo picked up the lead until lap 131 when Walt passed Paul for the lead and never looked back. The #98 ‘Grant Piston Ring Special’ set a new record for the 200-mile distance at Milwaukee , six minutes ahead of the previous record set in 1948 by Myron Fohr.

Walt Faulkner finished a close second in the tight three-way battle for 1950 AAA National Championship, only 73 markers behind champion Henry Banks and just four points ahead of Indianapolis winner Johnnie Parsons. 

In ten 1950 AAA champ car appearances, Faulkner scored one win, four top five finishes and four top ten finishes, with his 12^th place at the second Springfield Illinois race his worst 1950 finish. Walt failed to qualify at the first Springfield race and the #98 was withdrawn after it broke a connecting rod the Offenhauser engine in practice at Langhorne Pennsylvania.

For the 1951 season JC Agajanian purchased a new chassis built by Eddie Kuzma for Faulkner and assigned the #98 Kurtis 2000, entered as the “Agajanian Featherweight Special” to third year driver Troy Ruttman.  

1951 Troy Ruttman qualifying photo courtesy of the IUPUI University Library 

Center for Digital Studies Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection 

The “Featherweight” term did not refer to the car itself, as many believe, but rather it was for a new product that JC Agajanian signed as sponsor;  it was a plastic liquid that was sprayed on as an automotive undercoating – according to news reports, this materials only added five pounds to a typical car compared to fifty pounds for other contemporary undercoating products.

Ruttman in the #98 ‘Featherweight Special’ qualified sixth, while Faulkner again set new one- and four-lap track speed records in the new Kuzma, but he started 15^th, as his record runs came on the third day of time trials as the new Kuzma built car had arrived new late from the West Coast on May 10^th. The ‘Featherweight Special’ but was out of the 1951 ‘500’ on lap 78 with a burnt bearing in the Offenhauser engine.

Agajanian sold the Kurtis 2000 chassis to Tom Sarafoff who owned a chain of diners in the Terre Haute, and Sarafoff entered the car for Cliff Griffith who qualified and finished the 1952 ‘500’ in ninth place. 

The car did not qualify at Indianapolis in 1953 as Sarafoff entered the Kurtis for rookie Bob Sweikert, but Bob quit the team before the Speedway opened and drove for Al Dean during the 1953 AAA season.   Dayton Ohio’s J. Carlyle “Duke” Dinsmore then tried the car but was too slow to make the field.

In 1954, Cliff Griffith one the comeback from serious burns suffered in a 1953 Indianapolis practice crash, tried the Kurtis 2000 but quit on May 12 as he explained “one hand doesn’t fully work and there’s no use kidding myself I don’t feel comfortable above 124 MPH.” After George Tichneor failed to make the 1954 33-car starting field, Sarafoff sold off all his racing cars and equipment.

Rick Duman’s fine restoration of the Agajanian 1950 ‘Grant Piston Ring Special’ as driven by Walk Faulkner is a fitting tribute to the drivers, car owners and mechanics of that bygone era.

All Color photos by the author 

Twilight of the Hanford Motor Speedway

Part five - the end of the first superspeedway west of the Mississippi

The years of 1967 and 1968 represented the high-water mark in the history the Hanford Motor Speedway, as the 1-1/2-mile paved tri-oval hosted three USAC (United States Auto Club) National Championship races promoted by JC Agajanian which were wildly successful with crowds of over 15,000 reported for each event.  

However, there was trouble on the horizon The state of the art 2-1/2-mile oval Ontario Motor Speedway was under construction 200 miles to the south of Hanford, and USAC’s continued its direction towards corporate partnerships with new road course racing venues.

There were financial problems for the track operator, KS Racing Enterprises Inc. which was locked in an ongoing battle with the track owner B.L. Marchbanks over the contract terms. The disagreement over distribution of the proceeds from advance ticket sales was further exacerbated when KS Racing Enterprises fell behind on rental payments. 

Kalmon “Kal” Simon the President of KS had also lost a lawsuit filed by a Fresno paving company over non-payment for paving work completed at the site during 1967 and 1968.   At the same time, Marchbanks was in negotiations for the sale of Hanford Motor Speedway with American Raceways Inc. (ARI) the owner of the new Michigan International Speedway. ARI controlled by developer Lawrence LoPatin had bought Atlanta Raceway and was in the process of building the Texas World Speedway, but talks on the sale of Hanford progressed in fits and starts.  

The 25-race 1969 USAC schedule originally included two dates for Hanford – the ‘California 200’ scheduled for Sunday April 13, and the ‘California 250’ slated for October 19. That Hanford held onto two dates was a testament to JC Agajanian’s prestige with the other USAC board members, as USAC officials remained deeply unhappy with the primitive conditions at Hanford which used temporary grandstands, concession stands and restrooms. Additionally, in response to new car owners and drivers, USAC required promoters to guarantee higher purses, at least $30,000 against 40% of the ticket receipts in the case of Hanford.   

In January 1969 JC Agajanian announced that the 1-1/2-mile paved tri-oval would host an open-competition supermodified and caged sprint car race on Sunday afternoon February 9.   This event was a follow-up to the success of a pair of ‘Open-Competition Supermodified and Caged Sprint Car 100-mile Championship’ held in the fall of 1968 at the California State Fairgrounds mile dirt track and Agajanian’s Ascot Park half-mile dirt track. Agajanian stated that he expected average lap speeds of over 140 MPH during the event sanctioned by the California Racing Association (CRA) which carried a purse of $10,000.

Among the 100 entries for the 33-car open competition 100-mile race on the “the fastest racing track in the West” included Northern California midget racer Hank Butcher in John Driver’s “Flying Wing” sprint car, the 1963 and 1968 CRA champion Bob Hogle, and Ned Spath in Carl Alleman’s Chevrolet-powered rear engine Huffaker ex-Indianapolis car. Out of state entries came from drivers in New York, Ohio, North Dakota and Iowa, with former Indianapolis drivers Wayne Weiler and Colby Scroggin also scheduled to appear. 

Johnny Parsons, Junior, son of the 1950 Indianapolis champion emerged with the pole position after qualifying on Sunday morning with a lap of 141.546 miles per hour (MPH) in an older converted Indianapolis roadster.  Parsons led the race’s first 16 laps, but dropped out with mechanical problems. Hogle in the Offenhauser-powered Morales “Tamale Wagon” who had started in the 12^th position, inherited the lead after mid-race leader Walter Reiff dropped out. With Hanford favorite Frank Secrist in second place, Hogle made his mandatory pit stop five laps from the end of the 67-lap race, which handed the lead to Secrist, who had not yet made his required stop.

Secrist who had started from the 16^th position brought his car into the pit area with three laps to go, but instead of adding just a few gallons of fuel his crew nearly filled the car’s tail tank. As Secrist lost valuable time, Hogle regained the lead then won the 67-lap race and the $2,500 first-place check with Secrist second half a lap behind. 18 of the 33 starters finished the race, with Dieter Mundweiler of New York in third place in his roadster. Promoter Agajanian had to be disappointed with the crowd of only 5,500 fans for his ‘CRA Open-Competition Supermodified and Caged Sprint Car Sweepstakes.’

For the third annual “California 200’ JC Agajanian dropped ticket prices to $10 for a grandstand seat close to the starting line and $8 for all the other reserved grandstand seats, with $6 general admission tickets available at the gate the day of the race.  He also added a “lead in” event with a 100-lap USAC midget race the night before at the Kearney Bowl in Fresno, an hour’s drive from Hanford Speedway. Some of the lesser-known drivers advertised as last-minute entries for the ‘California 200’ included Leon “Jigger” Siriois, sprint car racers Larry Dickson and Sammy Session and Hungarian-Canadian driver George Fejer in his own Chinook creation.  

Mario Andretti, in the first year of his contract with STP Oil Treatment and car owner Andy Granatelli, qualified for the pole position in the Brawner Hawk III with a speed of 160.115 MPH. Once again, the Joe Hunt Magneto Special a front engine upright dirt car made the starting field after Bakersfield’s George Snider replaced the original driver Greg Weld.   The 23^rd qualifier was Ned Spath in the Alleman Chevrolet powered Huffaker that had competed in the open competition caged sprint race the month on the same track.

Only 25 cars started the race, as the cars entered for Sam Sessions, Larry Dickson, Denny Zimmerman, Bobby Johns, George Fejer and Ronnie Bucknum did not appear, and the Seidelman dirt car driven by midget champion Tommy Copp and Wilbur ‘Wib’ Spaulding’s Lotus both broke in practice, leaving the field one car short.  Even worse for the race promoter, only 12,075 fans reportedly passed the turnstiles; as USAC officials had predicted, without permanent seating and sanitation facilities, attendance figures continued to drop.

Andretti went to the lead at the drop of the green flag and led until lap 70 when he dropped in to make his pit stop. His teammate, Art Pollard in the STP Gerhardt Offenhauser was already in his pit stall and while the crew toiled, Pollard’s car caught fire. The uniforms of three mechanics on Pollard’s crew, Edward “Red” Stainton, Ed Stratton and Grant King caught fire, and Stainton backpedaled away from the fire and into the path of Andretti’s passing car.

After Stainton was struck, USAC officials immediately threw the red flag to stop the race while safety crew extinguished the fire and tended to the injured crewmembers.  Stainton with second degree burns and “critical head injuries” and Stratton and King, with second degree burns, were loaded into the two ambulances on site and transported to Fresno Community Hospital.

With no ambulance on site, the race remained stopped for close to ninety minutes until one of the ambulances returned. The race resumed with Andretti still in the lead, as apparently his car had sustained no damage, and Mario led the rest of the race to claim the victory, his first of nine race wins during the 1969 season. Lloyd Ruby in the ‘Wynn's Spit-Fire Special’ finished second one lap behind Andretti with Gordon Johncock and Johnny Rutherford third and fourth on the same lap as Ruby.  Attrition had been high as only eleven cars were still on course at the finish. No one knew it that day, but fans had witnessed the last race at Hanford Motor Speedway.

In victory lane with a check for $6,900 the winner’s portion of the $30,000 purse, Andretti admitted that Stainton’s injuries “certainly colors the rest of the day.”  King and Stratton were treated and released after treatment of their burns, while Stainton underwent emergency surgery later Sunday night in Fresno, but he passed away from his injuries on Tuesday April 15, 1969 at age 38 and was laid to rest in his hometown of Sanger California.  

Over the months that followed the 1969 ‘California 200,’ negotiations with ARI officials for the sale of Hanford Motor Speedway stalled, then collapsed in early September. Within days of the news of ARI’s withdrawal, USAC Director of Competition Henry Banks reportedly sent a letter to KS Racing Enterprises Inc which stated that Hanford’s seating and sanitation facilities were substandard and had to be upgraded.

USAC also demanded that that the paddock area behind the hot pit area be paved, and Banks’ directive stated that if these improvements were not made, Hanford and Agajanian would forfeit the October 19, 1969 race date. Kal Simon President of KS Racing Enterprises freely admitted that the company “did not have the resources to make the improvements” but reminded listeners that “there was not enough time to make the improvements anyway.”  

USAC subsequently canceled the ‘California 250’ date, however, according to Agajanian, Banks and the USAC board agreed to hold open the spring and fall Indianapolis car dates on the 1970 USAC schedule and would grant him an additional sanction for a stock car date in 1970, provided the facility improvements were completed in time.

Although there was some public outcry that USAC was unfairly punishing Hanford, Deke Houlgate in his syndicated “Motorsports Today” column that appeared in many in California newspapers noted that the Hanford paddock area “comes in two conditions, a quagmire if it has rained or a dust bowl if it hasn’t.” Houlgate also observed that “sanitation, as many Hanford fans will attest, is slightly superior to what is found five miles from the nearest dirt road in the Mohave Desert.”         

 In mid-December 1969, Al Auger’s column in the Hayward Daily Review newspaper reported that Kal Simon, the Hanford track president, announced plans to build a roofed 25,000 seat grandstand “early next year.” Other planned improvements included “black-topping of the pit area, new ticket and entrance booths, press box and parking improvements,” but the article made no mention of any planned sanitary improvements. Promoter JC Agajanian was quoted by Auger that with the Labor Day 1970 500-mile race scheduled at the new Ontario Motor Speedway, “it would be only natural to have a follow-up race at Hanford.” Auger wrote that “this is the main reason for the face-lifting,” which ignored USAC’s September 1970 directive.  

The planned roofed grandstand and the other improvements at Hanford obviously never came to fruition, and instead of a race at Hanford Agajanian promoted a new September date race on the 1970 USAC schedule on the State Fairgrounds mile dirt track in Sedalia Missouri. Though Hanford Speedway sat idle during 1970 significant events occurred behind the scenes and in late August 1970, Jay Kuhne identified as a vice-president and treasurer of Hanford Motor Speedway Inc (HMSI) began to tour the state to promote a stock offering to redevelop the Hanford track.

The traveling presentation road show, complete with artists renderings of the new grandstand and pit area visited Bakersfield, Fresno, Visalia, Upland, Newport Beach, Oakland, Sacramento and San Diego. Kuhne announced that the group planned “to organize the new company with an initial capitalization of $750,000 that would enable us to acquire the existing track free and clear to build a new 25,000 (uncovered) grandstand comparable in spectator comfort to OMS to create new garage and pit facilities layout access roads parking and landscaping “to make it truly and auto racing showcase.”  The new company offered “investment units” of $2,500 each that consisted of 25 shares of $100 par value each to be sold to a maximum of 300 California residents through a syndicate of investment brokers throughout California. 

Along with Kuhne, an investment analyst, other officers of HMSI formed on April 24, 1970 with an office in the Wilshire financial district included Robert Carlin, Los Angeles attorney that specialized in oil and gas law as President, with Patrick Cooney an oil and gas machinery importer as a vice-president and Secretary and Agajanian listed as a vice-president and manager of racing. Kuhne claimed that the USAC board had “tentatively sanctioned” a September 1971 300-mile race “in alignment with Ontario Motor Speedway (OMS)” with promises of a 300-mile USAC stock car race.   Agajanian also suggested that the track could host a 250-mile American Motorcycle Association (AMA) race as at the time Agajanian promoted many AMA events in California.

Kuhn stated in an October 1 article published in Bakersfield California that “we have already reached one-third of our goal and we hope to have the entire issue subscribed before Nov 1.”  An article later in October revealed that sales had reached 40% of the $750,000 goal and a press release listed other members of the Hanford Motor Speedway Inc board that included Bobby Unser, Agajanian, and David Lockton and Chuck Barnes of the Sports Headliners talent agency, with the latter pair members of the Ontario board of directors so their inclusion was identified as part of “planned financial alignment” with OMS.

The 1971 USAC championship racing schedule which was released on Thursday December 12, 1970 listed two dates for Hanford Motor Speedway, with the “Hanford 150’ on March 14, and a “tentative” October 10 date for the ‘Hanford 200.’  An ominous article in January 1971 written by Jim Bryant in the Ontario Daily Report identified Hanford as the possible “first casualty of the Southern California race slate” as the author mused that the area was over-saturated with racing venues that included Riverside International Raceway (an ARI property) and Ontario Motor Speedway which already experienced slow ticket sales.

With the failure of Hanford Motor Speedway Inc. to generate the planned capitalization to buy the track and make the required USAC improvements, the 1971 scheduled Hanford races never occurred, although the Hanford facility was still included on an inventory of USAC sanctioned tracks released in August 1971.  The one-time hoped-for savior of Hanford, Lawrence LoPatin’s American Raceways, Inc. a five-track conglomerate, itself filed for bankruptcy protection during 1971 and was gone for good in late 1972. 

The state of the art Ontario Motor Speedway the construction of which in some ways hastened Hanford’s downfall, hosted its last races in 1980 after a short ten-year run, as ticket sales never met initial estimates to service its debt, and the track finally was demolished in the mid-1980’s. The builder and owner of the Hanford Motor Speedway, B.L. Marchbanks reportedly passed away in 1979, and the remains of the racing facility were demolished in 1984 and the property reverted to farmland.     

The racing at Marchbanks Stadium, whether on the smaller original ½-mile and 1/3-mile tracks or the later 1.4-mile paved tri-oval was always good – attendees recall the three Indianapolis-car races held in the track’s heyday as very competitive events. One may ponder what could have been, but in retrospect, the track’s remote location and reliance on temporary grandstands and sanitary facilities during Indianapolis car racing’s major growth period doomed its survival. Although Hanford Motor Speedway itself is long gone, Mr. Marchbanks will forever be remembered through his membership in the West Coast Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame as a visionary for his contribution that brought to life the first superspeedway west of the Rockies.   

The history of Phoenix International Raceway from 1973 to today

 

The Bricklin car was born and died quickly

In June 1973 Malcolm Bricklin enticed the Canadian province of New Brunswick to build a factory and give him $6.5 million and a $3 million loan guarantee and purchase 51% of Bricklin Canada stock to get started on the production version of the “safety car.”  Bricklin told the New Brunswick government that he would begin producing cars in September 1973, and he expected to sell 10,000 cars the first year, 18,000 the second year and 35,000 cars a year by the fifth year.  Meanwhile, Bricklin signed up new dealers at $5,000 apiece and in July moved to Phoenix where he sported Western attire from head-to-toe as he told the press he was “just a cowboy at heart.”

After two years of delays, the Bricklin SV-1, complete with integrated safety cage, and gullwing doors was unveiled at the Four Seasons restaurant in New York City on June 24 1974. It was announced that the Bricklin SV-1 would sell for $6,000 with features that included a colored acrylic body, a breathable suede interior, and a “European instrument panel.” Bricklin claimed the 130,000 square foot plant in New Brunswick would produce 1000 cars a month by October 1974.    

The first Bricklin rolled off the production line on August 6 1974, after which Malcolm Bricklin extracted more money from New Brunswick government up to a total of $11 million in grants and $3 million in loan guarantees. The 772 1974 Bricklin cars built with either manual or auto transmission were powered by an American Motors Corporation (AMC) 360 -ubic inch engine, while the 2,100 1975 Bricklin cars built were powered by Ford Windsor 351-cubic inch engine mated to Ford C-4 automatic transmission.

 

 

A "safety green' 1974 Bricklin SV-1 from the Bricklin brochure

author's collection

 

 

The May 1975 issue of Car & Driver magazine compared a 1975 Chevrolet Corvette and the first 1975 Bricklin built head-to-head at Willow Springs Raceway. The Bricklin was sticker priced at $9,780 versus the Corvette’s $8,350 price. Performance results were close; on the skid pad the Bricklin scored a .67 G result while the Corvette scored .68 G. On the quarter mile the Corvette recorded an elapsed time of 16.1 seconds with the Bricklin half a second slower.

Writer Don Sherman found the Bricklin’s braking better than the Corvette's but faulted the car’s gullwing doors- the design meant little headroom and the thick A-pillars made it hard to see out. Alarmingly, there was no interlock to prevent the driver and passenger from attempting to open and close their doors simultaneously which would burn up the electric pump that powered the hydraulic system. The cabin was noisy at cruising speed and overall, Sherman said the Bricklin’s “suede-like” interior suffered from poor fit and finish that he compared to a kit car.

The lukewarm Car & Driver review did not seem to damage Bricklin sales as the Consumer Report review had killed the Subaru 360, but in fact General Vehicle Inc. was not much longer for this world. On September 24 1975 the New Brunswick government refused to issue any more funding, apparently $23 million was their limit. Two days later Bricklin Canada, the car assembly division entered receivership, and filed for reorganization on October 1 1975, the same day that Malcolm Bricklin left General Vehicle Inc.  

Even with Bricklin bankrupt FasTrack lived on

 

 Bricklin 150 program cover



While the parent firm was struggling for survival, FasTrack International Raceway held two USAC ‘Phoenix 150’ races during 1974 won by Mike Mosley and Johncock. The March 16 1975 USAC FasTrack race held under the regime of new general manager and promoter Russ Kurtz was dubbed the ‘Bricklin 150.’ By the second USAC date in November 1975 Bricklin Cars was already on its way to oblivion and the race returned to it earlier ‘Phoenix 150’ moniker.  

Kurtz cancelled the planned November 30 1975 ‘Desert 150’ NASCAR Winston West stock car race, which would have been the track's first NASCAR event, on November 25 and cited “a lack of financial support, as preliminary ticket sales were insufficient.”

At the same time, NASCAR vice-president Lin Kuchler told United Press International (UPI) that the race was cancelled and not rescheduled that the promoters, Kurtz and Ron Ails had failed to meet the terms of their sanction agreement. It would 1988 before NASCAR would visit the one-mile dogleg oval.

Bricklin and General Vehicle Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 2 1976, with Bricklin personally $34.6 million in debt, which included a $2.4 million federal court judgement against him awarded to FasTrack LeisureLand investor Leon Stern. Members of the gallery reportedly laughed after Malcolm Bricklin told Federal Bankruptcy Judge Edward Davis that his name was a personal attribute not for use by or sale by the bankruptcy trustee.

Outside of FasTrack International Raceway, General Vehicle Inc. had little in assets left other than leftover parts in the factory bought by automotive liquidator Consolidated Motors from which thirty-four Bricklin cars were built and sold as 1976 models. In a January 12 1976 hearing Judge Davis declared General Vehicle Inc. bankrupt with $31.9 million of debt unsecured, but he agreed to allow FasTrack International Raceway to continue to operate in an effort to pay off creditors. 

Robert Jarrett, the bankruptcy trustee, named Jerry Ballah as the interim track operator. Ballah, the part owner of Beeline Dragway from 1965 to 1969, was an interesting choice as he was awaiting trial in the state of Missouri on a charge of drawing a check with intent to defraud .

FasTrack International Raceway held the 50-mile ‘Copperstate Sprint Classic’ on February 15 1976 but the outcome of the race was not declared final until two days later, after three drivers complained that their last laps were not properly scored.

Jerry Miller of Speedway Indiana a future championship car entrant was still the winner with a $1250 share of the purse, followed by Rick Ferkel. Jim McElreath who had been initially scored as the third place finisher was dropped to seventh in the final results.

The March 14 1976 ‘Jimmy Bryan 150’ was a milestone event in three ways. For the first time in three years, the name of the 3-time national driving champion, the “Arizona Earthmover,” was restored to the title of the March Phoenix race. Second, the race marked JC Agajanian’s 251st USAC promotion, his first having been a midget show at the 1/3-mile Saugus Speedway in Santa Carita California held on January 29 1956.  ‘Aggie” proudly told the Arizona Republic that he had paid out $1.75 million to competitors in his previous 250 USAC promotions.

The third milestone was the appearance in the starting field of a woman - the first of her sex to drive in a USAC championship race. Arlene Hiss who ran over 1000 test miles under the watchful eye of Lloyd Ruby was granted a conditional license by USAC President Dick King. Hiss started 21st in the 22-car field in Mike Devin’s Eagle and finished 14th, the last car running twenty-two laps behind winner Bobby Unser who was fairly blunt in his judgment of Hiss’ race driving skills.  After the race, Hiss’ conditional USAC license was withdrawn and she lost her chance to become the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis ‘500.’    

FasTrack up for sale

During the spring of 1976, the Federal Bankruptcy Court accepted offers to purchase FasTrack International Raceway after the First Pennsylvania Bank agreed to lift its $2.5 million lien on the property. After appraiser Robert E. Francy set the fair market value of the facility at $434,000, Judge David rejected a bid of $200,000 from an unidentified bidder. 

On May 3 1976, Tempe Arizona Recreation vehicle dealer Bill Moore withdrew his apparently successful offer of $375,000, as his attorney told Judge Davis that Moore and his two partners had changed their minds. Judge Davis then set a hearing on his calendar on May 11 at 8:45 AM to hear “any and all” additional offers. The following day the Scottsdale Progress newspaper reported that Davis had rejected an unidentified offer of $280,000.

In August 1976 Owen Kearns in his ‘Checkered Flag’ column in the Bakersfield Californian newspaper shared that Chris Economaki had reported in the July 28 NSSN that JC Agajanian “was attempting to buy FasTrack International” but “isn’t getting any answers from the trustee.” Kearns reported that Agajanian was “seriously considering moving the November 6 USAC finale to Hanford (Speedway) if something isn’t done soon.” Kearns closed the piece by admitting that his attempts to reach “Aggie” failed to get either confirmation or denial of Economaki’s claim.  

Sold!

 

courtesy PIR

 

Per the 2014 PIR 50th anniversary media guide: “1976 - Dr. Bob Fletcher, Dr. Tom Taber, Dr. David Lehman, Dr. Robert Stevens and Bill hard purchase FasTrack International Raceway. Changed the name back to Phoenix International Raceway.”  Once again, the media guide is inaccurate.  On August 18, 1976 the UPI wire service  carried the story. “A group led by Dr. Tom Taber and Bob Fletcher yesterday purchased FasTrack.

The terms of the deal were not announced. The group immediately announced the facility will be given its previous name.” At the time the purchase was finalized, former track owner Nancy Hogue was married to Robert ‘Bob’ Goldwater, to whom she remained married until she passed away in 1982. 

Dr. Tabor, who like all three of the physicians, was an orthopedic specialist was also identified in an article in the Arizona Republic as the President of the Phoenix Racing Association (which sanctioned Phoenix area supermodified racing) and the owner of a supermodified driven by his son Tom Taber III, and stated that Taber would be the new President of Phoenix International Raceway.

Taber told the Associated Press (AP) “I don’t think it’s any secret that our group has worked hard the past year trying to get involved in auto racing.” Taber indicated that the next race at the renamed facility would be the $50,000 Bobby Ball 150 on November 6 promoted by JC Agajanian.   

The 2014 PIR media guide misidentified Bob Fletcher as a doctor; Robert L. Fletcher was the president of the Cobre Tire the largest Firestone tire distributor in the Southwest, and the owner of a USAC Indianapolis race car team since 1973. “Bill hard” was actually contractor Bill Hardy, owner of WJ Hardy Concrete Construction.

On August 27 the Scottsdale Progress reported that the owners of PIR had hired Dennis Wood who had been the manager of Manzanita Speedway since January as the track’s new general manager. A former modified stock car driver and sportswriter for the Arizona Republic and Phoenix Gazette, Wood served in many capacities at PIR over the next 23 years which included seven years as majority owner.  

Wood cut prices at PIR for the 1977 Jimmy Bryan 150 - parking was free, beer was 35 cents, and a pack of cigarettes 50 cents. “It’s not that things weren’t worth what the previous owners charged we’re just trying to recapture the sports dollar.” There were six different priced tickets offered that ranged from $5 to $14, and the track had its largest pre-sale revenue in its 14-year history.

Phoenix International Raceway played one final important role in USAC championship racing only a couple of years into the new group’s ownership. On December 11 1978, Bob Fletcher awarded two PIR 1979 race dates to the newly formed Championship Auto Racing Teams Inc. (CART) of which he was a member, instead of USAC,. The last USAC championship car race held at PIR, the ‘Miller High Life Bobby Ball Memorial 150,’ was held on October 28 1978 and the first-ever CART race sanctioned by SCCA, the ‘Arizona Republic Jimmy Bryan 150’ was held at PIR on March 11 1979.

Malcolm Bricklin after his car company failed 

As he left the General Vehicle bankruptcy hearing in January 1976, Malcolm Bricklin told reporters he was working on an exciting new automobile engine. The following day he founded Bricklin Motors Inc. to build the “Bricklin Power Plant.”  In 1982 another new Bricklin company,  International Automobile Importers (IAI) imported Bertone (formerly known as Fiat) X19 mid-engine sports cars before he set up a new deal for importation of a cheap car in 1984.

Bricklin’s YugoAmerica division imported Yugo vehicles which were introduced to the American public at the Los Angeles Auto Show in May 1984, promoted with a price of only $3,990 and a 10 year - 100,000 mile warranty with free maintenance. Nearly 150,000 Yugo cars, considered among the worst quality cars ever built, were sold in the United States over the next eight years, but Bricklin sold out after four years for what he reported was $10 million.

 

In 1991, Bricklin seated on the patio of his Scottsdale home in cowboy boots told the Arizona Republic that he had lined up $60 million in financing for a series of fifty “Auto Ranches” which he said would revolutionize the car buying experience.  Bricklin said the ranches would be “used-car Disneylands where cars will be made over and then sold as "new experienced cars."

At the Auto Ranch, Bricklin’s crew would put new tires, belts, hoses, brakes, batteries, mufflers, shock absorbers and spark plugs on a used car and “fix anything else it needs” before they repainted it. “We're going to be able to offer you things much, much cheaper than you'd ever think," Bricklin said, "Cadillacs for under $10,000, BMW’s under $15,000 and Mercedes under $20,000.”

In 2003 Bricklin tried to market a lineup of Chinese cars the Chery. In a 2009 interview with Car & Driver magazine, Bricklin said of Chery Motors “they decided to see if they could screw me. Thought they would see if they could take it all back, and they did, and we’re suing them for $14 billion.”

Bricklin’s largest lawsuit filed in federal court in 2008 against Chery and other defendants, sought $26 million to recover his initial investment and at least $1.1 billion to account for the loss of projected earnings.  In 2013 Malcolm Bricklin’s company, V Cars, was awarded $2 million by a Detroit jury in his suit against a former executive Dennis Gore for fraud and other offenses.

More than thirty years after the last car rolled off the assembly line, Bricklin SV-1 cars are rare, as it is estimated that only 1,500 of the gullwing cars survive, but they do not have much collector value as they sell for an average of $14,000 per the Hagerty website.

Postscript-the later history of Phoenix International Raceway

Emmett “Buddy” Jobe bought PIR from Dennis Wood in 1985, and in 1987 the original grandstands were struck by lightning and burned to the ground. New Aluminum grandstands to seat 30,000 fans were built, just in time for the first National Association of Stock Car Racing (NASCAR) event in 1988, which drew a reported crowd of 63,000 fans. In 1991, a new infield road course was built and the old outer road course and drag strip abandoned.

In 1997, Jobe sold the track to International Speedway Corporation (ISC) which is owned by the France family and the track began to change to meet the requirements of NASCAR stock car racing. The characteristic ‘dogleg’ at the exit of turn two was revised first in 2003 and then changed again in 2011 such that the original layout of the PIR oval is no longer recognizable to fans before ownership by ISC/NASCAR. 

    

The history of Phoenix International Raceway continues………..

1969

In their January 1969 meeting the United States Auto Club (USAC) Board of Directors voted to require race promoters increase the guaranteed minimum purse for races on one-mile tracks from $10,000 to $30,000. In response, Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) promoter JC Agajanian and track owner Nancy Hogue claimed that the proposed increase “would drive Indy racing out of Arizona” and canceled the scheduled ‘Jimmy Bryan 150’ race dates. Agajanian’s promotions in previous years PIR had paid out 40% of the spectator gate receipts, which meant the typical purses had totaled out closer to $20,000. 

After weeks of negotiations, it was announced at the end of February that the Jimmy Bryan 150 race date was re-set for March 30 with a guaranteed purse of $25,000. “When the USAC board agreed to come down from their original demand,” ‘Aggie’ told the Tucson Daily Citizen “Mrs. Hogue graciously agreed to underwrite the new schedule.”  It appears that part of Mrs. Hogue’s “underwriting” meant that Agajanian had to cancel his “Open Competition Supermodified and Caged Sprint Car Race” originally scheduled at PIR for March 2 and direct all his promotional efforts on the Jimmy Bryan race.   

A month before the Bobby Ball Memorial Race in November, Agajanian told the Arizona Republic that Nancy Hogue spent $100,000 (nearly $700,000 today) on renovations over the past two years on the Phoenix International Raceway oval track. Changes included moving the guardrail and crash wall in front of the main grandstand back ten feet and crews had widened the pit area. According to ‘Aggie,’ the track had spent $30,000 on new paint alone, built new bleachers and crash walls, resurfaced parts of the track, and built larger concession stands and restrooms. 

Charlie Alexander

Courtesy PIR

 

The history timeline in the 2014 Phoenix International Raceway 50th anniversary media guide states that in 1969 “Track owners Dick & Nancy Hogue sell PIR to Phoenix hotel magnate C.A. Alexander.” The author’s research found that Nancy Hogue did NOT sell PIR to Charles Max “Charlie” Alexander. Charles Max Alexander started his career in furniture and television sales then became a custom home builder developer before he and partner Wayne L. Romney built the landmark Kon Tiki Hotel in Phoenix in 1961. 

 

 

A vintage postcard from the author's collection

 

Built on Phoenix’s “Hotel Strip” on East Van Buren Street, the exotic Kon Tiki, designed by noted Phoenix architect James Salter, featured a torch-lit Polynesian bar, giant tiki masks, ‘goggie’ architecture and guest rooms with waterbeds. With the advertising slogan “a Little Bit of Waikiki in the Heart of Phoenix,” the Kon Tiki became isolated when the freeway system was built, closed in 1993 and was demolished in 1997.

Alexander signed a three-year lease for PIR which ran through 1973, and articles in the Arizona Republic from 1970 through the end of the 1972 racing season refer to Charlie Alexander as the racing director or promoter. Under Alexander’s leadership, PIR moved the “Copper State 200” USAC stock car race from the road course the one-mile oval for April 1970, but the USAC stock cars never returned to PIR, despite a crowd of over 10,000 fans and 34 cars that vied for a 24-car starting field.  Alexander’s single greatest promotion appears to have been the 1971 Bobby Ball Memorial when television star Peter Graves of “Mission Impossible” was the special guest and race fans mobbed Graves for an autograph.

The PIR racing surface was reportedly deteriorating during 1971 which exacerbated the track’s long-standing traction problems created by blowing sand. For 1972 Alexander had “a treated tire surface” applied that created problems for team during winter tire testing. Bobby Unser told the Arizona Republic that “we tested too soon after the track had been treated and the car’s side-mounted radiators started gumming up.” That problem was rectified through the use of a different tire compound, and in March Unser described the track as “solidified” though lap speeds were slower. 

On September 16 1972 PIR hosted an odd event organized by 30 year old Phoenix area home builder and developer Frank Braggiotti in support of former Beatle John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The singer and his wife were then involved with the Immigration and Naturalization Service in deportation fight over Lennon’s marijuana conviction in 1968. Braggiotti claimed he “became a born again Democrat the day the Republican administration decided to deport John Lennon and Yoko Ono."

Braggiotti spent over $15,000 to rent the track and he expected 2000 to 5000 people but less than 300 people showed up.  The crowd listened to marijuana decriminalization speakers John Sinclair and Lee Otis Johnson before John and Yoko called from New York City but the small crowd could not hear the pair because the organizers could not get the telephone call to play on the track’s public address system.

Nancy Hogue actually did sell PIR

The Phoenix International Raceway (PIR) 50th anniversary press guide identifies 1975 as the year that “Bricklin Cars purchases PIR changes name to FasTrack international but the parent company goes bankrupt within the year Nancy Hogue regains control.” Once gain the PIR press guide is wrong, as Bricklin’s purchase of PIR occurred three years earlier, in 1972.

On Wednesday morning December 6 1972, readers of the Arizona Republic newspaper read that Nancy Hogue, “described as the sole owner of PIR” had sold the track to Paul O’Shea of Newport Beach California for an undisclosed price. O’ Shea was identified as the owner of California Automotive Research in San Bernardino, a company which “deals in car and accessory testing.” The article stated that Charlie Alexander would “continue to present the two Indianapolis-type races in 1973 as in the past” in addition to O’Shea’s plans to use the track for automotive testing.  

Paul O'Shea was a former Sports Car Club of American (SCCA) race car driver who had started his racing career in 1949 driving an 331 cubic inch V8 Cadillac powered Allard J2X. O’Shea had a tremendous run of success from 1955 in 1956 behind the wheel of a Mercedes Benz 300SL “Gullwing,’ as he won twelve national races and the SCCA D/Production national title both years. In 1957 O’Shea won four national races and repeated as the SCCA D/Production champion behind the wheel of a Mercedes Benz 300SLS roadster. In 1972, O’Shea was described as an “automotive research consultant and professional auto safety witness.”

 

 

O'Shea's patent drawing

click to enlarge

 

In 1971 O’Shea received United States patent number 3608210A for his invention, the “O’Shea Traffic Hazard Simulator,” described as a system for testing the driving ability of an automobile driver.  At a given distance, the tested driver approached in the car and after the car passed over a cable, red, yellow and green lights displayed which if any of three lanes was open. The driver of the car would then make a decision as to which lane is open, within the time period determined by his speed and the given distance. The author could find no record that O’Shea’s device ever found any commercial uses.

Just over a week after the PIR sale was announced it was revealed that O’Shea was NOT the new owner of Phoenix International Raceway that O’Shea had “helped finalize the purchase” and the actual purchaser was revealed to be General Vehicle Inc.  The December 14 1972 article also revealed that 1950 Indianapolis 500-mile race winner Johnnie Parsons, and employee of O’Shea’s California Automotive Research would be the track’s new racing director. 

General Vehicle Inc. was an umbrella holding company for several companies controlled by entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin, who during 1971 had decided to build and sell his own “Safety Car” to the public. General Vehicle Inc. would eventually grow to include four divisions: Bricklin Vehicles Inc. to market the cars, Bricklin Canada to build the cars, Bricklin Northeast to operate dealerships, and FasTrack, the murkiest of all the Bricklin businesses.

Who was Malcolm Bricklin?

It is difficult to separate facts from the legend regarding the famous (or infamous) Malcolm Bricklin. Born in Philadelphia in 1939 he was working in his father’s building supply business in 1958 when he started selling a system of franchise hardware stores known as “Handyman America”. For $15,000 a franchisee bought the rights to use the name in single store or for $250,000 could obtain “territorial rights.” 

Legend has that Bricklin sold the nationwide Handyman America Company in 1960 and became a millionaire before the age of 25, but the book The Yugo: The Rise and Fall of the Worst Car in History by Jason Vuic claimed that actually Bricklin’s Handyman America Company went bankrupt in 1965 after several lawsuits.  Bricklin then became a “business consultant” and sold Italian “Cine Box” jukeboxes and Lambretta scooters until 1967 when he negotiated a deal with Fuji Industries to import and sell their scooters in the United States. His ‘Rabbit’ scooter success led to talks with Fuji for the US importation of their small light car known as the Subaru 360.

The Subaru 360 was so lightweight (under 1000 pounds) that it was exempt from US federal automotive safety standards.  Subaru awarded Bricklin and his partner Harvey Lamm a four-year exclusive contract to import the 360 at $650 apiece with a guarantee that the pair would take 2000 cars the first year, a number which was to increase by 1000 cars more each additional year of the contract. The pair formed Subaru of America in February 1968 with a total investment of $75,000 and set out to sell not cars themselves but dealerships for the car that Car & Driver magazine called one of the ugliest cars in history.

According to Jason Vuic’s book a Subaru dealership cost $1000 with each car delivered to the dealers’ lot for $950 each that sold for $1357 retail.  After they sold 80 dealerships, Bricklin and Lamm sold shares in Subaru of America on the Philadelphia Stock Exchange which raised one million dollars.  The combination of money pouring in from franchise fees, stock sales, and bank loans enabled the pair to live the good life – huge new corporate headquarters in New Jersey, private jet, yachts and luxury apartments.

 

In April 1969, Consumer Reports tested the Subaru 360 and found among that it took 37 seconds for the 360 to reach 50 MPH and that the car could not reach 60 MPH.  Bricklin claimed that it could travel over 60 miles on a gallon of gasoline but the Consumer Reports observed fuel economy was 25 to 35 miles per gallon of gasoline which had to be mixed with two-cycle oil like an outboard boat motor.

With rear-hinged “suicide doors” with weak latches, “scarier” emergency handling, “disorienting” brakes, a “board-like” front seat that slid forward under heavy braking, and an inside mirror that vibrated so much at 50 MPH that it was useless, Consumer Reports rated the Subaru 360 “not acceptable.” The article sounded the death knell for the 360; by early 1970, Bricklin’s company had 2000 Subaru 360’s rusting away in stock and was millions of dollars in debt. Malcolm Bricklin came up with a new franchise idea – ‘FasTrack’ to save the day.    

The concept of ‘FasTrack’ was a pay-by-the-lap go-kart type racing experience which killed two birds with one stone; new franchise would get Bricklin out of debt and also get rid of the leftover Subaru 360’s. To replace the rusted sheet metal Bricklin enlisted Bruce Meyers, creator of the first Volkswagen dune buggy the Meyer Manx, to build “race car type” fiberglass bodies for the leftover 360 chassis. 

For $25,000 a ‘FasTrack’ franchisee got 10 cars, 20 uniforms and helmets, lighting, fencing, and signs. The first ‘FasTrack’ was built outside the Subaru of America headquarters, and the franchise sales literature told investors that by charging $1 per lap, they could make $135,000 annually operating their ‘FasTrack’ just 27 hours each week.

The corporate entity of “FasTrack International Inc.” was formed in Pennsylvania on December 6 1971 and the following day Bricklin formed “FasTrack LeisureLand Inc.” The goal of  ‘FasTrack LeisureLand’ was to create a series of franchised resort vacation destinations where visitors could stay and race ‘FasTrack’ cars.  According to author Jason Vuic, a Florida man named Leon Stern traded a large Pocono mountains resort property to Bricklin in exchange for $1.25 million in ‘FasTrack’ stock and $1000 a week salary as Stern would line up new resorts and investors. Bricklin then borrowed heavily against the Pocono property to invest in new ventures and around the same time sold Subaru of America in a deal which included a three-year $120,000 a year consulting contract for Bricklin. 

Malcolm Bricklin then started on his next venture; General Vehicle Inc. to build his “safety car.” The Bricklin concept car built by Bruce Meyers had a colored acrylic over fiberglass body powered by a Valiant “slant six” engine and was completed in the later months of 1972.  Bricklin had no money to manufacture the car, so he set out to find the financing from various Canadian governments to build the car, while at the same time General Vehicle Inc. bought Phoenix International Raceway in a heavily leverage deal. Nancy Hogue held the first mortgage of $250,000 on the track property and First Pennsylvania Bank held the $500,000 second mortgage.

The turbulent early days of Bricklin’s track ownership 

Early in January 1973 the Arizona Republic published the rumor that Malcolm Bricklin was one of the three persons interested in buying the mansion and grounds of the estate of the late Pittsburgh oil man Samuel Walker McCune Junior. McCune built the home for his new wife, Carol, who left him during construction then he died in April 1971 never having lived in the uncompleted 52,000 square foot mansion located on hilltop six acres in Paradise Valley. The three-story home, one of the ten largest homes in the United States, which featured 14 bedrooms, 30 bathrooms, a movie theatre, an indoor ice rink, and a 14-car garage  eventually was sold at an auction to satisfy IRS liens to Arizona fitness magnate Gordon Hall.

 

At a January 23 1973 press conference, Anthony “Tony” Kopp the track president announced Phoenix International Raceway had been renamed “FasTrack international Raceway,” and that the USAC championship race scheduled for March 17 would become a two-day program, with time trials held on Saturday March 16 and the 150-mile race which no longer carried the Jimmy Bryan name would be held Sunday March 17 1973.

Kopp also announced new construction of an extension of the pit entrance and exit, a new pit wall, the addition of 2000 more seats to bring the total to 12,000, and the renovation of restroom and concession areas.  After previously published reports to the contrary, the track cancelled JC Agajanian’s scheduled $50,000 purse 50-lap “Open Competition Supermodified and Caged Sprint Car Race” scheduled for the weekend of February 16 and 17 1973, so the track could be prepared for the scheduled March USAC date.  

On March 12, 1973 during a private practice session, Robert Dale “Bob” Criss a USAC sprint car driver from Newport Beach California died after he crashed. The 1970/71 Eagle chassis he drove was the same car with which David ‘Swede’ Savage won the Phoenix 1970 Bobby Ball 150. After All American Racers Inc. sold the car to Mary and Tom Page’s Page Racing Enterprises, Mike Hiss drove the car with a turbocharged Offenhauser engine in eight 1972 USAC races, including his seventh place finish in the 1972 Indianapolis 500-mile race which earned him the Stark Wetzel Rookie of the year honors. 

Criss, 34, who had driven a Brabham BT23 in three rounds of the 1972 SCCA Formula B championship, completed less than 10 laps when he spun and the car crashed into the inside wall at the exit of turn four with tremendous impact. The Eagle split in half and caught fire, but there were no fire trucks or an ambulance on site as the Pages rented the facility. Driver Billy Shuman and his crew were also at the track to test and helped put out the flames as the Phoenix Fire Department and an ambulance was called. Criss was pronounced dead on arrival at a nearby hospital from his internal injuries. USAC spokesman Donald Davidson was quoted in the Anderson Herald newspaper that “Criss was not a registered USAC driver and I don’t think he had made an application for a license yet.” Criss was laid to rest in his hometown of Terre Haute Indiana.

The March 17 1973 ‘Phoenix 150’ was never held. Shortly after Criss’ death the Phoenix area received heavy rains which caused the Salt River to flood and cut access to the track. The date was rescheduled twice but the flooding continued and then on March 31 Tony Kopp canceled the event, as the USAC championship schedule with two April races left no open dates. Kopp told the Arizona Republic that the $50,000 in advance sales, the largest in the track’s history would be refunded or could be applied to other tickets. Kopp added that he was working for two November USAC race dates.

In our final installment on the early history of Phoenix International Raceway we will see Malcolm Bricklin lose it all- including FasTrack International Raceway.