The post-World War 2 race track dreams of Victor J Nelson

The race track dreams of Victor J. Nelson

Following World War Two, Victor J. Nelson, a successful Southern California building contractor tried several times to build a new midget auto racing track in the Los Angeles area.  Before and during the war, his eponymous engineering and construction company built a number of cadet training academy facilities for the Defense Plant Corporation on a fixed-fee cost-plus basis in Texas and California.

Victor faced a few challenges - during 1940 he became embroiled in a bitter dispute with the local building trade unions while building the Polaris Academy in Lancaster, California. In 1943 Nelson and his attorney, Robert Young, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the government during the construction of Avenger Field and the Wright Glider School in Texas. Nelson and Young provided documents and testified for the government but their eight co-defendants were acquitted.

Calabasas

At the end of November 1945, reportedly with financial backing from Mickey Rooney, Frank Sinatra, and Harry James, Nelson proposed to build “Pickwick Playland”, a $2.5 million dollar project in the Burbank Rancho neighborhood.  The plans called for a 1500-seat theater, a 65,000 square foot “roll top” ballroom with two bars, a swimming pool and an ice skating rink on a 21-acre site. The project died after the Burbank City Council refused to amend the City’s existing liquor laws.  

On January 10 1946, acting as the president of The Hollywood Speedway Association, Nelson petitioned the Los Angeles County Regional Planning Commission for approval to construct a $250,000 midget auto racing track. Nelson claimed the track, planned for 23600 Ventura Boulevard east of the town of Calabasas would be “the first ever track designed for the undersized racers.”  

The Hollywood Speedway Association listed Burbank race car builder, owner and parts supplier Gordon Schroeder as its vice-president.  The Association’s plan called for two race tracks - a 1/3-mile track encircled by a one-mile track on the 132-acre site located in a natural valley.

At the time, before the era of reality television and McMansions, Calabasas was a sleepy farming area with a town that had less than a thousand residents, but a powerful political force was in play in the area - a movie studio.   

The 2800-acre Warner Ranch, just a few thousand feet from the proposed site, was used for shooting outdoor scenes of adventure and western films.  At public hearings, the Warner Studio representative, attorney H R Kelley, maintained that the noise from the race cars would interfere with making sound films at the ranch.

Nelson stated that the 40,000-seat steel and reinforced concrete grandstand would block the sound from reaching the Warner site. He also emphasized there be no gambling or liquor sold on the site and racing would be held only on Sundays and holidays. Band leader Harry James, a partner in the earlier Pickwick project proposal, owned property on Ventura Boulevard that adjoined the site also opposed the project.   

The County Planning Commission rejected the Hollywood Speedway Association’s application a week later, on January 17. The five-member Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors then denied the Hollywood group’s appeal on March 12^th.   A bitter Nelson claimed in an interview with Claude Newman of the Valley News that he “had not gotten a fair deal.” Nelson said he was undecided whether or not to sue Los Angeles County but that there were two alternate sites in the San Fernando Valley under consideration.

 

Burbank

On April 18, 1946 the Valley News announced that Nelson and Schroeder, partners in the San Fernando Valley Sports Association, received a building permit to build a new multi-use facility in Burbank, known as the San Fernando Valley Sports Center with financial backing from band leader Spike Jones and actor Donald O’Connor. 

The site would host football, baseball, swim meets, track meets and rodeos on 27 acres at 3200 Vanowen Street near the corner of Ontario Street and Vanowen Street. The site plan featured a prefabricated 10,000 seat steel grandstand used war surplus lighting. The next day’s report in the Valley News about the project indicated that future plans called for an ice and roller skating rink with no mention of midget auto racing.  

The following day, Claude Newman the Valley Times Sports editor, penned an opinion piece in support of the San Fernando Valley Sports Center. Mr. Newman stated “it is very much to be desired that the general public …..realize the need there is for such a center,” and “that we can think of no good reason why and individual or organization should oppose.”

Mr. Newman proclaimed his support because “this sports center, at least judging by the first announcement, will be one open to all sorts of organizations, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and perhaps some professional promotions featuring Valley talent.”

The citizens of Burbank soon learned the meaning of the phrase “professional promotions featuring Valley talent” at the proposed San Fernando Valley Sports Center – it meant midget auto racing.  This information quickly spread and triggered a groundswell of public opposition, as 750 property owners in the vicinity of the project banded together formed the Burbank Property Owners Protective Association (BPOPA) and hired an attorney. Leonard Hamner, a former deputy district attorney, wrote and circulated a petition which 1,389 Burbank residents signed.

In advance of the April 30 Burbank City Council meeting, Mr. Hamner told the Valley News that the members of the BPOPA “demand that the City Council immediately pass legislation forbidding midget auto racing.” The petition charged that “midget racers are noisy and smell of castor oil,” and that when the council approved the rights for the sports arena, no one mentioned a midget race concession.

Mayor Paul Brown admitted to the Valley News that he knew about the midget auto racers and found no objection to them. ‘The midget autos won’t be making as much noise as some of the planes and won’t be half as bothersome,” a reference to the Lockheed’s use of Union Field. Councilman Horace Thompson told the Valley News he thought “the site was ideal,” and that “midget auto racing is all right by me.” 

The April 30 council hearing lasted two hours. The community supported the concept of the sports center, but they were opposed to the weekly midget auto racing, which the project’s proponents said were required to fund the other parts of the project. The opponents claimed that the increased traffic and noise would hurt their property values, and Reverend Phillip Gibson claimed that “if the race track goes in, accidents and arrests of young men will mount immediately.”

Victor J Nelson had by this point down-played his role in the project, and he presented himself merely as the architect that drew the plans and allowed the Association attorney Gordon Stater took the lead. Stater claimed the signers of the petition were “confused.” The attorney said the center would be properly policed and racing will only be conducted 40 days a year,” and denied that the midget cars burned castor oil.

Stater said that the cars “will be equipped with mufflers” and “that only six cars would be permitted to race at a time.” He stated that the group picked the site next to the Lockheed field and Southern Pacific Railroad tracks “where there is a lot more noise 24 hours a day than the track would make in three hours every Tuesday nights 35 nights a year.”   

The Commander of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) post and the field secretary of the California Temperance Association for Los Angeles both expressed support for midget auto racing while members of the Burbank PTA and numerous long-time Burbank residents voiced opposition.  Mayor Brown tabled the discussion and stated that the issue would be taken under advisement until the following Tuesday night.

The sports editor of the Valley News, Claude Newman, waded back into the fight on Monday May 6, with an opinion piece written after he said he visited the race track site already under construction.  “We found it ideally suited for such an arena. There are only houses on one side the closest 500 feet from the grandstand location.”  

Newman added that “on another side is an airplane plant and on a third the city pumping station and golf driving range.  The fourth side is industrially zoned.” Newman opined that “at the outside not more than 200 or 300 residents will hear the little noise of the midgets at all. Don’t forget either that the midgets only run approximately three hours a week and 40 weeks a year. 120 hours!”

That same day, the Valley News ran a front-page article entitled “Nelson champions new midget track,” in which Victor Nelson claimed to own twenty residential lots in the vicinity,” and “I would be the first to object if I thought that the property value would decrease.”  Nelson stated that property values near the famed Gilmore Stadium had increased 30 times over the last 25 years. Fact check: Gilmore Stadium was built in 1934, so it had only existed for 12 years.  The article stated that many petitioners changed their minds after they learned that the racing would occur only one night a week and be over by 10:30 PM.

Over the next week, Claude Newman tipped to Valley News readers that Victor Nelson talked to the Cincinnati Reds about the use of the San Fernando Valley Sports Center for spring training and that the Seattle Rainiers, Pacific Coast minor league baseball club and the Hollywood Stars women’s softball team considered relocation to the new facility.  

On May 14, the Valley News reported that Donald Spaulding, manager of the Burbank site for Victory J Nelson Engineering and Construction reported a vandalism incident to police. According to Spaulding three trucks, a tractor and a cement mixer had been “decommissioned by unidentified persons.”  “Wiring was cut and parts smashed by persons,” which according to Victor Nelson “were not amateurs,” as “the job was done too efficiently to be the work of kids.”     

On Tuesday night, May 14 the Burbank City Council voted 3-2 to revoke the building permit for the San Fernando Valley Sports Center. The Council also heard the first reading of a new ordinance for the regulation of automobile and motorcycle racing.

The new ordinance required any new license application among other requirements to spell out the kind of racing, whether passenger auto parking would be provided, indicate the number of races to be held and the type of fuel used.  The officers of the project would be required to post $25,000 with the City Clerk and provide $50,000 in injury insurance and $5,000 in property insurance.   

All work stopped on the site on May 16 when Burbank City Manager Howard Stites delivered the revocation letter. Asked for his response, Nelson told the Valley News “we’ve got three attorneys to handle our case,” and “he would let the case run its natural course.” Nelson said while work stopped, equipment remained on the site under guard to prevent more “deviltry.” 

On Tuesday night May 21, Association attorney Stater appeared before the Burbank City Council and requested they rescind their action. The Council summarily rejected Stater’s rehearing request, then passed the auto racing ordinance set to go into effect on June 20 on its second reading.

In defiance of the City’s action, construction at the site continued as Nelson pushed his crew to complete the track quickly. In the June 6 edition, the Valley News reported the race track complete, as well as the parking lot, offices, and the baseball diamond with turf placed on the football field. Nelson announced the site’s first activity, a rodeo, would be held on July 4^th. 

On June 24^th, Nelson filed for the required license to operate a midget auto racing facility in the City of Burbank. The hearing to “determine if midget auto racing will be a menace to the public health, peace, safety and morals” scheduled before City Council on Thursday July 25th.

Nelson’s license application proposed midget auto racing 45 nights a year on Saturday nights from 7:15 to 10:15 PM, weather permitting. The Association’s application stated that cars “will be muffled so they can only be heard across the width of the 45-foot track,” and “complete police protection to prohibit betting or drinking in the 10,000-seat steel grandstand.” Nelson stated that the decomposed granite track will be treated with calcium chloride to prevent dust and that the landscaping “will be as beautiful as any city park by next spring.”

After a tumultuous five-and-a-half-hour meeting that lasted until 1 AM on July 26^th, the Burbank City Council rejected the Nelson license application by a vote of 3-2.  First, the council heard a one-hour presentation from each of the attorneys that represented each side, then heard from the public. After midnight, Councilman Horace Thompson announced “I’ll be the bad guy,” and made the motion to approve the application, which was not seconded.  Mayor Paul Brown then made a motion to reject, which after it was seconded, passed on a roll call vote.

Nelson told the Valley News immediately after the vote that “a criminal would have gotten better treatment than we did.” His attorney Stater had no immediate comment but later on Friday told the Valley News that “if ordered by my clients, I can apply for a writ of mandate from superior based on the decision that the evidence submitted to the Council was not sufficient and ask for the issuance of the permit.”

On July 31 Victor J Nelson announced the group’s intention to sue the City for half a million dollars and added that they were interviewing attorneys to assist Stater.  In November, Nelson and his group attempted a legal end run and sublet the Sports Center property to the United Veteran’s Council of Burbank, but the Burbank City Council summarily rejected the veteran’s group license application on November 21 1946.

The veteran’s group, that included the Burbank posts of the VFW, American Legion and Daughters of America’s Veterans, attempted to collect enough signatures on a petition to put the issue on the ballot in April 1947, but eventually abandoned the plan. As the end of 1946 neared, Nelson revealed to the press that the group would pursue a two-pronged approach.

Nelson said the limited partnership’s first planned action was to file civil suit against the city, while the second action was to file a petition for a Writ of Administrative Mandamus wherein the court orders a government official or agency to properly fulfill their official duties or correct an abuse of discretion in this case issue the permit.

Nelson and his partners, Gordon Schroeder and Emanuel Mancuso, filed suit in Superior Court on February 14 1947. The suit claimed that the Burbank City Council deprived the group of their property without due process in violation of amendment 14 of the United States Constitution.   The group claimed they spent $30,000 to lease the property, $20,000 to build the fence, track and grandstand and obligated themselves to spend another $200,000. The first hearing was set for Wednesday March 19 in Department 43 of the Superior Court.

The case hinged on two key questions argued by opposing counsel before Superior Court Judge Frank G Swain. The first question - would the proposed racing be held in a zone authorized by the City zoning ordinance? Judge Swain held that the track was located in a zone proper for that type of business. The second question - whether the proposed racing would endanger the public peace, health, welfare safety or morals – would be answered in several weeks when the judge handed down his decision.  

On April 22 1947 Judge Swain handed down his decision that denied the Sport Center group’s Writ of Administrative Mandamus as he upheld the City’s police power. The Judge stated that “the reporter’s transcript of the City Council hearing revealed there was evidence that public peace would be menaced by noise, the public welfare would be menaced by declined property values, and public safety endangered by the heavy traffic in a concentrated area.”   

The Judge noted in his opinion that the plaintiffs had not been treated properly by the City, but that their only remedy was political not legal. “We agree that the plaintiffs have a grievance of considerable magnitude in the City of Burbank which allowed them to spend $80,000 before it exercised its police power, but plaintiff’s remedy is political not legal.”     

This legal defeat was not the end of the San Fernando Valley Sports Center, as two months later on June 16^th, Victor J Nelson sent a letter to Mayor Brown that requested a permit be issued for construction of a 600-foot long by 200-foot wide swimming pool, tennis courts, miniature golf and outdoor bowling lanes. Plans also called for a new concrete reinforced stadium with seating for 11,000 persons for rodeos, baseball, football, horse shows and dog shows, and conventions. Future plans called for a small auditorium and a roller skating rink.

In late September 1947, the race track site hosted the first annual San Fernando Valley Roundup with six events that included bareback riding, calf and bull roping and team roping. 

Months passed as the group reorganized and announced on November 1 1947 its emergence as a corporation known as San Fernando Valley Stadium Inc. with $500,000 in capitalization. Nelson as president of the corporation made the announcement that construction of the 20,000 seat circular stadium would begin within 30 days on a 15-acre tract adjoining the original site at 1901 Ontario Street. With the announcement, Victor J Nelson dropped his plans to host midget races at the site, and the Association never completed their ambitious plans.       

The history of Alamo Downs the short-lived Texas pre-war midget racing venue

The history of Alamo Downs  

the short-lived Texas pre-war

midget auto racing venue

Wes Saegesser 

On September 1 1933, the State of Texas legalized pari-mutuel wagering on thoroughbred racing. Shortly thereafter,  businessman Raymond Russell built the Alamo Downs one-mile horse racing facility on Culebra Road northwest of downtown San Antonio.  Alamo Downs opened its first racing meet on April 23 1934 with 14,000 fans in attendance which included Texas Governor Miriam A. Ferguson.

Horse racing at Alamo Downs ended on September 24 1937 after the Texas legislature again outlawed pari-mutuel thoroughbred wagering after several scandals. There were still horses boarded and trained on the Alamo Downs property but the facility sat largely unused until late 1940.

Famed automobile racing promoters O.D Lavely and his son Ray, through their company,  Lavely Racing Promotions Enterprises, signed a five-year lease in August 1940 to present midget racing at Alamo Downs. Lavely Promotions built the 1/5-mile banked oiled clay dirt track which measured 40 feet wide through the corners and 30 feet wide on the straightaways in front of the existing grandstands.  

The track construction included an innovative 36-inch high outer crash wall and an inner “hub rail.” Rather than locate the pit area in the infield, officials located the work area for the race cars underneath the grandstands in the paddock area.   

The Texas Oklahoma Racing Association (TORA) which sanctioned the Alamo Downs races, also presented races at the 1/5-mile Fair Park Speedway on the grounds of the Texas State Fairgrounds in Dallas, the Lavely’s 1/5-mile Houston Speedbowl and the ¼-mile Gold Mine Race Bowl in Dallas. TORA race tracks included Jefferson-Davis Speedway in Fort Worth, the original dirt Pan-American Speedway in San Antonio and the Panhandle-South Plains Speedway in Lubbock. TORA also raced in Texas at the Reaser Park track in Victoria as well as the Lions Field Speedway, a track which the author has been unable to locate.   

Admission to the first midget race at Alamo Downs on Sunday afternoon October 6 cost race fans 40 cents plus tax with free parking. Due to the late season opening, many midget drivers from the Midwest came to San Antonio to race against that local drivers that included Al Slaughter, Dick Word and the one-armed wonder, Wes Saegesser.

Other Texas entries came from Doster ‘Doc’ Cossey (AJ Foyt’s first racing hero), the 1939 Texas midget racing champion Mel Wainwright and Elmer “Rabbit” Musick, the youngest of five racing brothers from the Dallas area - his brothers were named Ben, Morris, Lyn and Leland.

 Al Slaughter won the very first Alamo Downs race, the 2-lap helmet dash over Abilene’s Cleo Glaze who set quick time in time trials at 17.31 seconds. Dale Burt, Word and Wainwright each won one of the eight-lap heat races, and Cossey won the second 10-lap semi-main event from eighth starting position.

During that second semi-main race, Denver driver Warren Hamilton took what the San Antonio Light article described as “a spectacular spill” on the first lap after he tangled with the car of JD Parks and Hamilton's car rolled over into the infield.

Slaughter took the race lead into the first turn of the 25-lap feature pursued by ‘Doc’ Cossey. ‘Doc’ pressed Slaughter hard until his car fell out on the ninth lap with electrical trouble, and Slaughter easily won by a half a lap over Glaze.     

The following Sunday, October the 13^th, the 1/5-mile track was much faster.  Jim Ward set quick time at 16.75 seconds, for a new lap record, while ‘Doc’ Cossey won the two-lap Helmet Dash in  34.88 seconds, then Al Slaughter won his eight-lap heat race with a new record time of 2 minutes, 19.26 seconds.

Cossey captured the 25-lap feature win over Ward in a record time of seven minutes, 37.76 seconds to score his second feature win in four nights, to go along with his Thursday night win at the Houston Speedbowl. Cossey’s Alamo Downs win on the 13^th marked his tenth midget feature win of the 1940 season.

Late in feature on the 13^th, three of the top cars driven by Dick Word, Lou Turberville and Earl Simmons tangled in front of the grandstands after Word’s car blew its water hose, and Word and Turberville both suffered facial cuts in the accident.  

Cossey became the first Alamo Downs repeat winner as he won on October 20^th in a program that extended the heat races to ten laps in length, and stretched the feature to 30 laps.  

The field on October 27^th featured new entries from Charlie Miller, the 1940 American Automobile Association (AAA) eastern midget series champion and the AAA Eastern midget runner-up George Fonder.

Al Slaughter scored his second Alamo win in the 14-car “Fall Championship” 30-lap race on October 27th, as he again went wire-to-wire to beat the $3000 'Jackson Special,' an Offenhauser powered car driven by Dallas’ “King of the Midgets” William Ben ‘Red’ Hodges.  

On November 3^rd, Slaughter won his heat race then powered to his third Alamo feature win over the helmet dash winner Miller. Car counts at Alamo Downs continued to increase such that on the 3^rd, the 10-lap Class ‘B’ feature featured an eighteen-car starting field.

On November 17th, Kansas City’s Vito Calia captured his 8-lap heat race in a new record time of 2 minutes 16.84 seconds, then finished  close second place behind Jim Ward in the first semi-main. Slaughter took the point for the first three laps of the 25-lap feature until Calia took over the lead and went on to set a new track record as he won with a time of seven minutes and 7.43 seconds.

Rain cancelled the races scheduled for November 25^th and before the next race on December 1, ‘Doc’ Cossey bought a new Elto outboard-powered midget and installed Mel Wainwright as the driver.  

Many of the Alamo Downs racers took part in the Thanksgiving night 100-lap “Southern Grand Prix” race in Houston won by ‘Red’ Hodges, and as a result only 20 cars signed in at Alamo Downs on December 1. To compound the low car count, only about 1400 fans showed up to watch the program won by ‘Red’ Hodges in the Jackson Offenhauser powered midget. 

The afternoon of December 8^th marked the final scheduled race at Alamo Downs for the 1940 season as the Lavely clan planned to head to the Pacific Coast to sign up more drivers for the 1941 Alamo Downs season set to open in February.  The 50-lap Class A championship race topped the December 8th program supplemented by the 15-lap Class B championship race.

The midget track on the other side of San Antonio on Seguin Highway also scheduled a race on that Sunday afternoon which diluted the field of entries at Alamo Downs to just 25 cars. ‘Red’ Hodges captured the 50-lap Class A feature but fell short of winning the 1940 track championship by six points, as Slaughter passed “Rabbit” Musik on the last lap to claim second place and secure enough points to win the championship. 

The Lavely’s ambitious plans for the 1941 Alamo Downs midget racing season never materialized and there is no evidence of another race held there. In January 1942 a fire swept through a stable on the Alamo Downs grounds and killed five race horses, then in September 1947 another fire partially destroyed the wood, concrete and steel paddock and grandstand. The area once occupied by the Alamo Downs track is now part of the Alamo Downs Business Park.

 

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part six – another fatality and midget racing is suspended

 

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part six – another fatality    

Author’s note – This 12-part article highlights the brief 12-year history of one of Southern California’s least-documented auto racing venues – the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.

On July 21, 1949 promoter Charlie Cake presented motorcycle racing for third time at the Thunderbowl. The program featured both ‘flat track’ racing on the 1/5-mile oval and ‘tourist trophy’ (TT) racing with both right- and left-hand turns as well as steeplechase-style jumps. Oscar Sherman won the flat track feature and ‘H Kimbel’ won the TT feature.

Cake, from Ventura, negotiated a deal with the new United Racing Association (URA) president Roy Morrison to bring the URA Red “B” Circuit (for rocker arm powered midgets) to Carpinteria, historically a “Blue circuit” (for overhead camshaft powered midgets) track. The URA earlier ran both the “Blue” and “Red” circuits, but Morrison created the “Red B” circuit, for slower flathead and motorcycle powered cars, as a lower-cost racing program for promoters designed to combat the inroads made by the “hot rod” roadsters.  

Johnny McFadden won the three-lap trophy dash for the two fastest qualifiers from time trials over Bill Martin to open the July 25^th racing program.  On lap 4 of the first 6-lap heat race, Don Keefe and Bob Saunders collided, which knocked both of their cars out of the race.

After the restart, on the final lap of the race, as Chris Christopher took the checkered flag, rookie Norman “Norm” Howton  who started from the tail of the field, attempted to pass Al Bridges, but misjudged and the right rear wheel of Howton’s machine hooked the left front wheel of Bridges’ car. Howton’s midget flipped and it landed upside down on top of the crash wall.

Howton, a 22-year old native of Santa Monica living in Venice, had joined the URA organization the previous Thursday and Carpinteria was his first race, Norm suffered a broken jaw and a fractured skull, with suspected brain injuries. An ambulance transported him to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara.   

The racing program continued after officials cleared away Howton’s damaged machine.  Bill LeRoy, Chuck Burness and Jackie Jordan won the remaining three heat races.  LeRoy won the fifteen-lap semi-main followed by future 3-time URA champion Lowell Sachs and Clay Robbins.  Jordan won the 30-lap feature race over Martin and McFadden with Johnny Coughlin in fourth place.

Norm Howton passed away at 6:30 AM the following day, and thus became the second driver to lose his life at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl in as many years. Norm, a veteran of the United States Navy, served in World War 2 as a seaman on board the destroyer escort USS Raymon W. Herndon in the assault on Okinawa. Survived by his father Glen, mother Irene, and older sister Lorraine, Norm is buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City.  

Johnny McFadden from San Diego, led time trials for the next URA Red “B” program on Monday August 1^st with a best lap of 15.62 seconds, then he captured the trophy dash and his heat race. Other heat race winners included Bill LeRoy, Dwight Gunn and Bill Martin, who also won the semi-main 15-lap race. In the 30-lap feature, McFadden fell two positions short of a “clean sweep” as Bill Martin led Jackie Jordan to the finish line.

The following week, on August 8^th promoter Cake added a special appearance by the Southern California race track favorite ‘Charlie the Clown.’ Leo ‘Pop’ Faulkner, who starting racing in 1934 won the added Australian Pursuit race.   Bill LeRoy won the trophy dash while Johnny McFadden, Bob Allen, Clay Robbins and ‘big car’ racer Ken Crispin scored heat race victories. 

Norm Hall took the checkered flag for the 15-lap semi-main event. On the second lap of the feature, Robbins ran over the wheels of a stalled car and his midget flipped over the wall but he escaped injury. McFadden won the feature while on the penultimate lap Bill Martin and Jackie Jordan tangled as they battled for second place and both spun into the infield.

 ‘Charlie the Clown’ returned to Carpinteria on August 15^th but Jackie Jordan did not, as the URA suspended him for seven days for rough driving following the Carpinteria incident with Martin. Faulkner repeated his victory in the Australian Pursuit and Martin won the trophy dash and his heat race, as Crispin, LeRoy and Car Brown also scored 6-lap race wins.

On the opening lap of the semi-main, Johnny McFadden got squeezed into the outer wall and his midget took a series of side-over-side flips. When the car finally came to rest, Johnny climbed out of the wreckage with only a cut over his eye and badly skinned knuckles.

Bill LeRoy grabbed the early lead in the 30-lap feature then Charlie Miller challenged for the lead until Miller’s engine blew up, and Charlie suffered burns on his arms and legs as the car rolled into the infield. Bill Martin took up the chase after LeRoy, and as the laps wound down, Martin found the fast way around the top of the 1/5-mile oval. With just a few laps to go, Martin sped past LeRoy to take the victory with George Annis in third place.  

On August 18^th, the Ventura County Star-Free Press revealed that promoter Charlie Cake cancelled all Thursday night motorcycle races until track repairs could be made, but that the scheduled Monday night midget races would continue.  

The following day, the Ventura newspaper reported the cancellation of the remainder of the 1949 URA midget racing schedule at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl. According to promoter Charlie Cake, “hot rod” racing would replace the midgets on Monday nights, following the same program line-up as the midgets featuring a trophy dash, four heat races, a 15-lap semi-main and a 30-lap feature.  

On Saturday August 20, the Ventura County Star-Free Press carried an article about the Thunderbowl for the third day in a row.  The newspaper reported that in a telephone interview, Roy Morrison, the URA president revealed that on Friday, the URA board cancelled Charlie Cake’s franchise for URA midget racing at the Thunderbowl.

Morrison cited “non-payment of purses and officials fees,” as the reason for the cancellation, and noted that Cake had an outstanding debt of $781. Morrison added that URA’s Los Angeles attorney, J. Frank Armstrong would draw up papers and file suit in Santa Barbara “in the next ten days.”  In the meantime, Morrison said that the URA board would “strongly consider” a bid to hold races on the Ventura track.

Morrison claimed during his interview that Cake “held up the purse three times and gave the association nothing but trouble since he took over management of the track.”  Roy recalled that dealings with Bradley McLure the original 1949 franchisee were “very satisfactory.” Because of Cake’s actions Morrison claimed “the URA is operating at a loss at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.”

Cake, contacted by the Ventura County Star-Free Press, admitted that he held up purses “hoping to get more cars the following week,” and would continue to hold purse monies pending the outcome of a $5,000 breach of contract suit to be drawn up by his Ventura attorney Bernard J “Barney” Loughman. “The URA did not send the number of racers called for in the contract,” according to Cake.   

In the next installment, we will trace the rest of the 1949 season as new types of racing took over at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.

The author is looking for any private vintage photographs of the Carpinteria Thunderbowl that readers may have. Please reach out to kevracerhistory@aol.com .  We can’t pay for use, we’re just looking to share images for those who never saw the track.     

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part five - the first half of the 1949 season

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part five - the first half  of the 1949 season

Author’s note – This 12-part article highlights the brief 12-year history of one of Southern California’s least-documented auto racing venues – the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl began its third season of operation on Friday evening May 6th, 1949 as it hosted the ‘Ken Baker Circus of Thrills’ auto thrill show. The show starred the ‘Streamline Death-Defying Hell Drivers’ with precision driving by Dave Arnold and Earl McComb, the “ice crash” in which Bob “Jumpin’ Jack” Niles crashed a sedan into  20-ton wall of ice, rollover crashes by “Reckless” Dick Getty, a head-on crash by Getty and McComb, and closed with a fireworks finale.

Carpinteria was the inaugural show for Ken and Dottie Baker’s troupe, based in North Hollywood that used the advertising phrase “Smoke and Flame - we earn the name.” Later Baker tour stops included Lakeland Park Ranch & Stadium (also known as El Monte Speedway) in El Monte, Balboa Stadium in San Diego, San Fernando’s Valley Fiesta and Contra Costa Stadium in Walnut Creek.  

The Saturday May 14^th edition of the Ventura County Star Free Press featured an article that revealed that the Carpinteria Thunderbowl 1949 midget auto racing season would start on Monday evening May 16th.  The article revealed that “the track will be under the management of Bradley and Wanda McLure,” a couple that lived at 155 East Vince Street in Ventura. 

The article stated that Mr. McClure, who had 20 years’ experience as a superintendent at the Saticoy Rock Company in Ventura County, would “handle the track arrangements, while Mrs. McClure will attend to the concession stand.”

On Monday May 16 the Ventura County Star Free Press featured a Carpinteria Thunderbowl advertisement on page eight but on page nine, an article headlined “Rain Threat cancels Carpinteria Races,” noted that the Thunderbowl had scheduled a program “which featured an All-star card of top-notch drivers was lined up” until “Mrs. Bradley McLure cancelled due a threat of rain this morning and deferred until a week from tonight.”  

On May 20 the Ventura County newspaper carried a follow-up article in which Bradley McLure announced the cancellation of the races scheduled for May 23 and May 30 due to unfavorable weather conditions with the 1949 grand opening of the Thunderbowl postponed to June 6.

 The United Racing Association (URA) “Blue Circuit” drivers scheduled to headline the opening Carpinteria racing program included Danny Oakes, Johnny Garrett, Walt Faulkner, Dominic “Pee Wee” Distarce, “King Karl” Young and Rodger Ward. For the 1949 season, two drivers who jumped from the URA to the American Automobile Association (AAA) during the late summer of 1948, Norm Holtkamp and Cal Niday, returned to the URA fold along with their respective car owners, Roscoe Hogan and Arnold Krause.

On June 6^th, Faulkner defeated Ward in the Trophy Dash, with heat races wins to Garrett, Eddie Anderson, Jimmy Bryan and Bob Kelsey. Bryan beat Distarce to the checkered flag in the 15-lap semi-main which featured a crash that involved Bob Shimp and Al Sherman that required a red flag stoppage. Heath won the feature over Billy Cantrell in a comparatively slow time of 8 minutes and 18 seconds for the thirty laps.

The following week, June 13^th, Doug Groves set quick time in time trials at 11.95 seconds, but was edged out in the Trophy Dash by Billy Cantrell. ‘Skee’ Redican, Rodger Ward, Cliff Epp, and Bill Homeier recorded victories in their 6-lap heat races. Ward won the 15-lap semi-main event, then Bob Barker won the feature after both Jimmy Bryan and Cantrell spun themselves out of contention.   

Allen Heath won the June 20 URA “Blue Circuit” feature in the Lyle Greenman owned Offenhauser and Frank “Satan” Brewer won on June 27 in his own Ford V8-60 powered midget. In the meantime, the McLure family was negotiating to get out of their lease.

On July 1, a new promoter, Charlie Cake, signed the Carpinteria track lease with owner Jim Slaybaugh. In an appearance days later at the Ventura Police Boys’ Club, Cake announced his intention to also promote weekly motorcycle races at Carpinteria, which would begin with an exhibition during the scheduled July 4 URA “Blue Circuit” event.

The July 5^th race report in the Ventura County Star-Free Press noted that the 1/5-mile clay oval “appeared in better shape last night than since midget auto racing began two years ago.” The program started off with a bang when Walt Faulkner set a new track record in qualifying with a lap of 14.66 seconds. Faulkner whipped URA point leader Billy Cantrell in the trophy dash, then easily won his heat race. 

Howard Gardner, who flipped during the semi-main race on June 27^th, reversed his fortunes and snagged the semi-main win.  Faulkner, with chance for a “clean sweep” started the feature from seventh place, passed his teammate Len Faas for the lead on lap five, and romped to victory ahead of Faas, Chet Fink, Danny Oakes and Doug Groves.

A preview written before the first Thunderbowl weekly motorcycle race promised “at least 30 top-notch drivers from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties” that included Cal Cline, the operator of a local motorcycle shop, who took part in the July 4 exhibition. The scheduled motorcycle program included a four-lap trophy dash, eight lap heat races, a 15-lap semi and a 30-lap feature race. 

On July 7th brothers Glenn and Bob Mullaney of Santa Barbara “threaded their two-wheeled broncos through the pack to win first and second place” according to the July 8^th Ventura County Star-Free Press report, which noted that many in the average-sized crowd went away disappointed.

 

The article explained that “most of the blame…can be passed off to the track which was little more than a soft lumpy dirt road by the time three heat races were turned, and even worse when it came time for the consolation race and the main event.” Cal Cline, the local hero, flipped in the mushy dirt midway through the feature, but reportedly received "only friction burns on his hands and arms."

  

In the next URA midget program on Monday night July 11, Doug Groves of Van Nuys set quick time at 14.99 seconds then beat Bill Zaring in the Trophy Dash.  The evening’s heat race victories went to Bill LeRoy, Jim Bryan, Hal Minyard and Rodger Ward. The semi-main race win went to Bryan who set a new 15-lap record of 4 minutes and 64/100 seconds ahead of Kenny Morrison.

Just after Bill Cantrell took the checkered flag for the feature win, chaos erupted behind him. Hal Minyard hit the front stretch wall and his midget spun to stop, facing the approaching field. Doug Groves in third place, with nowhere to go, hit the Minyard car and his car flipped. Groves’ car came to rest upside down, with Doug who was unconscious, pinned inside for many minutes until he could be freed.  

Minyard miraculously escaped unhurt, but once Doug was removed from his midget, an ambulance rushed him to the Lying-In Osteopathic Hospital in Oxnard where the 33-year old driver was admitted with broken left leg and severe bruises on his chest.

The following week’s URA program on July 18^th was a benefit for Groves, with Doug brought to the track from the Oxnard hospital by Jay Ryan’s Ventura County ambulance service. Faulkner edged Garrett in the trophy dash, while Ward, Minyard, Cantrell and Bob Shimp scored heat races wins. Shimp led the semi-main until the Lea-Francis engine in his midget failed. which handed the win to Frank Brewer in his own Ford V8-60 powered car.

The 91-cubic inch Lea-Francis engine, purpose built in England for midget auto racing, featured dry-sump oiling, gear-driven double camshafts, four SU carburetors, with  a high compression ratio to run on alcohol.  Record-setting British driver Dudley Froy, Lea-Francis designer Ken Rose and chief engineer Albert Ludgate made trips to the United States in 1948 and 1949 to show and sell examples of the engine.

Besides Shimp, several US midget racers (including Woody Brown in Northern California) used the four-cylinder “LeaF” engine but it never became popular (less than a dozen were built), given that its 120 horsepower could not match the power of the Offenhauser four-cylinder engine and it sometimes put connecting rods through the side of the aluminum block.

  

The Ventura County Star-Free Press newspaper report called the July 18^th midget feature race “one of the most spectacular races ever at the Thunderbowl” as Cantrell, in the Casale Offenhauser, finished in seven minutes and 45.02 seconds, ahead of Bob Barker, who hounded Cantrell for all thirty laps, with Johnny Garrett the third place finisher.

The author is looking for any private vintage photographs of the Carpinteria Thunderbowl that readers may have. Please reach out to kevracerhistory@aol.com .  We can’t pay for use, we’re just looking to share images for those who never saw the track.     

The rise and fall of the Pacific Coast Speedways Association

The rise and fall 

of the 

Pacific Coast Speedways Association

In the glory days of midget auto racing in the Los Angeles basin in the late nineteen forties, there were two major sanctioning bodies that battled  - the United Racing Association, a regional midget-only group, and the American Automobile Association the powerful national organization that sanctioned all types of auto racing. The two organizations' battle sometimes put race track promoters in the middle, so they took action. 

In a meeting held at the posh Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel on Saturday January 19 1946, a group of nine men met and formed the Pacific Coast Speedways Association (PCSA), a nonprofit group of managers and owners of auto racing tracks to “help coordinate the sport on the Coast” according to the Los Angeles Times article.

The PCSA had three stated goals – coordinate racing dates, publicize the sport, and act as a liaison between the promoters and the midget driver association.  To fund group operations, each track pledged to contribute 1% of their gross receipts to the Association.    

The members unanimously elected Tom Haynes of San Diego as president, Bob Ware of Long Beach as vice-president and Dave Crosley and Long Beach as the group’s treasurer. The group named Bob Moore as their business manager.

In addition to those three promoters, attendees included Ross Page, promoter of races at Santa Maria and San Jose, Bill Loadvine from Culver City,  Harold Mathewson of Fresno, James LaFave and Frank Guthrie from San Diego. Promoters from tracks in Fresno, Stockton, Sacramento and Oakland did not attend the January 19^th meeting but instead provided proxies.      

The founding members

William E “Bill” Loadvine born in 1913 the son of oil wildcatter and real estate investor E W Loadvine, worked as a child actor at the Mack Sennett Studios in the silent movie era. Loadvine recalled that his meeting 1922 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Jimmy Murphy as a young man ignited his life-long interest in automobile racing.

Loadvine related that he raced on the Muroc Dry Lake in the early 1930’s and worked as a mechanic for “big car” drivers Ernie Triplett and Al Gordon.  According to Bill, injuries that he sustained in a crash in 1934 ended both his planned entry in the 1934 Indianapolis ‘500’ and his driving career. Bill began to work in racing promotion at various tracks, which he said included the Legion Ascot Speedway. 

After the end of World War Two, Loadvine purchased the former Culver City Legion race track, located at the western edge of Culver City near the northeast corner of the intersection of Lincoln and Washington Boulevards. The 1/4-mile dirt track was originally built in 1932 for the Culver City Kennel Club for greyhound racing.  The track operators surreptitiously allowed wagering which led to occasional police raids, but the track closed for good during 1939 after the new California Attorney General Earl Warren promised increased state enforcement.

The flat quarter-mile track briefly operated as a motorcycle and midget auto racing venue during 1941 known as the Culver City Legion Stadium co-managed by WH “Reg” Regelin and financier RC Wade with sponsorship from the local American Legion Post #46 and sanctioned by the United Midget Car Association.  

Robert K “Bob” Ware, a native of Arkansas had an impressive history in auto racing. He drove his first race car at the age of 16, and became one of the pioneers in midget auto racing with the United Midget Association (UMA). He finished fifth in the 1935 Turkey Night Grand Prix and was one of a group of thirteen drivers arrested at the infamous Victor McLaglen Stadium raid on July 30 1936 for violations of the Los Angeles city fire code.  Ware retired from driving after a serious crash at the Orange Empire Speedway in Colton California on July 4 1940.

In addition to his co-management of the Bonelli Stadium in Saugus Ware partnered in a Long Beach insurance agency with David “Dave” Crosley who co-managed the Bonelli Stadium race track owned by William Bonelli. Crosley, midget racing fan moved into race management in 1945.

Ware and Crosley proposed construction of a $125,000 stadium with parking for 7000 cars and a 16,000 seat concrete and steel grandstand for football, rodeos, and midget auto racing in Harbor City. When that plan fell through, the pair promoted a Labor Day 1946 midget and big car race, the first post-war race at the nearby “new” Gardena Bowl at 182^nd and Vermont Avenue built on land owned by Judge Frank Carrell. A crowd of 12,000 fans watched as Johnny McDowell won the midget feature ahead of Danny “Poison” Oakes after the early leader “Bullet” Joe Garson blew a tire.   

Ross Page lived in Santa Maria and had a colorful legal history. In 1940 and 1941, as the operator of the Melody Club, Page had several scrapes with local law enforcement regarding gambling and operating a lottery on the night club premises. In 1943 Page bought a supercharged 183-cubic inch Miller powered Indianapolis car from Leon Duray.

The February 5 1943 article in the Santa Maria Times demonstrates the inability of writers in that era to check and substantiate claims by their subjects. The article stated that the race car that Page purchased from Leon Duray is “the holder of the current Indianapolis Motor Speedway record of 130 2/5 miles per hour.” That statement blended several components of truth to craft a falsehood.

At the time, the standing lap record at the Speedway of 130.757 MPH set by Jimmy Snyder in the Joel Thorne owned 180-cubic inch Sparks “Little Six” powered car. The car Page bought built by Duray in 1938 never set on the pole position or set track records. As an owner/driver, Leon Duray, whose real name was George Stewart, set the track record in Indianapolis in 1928 of 122.39 MPH in his Miller front-drive car that stood for 11 years.

The Santa Maria Times article went on to indicate that Page himself would drive the car at Indianapolis when racing resumed, and noted that Page last drove at Indianapolis in 1936 in the Martz Special. The author has been unable to uncover any record to support the claim that Ross Page ever drove or was a riding mechanic at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  The Larry Martz owned Hudson-powered car driven by George Bailey did not qualify in 1936, and in previous appearances in 1933 and 1934 was driven by Gene Haustein with Ed Beaudine as the riding mechanic. 

In September 1945, Page promoted a midget auto race on the ½-mile dirt track at the Santa Maria Fairgrounds in partnership with Dr. Lloyd Clemons won by Gordon Cleveland after favorite Johnnie Parsons crashed in time trials. 

For 1946, Page became the promoter of the San Jose Speedway on Tully Road, and that same year the “Ross Page Special” the proto-roadster built by Frank Kurtis and powered by the Duray supercharged 183-cubic inch Miller engine, first appeared in the Indianapolis ‘500.’

Tom Haynes and his partner, Frank Guthrie began promoting races at the San Diego City Stadium, later known as Balboa Stadium, in 1939 with the United Midget Association. In 1940 the pair took over the management of the Orange Empire Speedway in Colton and the Atlantic Speedway in East Los Angeles. In 1946, they refocused their efforts on San Diego. 

     

Harold “Hal” Mathewson from Fresno was a motorcycle hill climber an amateur member of the Indian motorcycle factory team and in 1938 was crowned the class B Pacific Coast champion. In 1937 as the president of the Fresno motorcycle club, Harold got his first taste of promotion while as he continued to compete. Hal’s events continued through 1942, as like auto racing, motorcycle racing events continued up until midnight on July 31 1942.   

Months after the Second World War ended, Hal and a partner Frank Ennis promoted a combined motorcycle and midget auto racing program on September 29 1945 at the Tulare-Kings County Fairgrounds. At the time of the Pacific Coast Speedways Association meeting in January 1946, Mathewson planned to build a new midget auto racing facility in Bassett, east of El Monte California. When that fell through he promoted midget races at the Huntington Beach Speedway.

The PCSA in 1946

In a meeting in Los Angeles on February 19 1946, the PCSA announced the sanctioning of four midget racing meetings - Stockton Fairgrounds promoted by Frank Crowley would open on April 7, the same date that Ware and Crosley were set to open Bonelli Stadium.

Ross Page would open the racing season at San Jose on May 5^th and Haynes and Guthrie were set to open Balboa Stadium in San Diego on May 30. The Association received applications from track in Alhambra, Bassett, Bakersfield, Long Beach and Santa Fe Springs, but indicated it would not issue sanctions to those planned tracks until permits were issued for construction.

On March 15, 1946, the PCSA issued a sanction to the new track under construction in Oildale near Bakersfield by James Banducci and Carl Lindsay. Originally known as the ”B and L Speedbowl” it featured eight-foot high banked turns and grandstands seating for 6500 fans built on the west side of the track.  With the approval from the PCSA to open on May 4 1946, Roy Morrison, President of the United Racing Association, then issued his group’s sanction for Saturday night racing at Oildale in the 1946 season.  

In late April 1946 the Fresno Airport Speedway, rebuilt after the war with 3000 additional seats to allow for a total of 9500 fans, announced its affiliation with the PCSA. With Fresno’s scheduled opening on Sunday night May 5, the PCSA now had tracks in Sacramento, San Jose, Bakersfield, Fresno, Saugus and San Diego.

The 1948 Crisis

By 1948, the URA and the American Automobile Association (AAA) were in fierce competition for tracks and cars, and the Pacific Coast Speedways Association put themselves in the middle of the dispute. In the second week of January, the PCSA convened a three-day conference for the managers and operators of their 13 affiliated tracks at the storied Hollywood Roosevelt hotel to plan a unified racing schedule for the upcoming season. 

Attendees included charter PCSA members Haynes and Guthrie, and Mathewson with his new partner at Fresno, Huntington Beach and San Bernardino, Ernie Lauck. New PCSA members included Dick Russell, promoter of the Last Frontier Sportsdrome in Las Vegas (which had opened in late 1947), Stewart Metz, promoter at Orange Show Speedway, Bob Murphy, who ran the Tulare, Bakersfield (Oildale track) and Carpinteria “Thunderbowls,” Stan Moore and Billy Hunnefield, operators of Hughes Stadium in Sacramento, the Stockton 99 Speedway and Modesto 99 Stadium and Burt Chalmers the Culver City Stadium publicity director.

Also attending the January meetings were representatives from Carrell Speedway and Gene Doyle from Gilmore Stadium but those two tracks were not yet members of the association. The promoters listened to a presentation from representatives of the URA and when the meeting concluded on Wednesday January 7 the group agreed to continue to operate under a URA blanket sanction.  

Between four and six of the tracks would operate as “open tracks” which would allow Offenhauser and non-Offenhauser engines to compete, while the balance of the PCSA tracks would be part of the “Red” or non-Offenhauser circuit.  Haynes was re-elected PCSA president, Lauck, the vice-president, with Guthrie as the secretary and Metz as the group’s treasurer.      

Two days later, “Hollywood” Bill White, the promoter of midget auto races at the Los Angeles Coliseum announced that his events would be held under AAA sanction. At the announcement, AAA Western Region supervisor Gordon Betz took the opportunity to criticize the PCSA group and told Jack Curnow of the Los Angeles Times that the AAA was first invited to speak to the promoter’s group during the conference, then the invitation had been withdrawn. According to Betz, “the deal was cut and dried before the meeting opened.”    

Despite the blanket sanction agreement, there were still machinations behind the scenes, as the URA board balked at the concept of “open competition,” the board said that tracks were to be designated as either “Red” or “Blue” circuit tracks which did not align with the PCSA-URA agreement. 

On January 28^th Burt Chalmers, the PCSA spokesman, announced that Gilmore Stadium had joined the Association and thus would be a URA track in 1947.  Haynes detailed that five PCSA tracks - Gilmore, Culver City, San Bernardino, Fresno and San Diego - would be “open” to cars with either Offenhauser or pushrod engines. The remaining PCSA tracks - Tulare, Carpinteria, San Jose, Stockton, Las Vegas, Sacramento, Bonelli Stadium, Modesto and Huntington Beach – would ban Offenhauser powered midgets. 

Haynes the PCSA President than gave the URA board an ultimatum – they had seven days to either accept or reject the PCSA proposal. The PCSA’s inclusion of San Diego as an “open” track triggered an immediate outcry from URA ‘Red” circuit car owners and drivers, because Balboa Stadium in San Diego had traditionally been a stronghold for the non-Offenhauser URA circuit, and the change “would put them out of business.”  The URA board agreed with the non-Offenhauser car owners and drivers and refused to accept the PCSA proposal.  

With a race scheduled at Las Vegas on Sunday February 29, on Monday February 9 1948 Haynes and the PCSA began to sign up car owners and drivers in preparation for sanctioning their own races. The Los Angeles Times auto racing writer, Jack Curnow, reported that 36 car owners and 35 drivers signed up that first day. The list of car owners included AJ Walker, the 1947 URA “Blue Circuit” car owner champion, Ray Gardner, the Krause brothers and the Famaghetti brothers. Curnow reported that drivers that signed with the PCSA included the rising star Troy Ruttman and veterans Lyle Dickey and Johnny Garrett. 

Former racer Roscoe Turner the new URA President, called for an emergency board meeting on February 11 to reconsider the PCSA proposal specifically regarding Balboa Stadium. The URA Board still refused to consider San Diego as an “open” track and in response the PCSA group broke off negotiations.

On Valentine’s Day 1948 the PCSA announced that Gilmore, Culver City, San Diego, and San Bernardino would operate under AAA sanction in 1948.  Betz could barely contain his glee as many former URA drivers and cars that included Lyle Dickey, Gordon Reid and Peewee Distarce, signed in at the pit gate at the Los Angeles Coliseum for the season-opener the following night.  

Alas, the AAA alliance did not hold, as Betz could not guarantee 24 cars for every program, and after low car counts at Culver City in early April, just before the 1948 season opened in earnest, the PCSA announced that all 14 PCSA tracks would be “open” to Offenhauser and non-Offenhauser cars under URA sanction.

With all the races classified as “open,” Roscoe Turner and the URA had no problem meeting the 24-car minimum, particularly at the “Big Four” LA-area tracks - Culver City (Tuesday nights), Balboa (Wednesday nights), Gilmore (Thursday nights) and San Bernardino which ran a Friday night schedule.

This crisis was the last action by the Pacific Coast Speedways Association – in 1949, midget racing began to decline, the American Auto Association pulled out of the Southern California midget racing picture and the United Racing Association controlled its own destiny as far as schedule and the PCSA promoters’ group faded into obscurity.

For the 1949 season, the regular scheduled URA “Blue” circuit stops were Gilmore on Thursday nights, followed by San Bernardino on Friday nights and Culver City on Saturday nights. Huntington Beach on Tuesday nights, Balboa in San Diego on Wednesday nights and Fresno on Sunday nights became the regular stops on the 1949 URA “Red” circuit which banned Offenhauser engines.  

As the decade of the nineteen fifties continued midget car counts dropped so much that the URA ceased to count separate “Red circuit” or “Blue circuit” points and crowned a combined champion.