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 short life of the Oxnard Speedway

The short life of the Oxnard Speedway

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part 12 – 1958 – the end

Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part 12 – 1958 – the end 

 

Author’s note – This is the final installment of our series of articles that highlights the 12-year history of one of Southern California’s least-documented auto racing venues – the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.

For the 1958 season, the Carpinteria Thunderbowl boasted of a new racing surface with greater banking in the turns, and in unofficial practice sessions in late April, the track record was reportedly “shattered.” Despite the changes, the fastest jalopies averaged around 17.65 seconds per lap in time trials while the Carpinteria track record set by Chuck Gibson July 2, 1956 still stood at 17 seconds flat.

Track owner and manager Jim Slaybaugh instituted new scoring procedures which he promised would reduce the length of the racing program “by as much as 45 minutes,” according to the Ventura County Star-Free Press newspaper article. In addition to the jalopy races, the 24-week schedule promised added attractions of demolition derbies, powder puff derbies for female racers, and quarter-midget races.  

Chuck Gibson the 1957 Carpinteria track champion, grabbed the 1958 opening night win on May 5 1958. Gibson started the 40-lap feature in last place and raced his way to victory over a pair of Franks – Kephart, then living in Venice finished second and “Captain” Kidd from Lakewood finished in third place.  Gibson won again on May 12 as he beat Kidd and Jack Rowland to the finish line.

On May 19^th, Jim Slaybaugh celebrated his 69^th birthday by racing his number 13 jalopy and after the races he shared a giant birthday cake with the fans. Heat race wins went to Kephart, Bill Cherry and Don Donnmeyer, as Jack Rowland won both the trophy dash and the 10-lap helmet dash. Kephart claimed the 40-lap feature trophy over Leroy Dalton and Ed Vanes.

Pete Gallagher, Bill Cherry, Chuck Gibson and Ray Bunch won the preliminary heat races in the annual “Poor Man’s Indianapolis” program” on May 26, then Gibson won a special 8-lap runoff between the heat race winners. Gibson started the 50-lap feature from the tail and worked his way forward to challenge leader Frank Kidd until his battery failed. Donnmeyer took up the chase after Kidd but fell short at the checkered flag.

After his “Clean Sweep” of the June 2^nd program, Gibson was out to capture his fourth feature win in six races for the special Father’s Day program on June 9^th. In addition to the regular 40-lap feature won by Frank Kephart, the program included a ladies egg-throwing contest and “jalopy jumps.” On June 16^th, Kephart’s wife Irene easily won the 6-lap Powder Puff race while Frank Kidd won the 40-lap jalopy feature.

Through June and July weekly attendance averaged between 500 and 700 fans  Kidd won the June 30th feature over Chuck Gibson, then the track held a holiday special 50-lap feature on Saturday July 5^th with the added feature of a go-kart race. On July 7^th Gibson scored his fourth feature win of the season in a program marred by Bill Potter’s scary end-over-end flip in time trials after a collision with Frank Kidd. Potter suffered cuts and bruises and after he spent some time in the track ambulance he decided not to race any further that evening.

On July 28^th it was Kidd’s turn to take a wild ride, as he lost control and his car barrel-rolled four times, cleared the crash wall and landed on all four wheels but Frank escaped uninjured. Jack Rowland of Ventura won that night’s 40-lap feature over heat race winners Chuck Gibson and Donnmeyer. 

On August 4^th, Gibson, a police officer in Ventura, notched his fifth feature win of the season, then two weeks later, he won his sixth feature race of the season “far ahead of second-place finisher Bud Kelch,” who earlier won the trophy dash.

As the month of August continued, the car count dwindled, with an average of 20 cars each race night. Gibson scored his seventh feature win of the season at Carpinteria on August 18 as he nearly swept the program – in addition to the feature win, he posted fast time, won his heat race, and won the special 8-lap race for the six point leaders. 

 

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl 1958 season ended on Monday night September 8. Mid-way through the main event, Rebel McGinnis, a racer from Santa Barbara, lost control of his jalopy and ran head-on into crash wall. McGinnis staggered away from his destroyed machine and collapsed.

The track ambulance rushed Rebel to a Santa Barbara hospital where he was admitted in fair condition. 

Despite dropping out of the feature won by Frank Kidd, Chuck Gibson was crowned the 1958 Carpinteria track champion with eight feature wins in 23 attempts for his second consecutive track championship with car owner Joe Savatier.

The close of the 1958 season marked the end of racing at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl the track became the victim of progress. The California Department of Transportation widened the Rincon Parkway (Highway 101 through Carpinteria) and needed an area to stockpile materials and apparently made owner Jim Slaybaugh a good offer. The track was reported as being torn down in March 1959 with the track’s water tank, lighting and lumber sold for scrap.  Around that same time, the adjacent Southern Pacific Railroad line was abandoned. 

The Tri-Counties Racing Association sanctioned “hot rod jalopies” at Saugus Speedway later in 1959 then the group disbanded. 

Today there is no visual evidence that the Carpinteria Thunderbowl ever existed, as the site is now known as the Carpinteria Bluffs, a wildlands area southeast of an office complex known as ‘The Enclave at Carpinteria’ which houses the offices of the Procore Software Company and Continental Tire USA. No doubt thousands of drivers pass the Highway 150 exit on Highway 101 daily without knowing that they are passing the site of forgotten Southern California racing history.

Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part 11 - 1957 – a competing race track

Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part 11 – 1957 

A competing race track

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.

To open this installment, we will profile three interesting characters that competed at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl during the 1957 racing season.

Buford Lane, the 1956 Tri-Counties Racing Association (TCRA) champion and Paul Lang, the 1956 TCRA runner-up were fierce competitors on track but close friends off the track. Buford lived in Ventura and ran a Mobil service station, while Paul, married to Lane’s sister, Marie, ran a plastering business in the adjacent town of Oxnard. The pair partnered on Lane’s first racing jalopy in 1949 then Lang built his own jalopy the following year. 

Buford born in Knoxville Tennessee in 1924, served in the United States Navy in Ventura County as a mechanic in World War Two.  After the war, Lane stayed in the area and worked as a mechanic at various auto repair shops in Oxnard before he opened his own service station in Ventura in 1956.  Married with a three-year son, Buford raced as a hobby, having built six jalopies in eight years of racing.

Lane revealed in a Ventura County Star-Free Press interview that he preferred to race in the outside groove “because you don’t have to turn as much out there as you do on the pole,” and summed up his racing philosophy as “I try to drive ahead of myself and anticipate what’s going to happen.” Buford told the interviewer that he preferred to build his engines with 1935 and 1936 Ford V-8 blocks because of the lighter (60-pound) crankshaft, and he liked night-time races due to better track conditions and cooler air.  

During the summer of 1957, Joe Savatier, a Ventura automobile mechanic and owner of two jalopies that raced at the Thunderbowl, built a sports car to be powered by a “vapor engine” designed by Ventura police detective Doug Paxton in partnership with local boilermaker Harry Weaver and retired automotive engineer Clyde Aldrich. The trio planned to race their revolutionary sports car at Sebring in 1958, and believed their engine would eventually revolutionize the automotive industry.

Designer Paxton claimed that his “vapor engine” would be half the size and weigh a quarter of a contemporary V-8 engine but develop twice the horsepower with astronomical amounts of torque. The designer, no relation to  Robert Paxton McCulloch, who developed and built the Payton Phoenix steam car shown on the cover of the June 1957 issue of Road & Track magazine, received a United States patent for a stationary version of his “vapor engine” in 1970. 

Joe Savatier, born in 1897, told George Kelton of the Ventura County Star-Free Press in August 1957 that he ran his first race on July 4, 1914 in Visalia which father won and he, Joe, finished third. Joe related that he later raced on the great board track at Beverly Hills and at the original Ascot Speedway.

Savatier moved to Ventura in 1942 after he worked for Preston Tucker whom he described as “one of the greatest guys that ever lived” (Tucker passed away in December 1956). In 1954, Savatier bought a Hudson Hornet stock car from Jack McGrath after the AAA stock car season and entered it in three West Coast NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Racing) events for Tony Nelson.  In the 1960’s Savatier built the ‘Domar Special’ driven in CRA (California Racing Association) sprint car races by Ned Spath and Stan McElrath. 

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

During the 1957 season, local newspaper coverage of racing at the Thunderbowl became spotty.  The annual “Poor Man’s Indianapolis” racing program at Carpinteria, run on May 27,1957, featured a 16-car field racing for 50 laps and, as promised, many of the drivers’ names were unfamiliar to the 900 fans in attendance.

Don Barlow won the trophy dash, while heat race wins went to Don Myer, Jack Rowland, Roy Alstat, and Cecil Moss, then Joe Kidd captured the semi-main win.  In the feature, however, familiar names from previous seasons rose to the top as Frank Kephart won the race, trailed by Buford Lane and Chuck Gibson.

On June 3, Barlow repeated his trophy dash win while Paul Dickerson, J R Weber, Alstat and Lane scored heat race wins. Joe Dominguez led the first fourteen laps of the semi-main, but spun out on the last lap and handed the win to Alstat. Irene Kephart won the special Powder Puff Derby race, then the crowd of 500 fans watched as Lane won the 30-lap feature over Gibson as Pete Gallagher, the night’s fastest qualifier, finished in third place.  

On June 10^th Buford Lane beat Lee Andrews and Bob Garrett in the 30-lap feature held before just 500 fans. Frank Kephart flipped during the semi-main - he emerged uninjured but his car was finished for the night.  A week later, Lane repeated his winning ways as he topped Paul Dickson and Andrews with “some 1,500 fans on hand.”

At the June 24^th race, Chuck Gibson set fast time at 17.76 seconds but Buford Lane won the trophy dash. All the drivers that won heat races that night – Bob Garrett, Chuck Woods Joe Dominguez and Pete Gallagher – called nearby Ventura home. Jack Rowland of Santa Barbara won the semi-main event, and Dick Trealor of Ventura won the feature by a fender over Kephart with Buford Lane third.

For the July 1^st program, the Thunderbowl advertised fireworks and gave away free bubble gum and pony rides to the children in attendance for the 50-lap feature that had a guaranteed $250 purse. Before reportedly “the biggest crowd of the season,” 2000 fans watched as Chuck Gibson set fast time at 18.16 seconds and won the trophy dash. Bill Cherry won the helmet dash, as Dave Revard, Don Donmeyer, Frank Kephart and Lee Andrews won their heat races. 

Kephart also won the semi-main race, then after lap 20 in the feature, Andrews, Bob Young and Buford Lane broke away from the rest of the field. After the three diced for the lead over the last 30 laps, at the checkered flag, Young nipped Andrews for the win with Lane in third place. The fireworks show had to be canceled because the fire department refused to issue the track a permit. 

The TCRA’s new Oxnard Speedway, managed by Paul Lang, hosted its first race on Thursday afternoon July 4, 1957 and opened a new chapter of racing in Ventura County.   The crowd reported as either 1200 or 2000 fans, saw a dusty program, with the 30-lap feature won by Dave Revard in his 1934 Ford coupe.

On the night of August 26^th, Chuck Gibson won the Carpinteria jalopy feature over Lee Andrews, and Frank “Captain” Kidd won the September 9^th feature. In the Thunderbowl season finale on September 23^rd, Gibson capped off his season championship with his victory in the 50-lap feature. Buford Lane was the 1957 season runner-up followed by Lee Andrews and Pete Gallagher with Dick Trealor rounding out the top five in points.

The Carpintera Veterans Hall today  

After 22 weeks of racing, the Thunderbowl closed out its 1957 season with a barbeque hosted by track owner and promoter Jim Slaybaugh for 150 members of the Thunderbowl racing community on September 30 at the Carpinteria Veterans Memorial Building.

Check out the next installment of the Carpinteria Thunderbowl story as for 1958 the track would feature a new racing surface and the TCRA would return to sanction.      

    

  

Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part Ten the 1956 season

Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part Ten 

the 1956 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.

Rufus “Parnelli” Jones, the runner-up in the 1955 Tri-Counties Racing Association (TCRA) championship, won the first event of the 1956 jalopy racing season at Carpinteria Thunderbowl on opening night Monday May 7, albeit the three-lap helmet dash. Lee Andrews, Dick Jump, Paul Lang and Frank Kephart won the preliminary heat races that followed, and defending TCRA champion Buford Lane won the semi-main event.

Marvin Porter, a 32-year old friend of Parnelli Jones’ became the star of the night, as he won the trophy dash, his heat race and the 30-lap feature race in his #14 Chrysler jalopy, an unusual entry against a field comprised mainly of Fords.

Porter, an Army Air Force veteran, would later graduate to the NASCAR (National Association of Stock Car Racing) Pacific Coast Late Model series and won the 1959 NASCAR National Short Track championship in the last season for the series which used points earned in races held on tracks a half-mile or shorter.  Porter would later win the 1960 NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model title with three wins, and became a partner in Parnelli Jones Enterprises.

Paul Lang won the 30-lap features on May 14 and May 21, and then scored again on May 28 for three straight wins, in a special 50-lap holiday feature, trailed by Dave Revard, Sonny Mars, and Buford Lane. On the evening of June 11, Lang beat Jones and Pete Gallagher to the checkered flag in the 30-lap feature to win his fourth race in six 1956 starts at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.  Lee Hammock of Santa Barbara won the trophy dash over fast qualifier Lee Andrews, as well as his heat race and the June 11^th semi-main event. 

On June 25, Andrews won his first Thunderbowl feature event of the season ahead of Lang after Pete Gallagher crashed out of the lead on the 18th lap of the 30-lap feature and flipped. On July 2, Ventura motorcycle policeman Chuck Gibson set a new track record for jalopies at Carpinteria in time trials with an incredible 17-second flat lap, which eclipsed the old record held by Lee Hammock at 17.28 seconds. 

Competitors and fans alike were curious as Gibson’s previous best qualifying time was 17.29 seconds set on June 25^th.  Gibson was not the only Ventura Police officer who appeared at Carpinteria weekly, as Sergeant Robert Krupp moonlighted as the track’s starter.

The 30-year old Gibson previously had raced his own cars at Carpinteria, but for 1956 he drove the #5 cream-and-red 1934 Ford owned by Joe Savatier who ran British Motor Car Service in Ventura. Savatier, a long-time automobile mechanic and race car owner and builder in the Ventura area, fielded a stock car at several 1954 NASCAR West Coast races for Tony Nelson.

Savatier’s jalopy was a regular front runner at Carpinteria with previous drivers Nelson, Bob Stanclift, Joe James and most recently Jim Jennings, but the new record raised eyebrows. Other competitors complained to the Tri-Counties Racing Association officials, and claimed an allegedly illegal intake manifold, so Gibson’s new record held in abeyance pending an inspection.

The driver Gibson and car owner Savatier both denied knowledge of any illegality, and the subsequent inspection of Savatier’s car set off a flurry of protests and counter-protests, and on Saturday July 7^th, Thunderbowl officials cancelled jalopy racing “until further notice,” with advertisements in both the Oxnard Press Courier and the Ventura County Star-Free Press newspapers. The officiating controversy led to track owner Jim Slaybaugh to take over as the track operator from Cliff Allen of Oxnard.

After a turbulent week of reorganization, racing resumed on July 16^th and on July 23^rd Lee Andrews set the quick time in time trials of 17.47 seconds, with heat race wins to Jump, Don Barlow, Gallagher and Bud Kelch. Jump won the semi-main and Mary Jo Erickson, wife of multiple Carpinteria feature winner Rip, won the special powder puff race and Bob Garrett won the night’s 30-lap feature event.

The following week, Chuck Gibson set fast time at 18.02 seconds, and Larry Albertson, Ray Foss, Buford Lane and Don Barlow scored heat race victories. Bob McFarland won the special mechanic’s race, while Mickey McDonald won the semi-main and Gallagher was first under the checkered flag in the feature race.

Paul Lang, in an interview with Hal Totten of the Oxnard Press-Courier revealed that contrary to the public belief that the jalopies were junk, he spent an average of 16 hours a week to maintain his yellow-and-black #10 1934 Ford coupe. Lang stated that in addition to engine tuning, he swapped in a new axles every four races and a rebuilt transmission nearly every other week, though he raced at the Thunderbowl locked in second gear with a top speed of 60 miles per hour on the short Carpinteria straightaways.   Even with multiple feature wins, sponsorship and free parts, Paul noted he was only $50 ahead so far in the 1956 season, as a main event win at the Thunderbowl paid just over $45. 

 

On August 7^th the Oxnard Press Courier newspaper published an unintentionally humorous article about the previous night’s Carpinteria race. The newspaper reported that Buford Lane won the feature in “slightly over eight minutes,” and Vern Scanlon won the semi-main in “about four minutes.”  The short article stated that “the exact times and amount knocked off the old records were not available today.” The same day’s Ventura County Star-Free Press report did not mention any new records, but noted that Irene Kephart (wife of Frank) won the powder puff race.

The following week on August 13^th, Lee Andrews set quick time at 17.65 seconds and won the trophy dash. Bob Waldren, Bob Garrett Chuck Wood and Paul Lang scored heat race victories and Pete Gallagher won the semi-main. Don Dunmyer won the special race held that week - a “backwards race,” in which the cars ran around the track clockwise and the race started with the checkered flag and finished with the green flag.

On Friday August 17^th, the Ventura County Star-Free Press reported that Thunderbowl owner and promoter Jim Slaybaugh closed on his purchase of Lane Speedway, a ¼-mile dirt oval described as “located in Los Angeles County between Palmdale and Lancaster.” The article related that Slaybaugh planned to race jalopies at the Speedway, built in 1955 with seating for 1800 fans, on Sunday afternoons.  The author has been unable to locate any records of Lane Speedway – do any of our readers have any information? 

September 24 marked the final race of the 1956 Carpinteria Thunderbowl season, highlighted by the return of Parnelli Jones, who timed in fastest with a best lap of 17.75 seconds and then won the trophy dash.  During the 1956 season, Jones graduated to NASCAR Pacific Coast stock cars as he drove for Torrance Ford dealer and future racing team partner Vel Miletich. Jones finished second in the NASCAR Grand National race held in August at Bay Meadows in San Mateo, and three weeks earlier raced in the ‘Southern 500’ held at Darlington South Carolina where he crashed and finished 50^th in a 70-car field.  

In the Carpinteria season finale, Bill Cherry, Cecil Moss, Pete Gallagher and Lee Andrews scored heat race wins and Ray Chapin won the semi-main event.   On the 16^th lap of the feature, Ventura’s Dave Revard, winner of his first feature race just three weeks earlier, escaped uninjured in a grinding crash.

Revard’s car collided with the out-of-control machine of Buford Lane which had blown a rear tire. Paul Lang then struck Revard’s car, which launched it over the crash wall, where it landed upside down and burst into flames. Once the race restarted, Lee Andrews scored the season’s final win.

Photo from the Oxnard Press-Courier of the top two drivers in TCRA 1956 points.

The final 1956 Tri-Counties Racing Association (TCRA)  points tally awarded the season championship for the second year in a row to Buford Lane with 1995 points to runner-up Paul Lang with 1880 points. Lee Andrews took third place with 1785 points, Revard wound up fourth with 1650 markers and Chuck Gibson rounded out the top points with 1340 points. 

Less than a week after the racing finale, on September 30, a Los Angeles pilot who took off from the nearby Parsons Airpark reported to the Ventura County Sherriff that his plane had been shot at as he flew near the Carpinteria Thunderbowl.

Vincent Purden reported that the bullet struck his plane’s generator, but he landed safely at the Santa Barbara airport.  Avocado rancher Louis Parsons built and operated his Airpark with a 2000-foot dirt runaway with five small hangars through the mid-nineteen sixties. 

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl Part nine – 1952-1955 The Tri-Counties Racing Association & Parnelli Jones

The Carpinteria Thunderbowl

Part nine – 1952-1955  

The Tri-Counties Racing Association 

& 

Parnelli Jones 

Parnelli Jones in 1963

photo appears courtesy of the IUPUI University Library

Center for Digital Studies 

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Collection  

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 opened for the 1952 season with the California Jalopy Association (CJA) on Monday night April 14 with an eight-race program with thirty cars and drivers, many of whom spent the winter months racing at the Culver City Stadium clay track.

“Rip” Erickson came into Carpinteria as the points leader with several feature wins to his credit, along with defending two-time champion Fred Russell and Danny Letner.  Those top CJA racers were supplemented by Ventura County drivers that included Tony Nelson, Bob Ellsworth, Al Goelz, Lee Andrews and Eddie Deal.

It appears that the feature race length became 100 laps for several of the Monday night races; Paul Norman the current CJA points leader, won the June 2 event by a full lap over Ellsworth and Ken Ebert from Lompoc.   Eighteen cars started the feature but only five cars finished, the result of four separate accidents.

Two weeks later, it was announced that the CJA and the promoters of the Thunderbowl, Tony Coldeway and Bud Hines Junior, parted ways, with future races co-sanctioned by the Tri-Counties Racing Association (TCRA) and the Pacific Racing Association (PRA).  That decision meant that Paul Norman, the CJA points leader and winner of six of the nine 1952 Carpinteria features, would not return.

The absence of the CJA regulars opened the way to victory lane for the local drivers, as Tony Nelson of Oxnard won the June 23^rd feature trailed by Ellsworth and Buford Lane. The big holiday weekend 100-lap race with fireworks scheduled for July 5 had to be postponed to July 7th due to foggy conditions.

Local driver and Navy veteran Sonny Mars won the July 14^th feature, and Rip Erickson crashed on Sunday July 20^th at Culver City and broke his leg which put the Carpinteria favorite on the sidelines for the rest of the season.  

With “Rip” out of action, Tony Nelson out-dueled Mars on July 21 to win the 30-lap “Navy Night” feature. A week later, Mars won his heat race then followed it up with a main event win over Nelson. During the their heat race, drivers Bill Cherry and Paul Lang got into a wheel-banging feud that ended with Lang’s car upside down and Cherry’s car in the wall and neither able to continue.   

In early August the Thunderbowl went to the birds in a matter of speaking, as in back-to-back weeks the track hosted avian competitions along with the jalopies.   On August 11, “Hercules” a four-year old golden eagle was paired against “Major” a four-year old pelican in a scheduled ten-minute race. 

The event turned out to be a flop, as the eagle slipped his leash and left the pelican waiting at the starting gate. In the jalopy race, Nelson won over Bob Heffington.  This unusual promotion was followed the next week by scheduled  race between a pair of ostriches, “Whirlaway” and “Man O’ War” ridden by a pair of brave jalopy drivers selected by fan voting.     

Ventura resident Bob Ellsworth won the Labor Day 100-lap feature although he ran out of gas on the last lap. With a substantial lead he inherited after Lee Andrews and Buford Lane suffered blown tires, Ellsworth coasted across the finish line ahead of rookie driver Bill Torgeson. 

Over the final three weeks of the season, Nelson and Ellsworth battled for the TCRA title as they traded feature victories. At the conclusion of the Thunderbowl’s final 1952 race on October 13, Tony Nelson prevailed in the special 60-lap feature and won the title by nine points over Bob Ellsworth. 

  

Over the winter of 1952-1953, track owner James Slaybaugh took over promotional duties and requested that the Tri-Counties Racing Association assume the sole sanctioning duties at the Thunderbowl. In a truly unusual twist, Slaybaugh was not just the track owner and promoter, he also raced a jalopy in the weekly Carpinteria programs. 

In its annual meeting held on March 9 1952, the TCRA Board accepted Slaybaugh’s proposal and the organization elected retired driver Pat Deardorf as the club president. Deardorf named John Shaw as the starter, Don Larson the pit manager and Jack Moore to be in charge of timing and scoring at the Carpeinteria Thunderbowl.   

The TCRA set the opening day as April 20 with an open test date on April 12, but the opening night was rained out as was the scheduled make-up date of April 27^th.   The May 5^th opening brought “near perfect weather” and a “full house” according to the next day’s Ventura County Star-Free Press account. Rip Erickson recovered from last year’s broken leg  nearly scored a clean sweep, as he won the trophy dash and the feature but narrowly lost his heat race by a fender to Paul Lang.

Erickson repeated with a feature victory the following week in a racing program that included a trophy dash, three heat races, the semi-main event and the thirty-lap feature, all completed in an hour and 35 minutes. Over the following weeks, Erickson, the Santa Barbara speedster stretched his victory skein to five races before he split with his car owner. The split did not seem to effect Erickson who won 9 of 11 races by July 21 and successfully passed a post-race technical inspection by TCRA officials.

Rip’s streak of success ended August 4 after he sold his Ford to fellow competitor Bob Heffington and he ran into delays building his new Chevrolet entry.   Erickson led Paul Lang by only 12 points when he returned to action on August 31 as he drove one of only three Chevrolets in the program.  On September 7^th, Rip returned to victory lane at Carpinteria, as he inherited the win when the leaders tangled on lap 45 of the 50-lap feature.

As the 1953 season entered its final weeks, Lang closed the gap on Erickson with a win on September 14 but Erickson salvaged a second place finish to cling to a 14 point lead. In the final points-paying race, Buford Lane won the feature while neither Erickson nor Lang scored any points, so Rip was the 1953 Tri-County Racing Association champion with 85 tallies to Lang’s 71 while Lane was third with 59 points.

For 1954, Jim Slaybaugh and the Tri-Counties Racing Association (TCRA) moved the racing schedule at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl to Friday nights. Rip Erickson continued he winning ways on opening night May 14. Two weeks later Bill Heffington of Santa Barbara drove Erickson’s former machine and won the ‘Poor Man’s Indianapolis” 50-lap feature. At age 65, Slaybaugh continued to race his jalopy and in early June, he took part in a special “old timers” match race against the fathers of Lee Andrews and Rip Erickson.

The July 16th program saw a drivers’ revolt after Jim Slaybaugh announced that he was shifting the program to Monday nights. The drivers immediately protested and refused to race.  Jim Shepherd led the drivers who claimed that their contract with the Thunderbowl specified Friday night race dates and that the drivers were not consulted before the announcement.   

After peace was restored, Lee Andrews won the feature but then a protest was filed, but after his car was torn down it was found to be legal. During August, Slaybaugh introduced motorcycle races on alternate Saturday nights, and as the jalopy season ended on September 10, Andrews from Ventura won the TCRA 1954 championship by 20 points over Buford Lane.

In 1955, another future Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Parnelli Jones arrived  the Carpinteria Thunderbowl. 

 For the 1955 season at the Carpinteria Thunderbowl, track owner and promoter Jim Slaybaugh continued the track’s sanction with the Tri-Counties Racing Association and the jalopy racing schedule shifted back to Monday nights set to open on May 2.

The season opened in a predictable way as Rip Erickson won his heat race, the Australian Pursuit race and the 30-lap feature then he followed it up with another feature win on May 9th, as the Thunderbowl pits were jammed with 35 cars.  Erickson made it three in row on May 16^th as he passed leader Bob Ellsworth on lap 28 of the 30-lap feature. 

 

The runner-up in the May 16^th trophy dash was a 21-year old racer from Torrance named “Parnellie” Jones, who first raced a jalopy as a 17-year old in 1950 at Carrell Speedway in Gardena. Little would fans present that night at Carpinteria know that Parnelli Jones (he would soon drop the “e”) would became the 1960 United States Auto Club (USAC) Midwest sprint car champion, then share Rookie of The Year honors in the Indianapolis ‘500’ with Bobby Marshman and repeat as the USAC sprint car titlist in 1961. 

In 1955, no one could predict that in 1962 Parnelli would be the first man break the magical 150 miles per hour (MPH) barrier at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and win the 1963 Indianapolis ‘500.’

On May 16, 1956 Parnelli followed up his solid finish in the trophy dash with a solid second-place feature finish behind four-time winner Erickson after the original runner-up Fred Tomlinson was disqualified when his car owner refused to allow the car to be inspected.

56 jalopies were on hand for the annual 50-lap “Poor Man’s Indianapolis” on May 30 although after time trials and the preliminary races, only 18 cars started the feature on the 1/5-mile oval.  Rip Erickson won his fifth Carpinteria feature in a row and the lion’s share of the $500 guaranteed purse from the Santa Barbara Merchants Association. It wasn’t easy however as Rip started dead last but he took the lead on the 30^th lap and led the rest of the way as Heffington finished second and Jones third. 

Surprisingly, after that win, Rip announced that he would not race at Carpinteria any more in 1955, as “the prize money didn’t pay his way” from his home in Culver City. Erickson’s absence on June 6^th opened the door for Chuck Gibson of Ventura to win the feature.

The following week June 13, Parnelli Jones won the trophy dash as he beat fast qualifier Frank Kephart with a new track record of 17.28 seconds. In what the Ventura County Star-Free Press described as “one of the wildest seen at the bowl this year,” early leader Glen Wallen lost a wheel and hit the wall then second place “R. Spencer” (a nom de guerre for a local schoolteacher, Spencer Blickenstaff) ran into Wallen’s stalled machine.  New race leader Sonny Mars flipped twice on lap 13, then Ellsworth held the lead until his tire blew on lap 25.  Buford Lane led the final five laps and took the checkered flag ahead of Parnelli and Kephart. 

On August 1 Parnelli took part in a match race against famous local lady race Hila Paulson. Before the event, Jones told reporters “No girl is going to walk off and leave me too far behind if I can help it.” However, as reported in the Ventura County Star-Free Press, Hila used some “very unladylike tactics” to beat Parnelli as she “shoved Jones’ car into the wall coming around the final turn and came out in front.”

At some point Rip Erickson returned to Carpinteria and on August 15 he was leading the feature when he tangled with the lap car of Ventura’s Jim Jennings and dropped to fourth place. At the end of the evening, Buford Lane led the TCRA points with 69, Parnelli jones was second with 47, while Erickson was fourth with 31 markers.   

In the season’s penultimate race on September 29, after he won his heat race Parnelli breezed to an easy win in the 30-lap feature over Pete Gallagher of Ventura. Parnelli wound up second with 61 points as Buford Lane, the club president and 1955 champion scored 89 points and received his trophy at the Tri-Counties Racing Association banquet on October 22 at the American Legion Hall in Ventura. 

 

Parnelli closed out his successful 1955 season as he debuted at Gardena Stadium on Christmas Day before 960 fans. He nearly swept the program – he won the trophy dash, his heat race, the handicap dash and finished second in the feature behind Oscar Tolstein after he started dead last.