You may remember the post about my buddy Ron's collection of patterns a while back. Before I left that night, he pulled out a small box of vintage racing programs and began laying them out on his dini... <BR><BR>To read the rest of this blog entry from The Jalopy Journal, click here.
Jay those are awesome. My grandfather raced Oakland pre war in big cars. I have a few pics from him I need to scan and share them one day. Before the War he was an Oakland hoodlum in the 30's, went to Oakland tech. The only name my grandmother can remember in a guy named Dick Barone in Alameda whos house they used to hang out at and build cars. Like many vets he came home started a family and never played with cars again.
I had no idea there was circle track racing in bay area as early as 1932. Very Cool! Thanks for sharing the racing programs.
Jive-Bomber Jay - cool stuff ... please thank your buddy Ron for allowing you to share his racing program covers with us!
Awesome local history Jay!...Hayward Historical Museum did an exibit on the Oakland Speedway a few years ago.Heres the thread i posted of it... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?p=5800347#post5800347
A few shots of Oakland Speedway from the 30s. The last one is Troy Ruttman in the Malloy sprinter from the early 50s. Note the extension on the r/r hub, this allowed him "ride" the rail and not hook the wheel.
My friend and family member Jerry Hill raced at Oakland Speedway in the 1950's. Jerry was a hired driver and would race anything for anybody. Jerry's good friend, none other than Gene "Windy" Windfield would go with Jerry to Oakland to help out. At the time, Gene was more of a drag racer... and Jerry the oval track racer and biker. Jerry also found his way onto the drag strip with his souped up Harley... Jerry used to say that you could go into the corner with your foot flat on the floor (I am assuming at the 2nd version of the Oakland speedway) and hit the turn at 100mph. The banking was so great that the car would just hit it and ride it around like a bob sled! Sadly... Jerry is no longer with us. I miss his stories and his freindship. Sam
I do not know how many of you know it but they raced motorcycles at the Oakland Stadium also. I still have a couple of my Dad's trophies. He said the guys that could ride would try to ride up to the wall when it was a banked track. At least that's the way he told me and I damned well better believe him, and I did..
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