History Mines field 1934 road race = l.a. Airport

MINES FIELD GOLD CUP RACE was a 1.9/10th mile road course where L.A. Airport now sits. The GILMORE GOLD CUP RACE was 131 laps with a total distance of 250 miles. Local car dealers donated cars like Fords, Chevrolets, Chryslers, DeSotos, Plymouths, Terrplanes, Rocknes, and Studebakers in hopes of promoting sales for there new 1934 models. These were all new stripped down stock cars that entered the 250 mile race. Before the race they practiced at the notorious Legion Ascot Speedway as seen in some pictures here with the hills in the background, Legion Ascot was on the east side of L.A. about five or six miles from Mines Field. The promoters of the Gold Cup Race had a parade of all the race cars down Broadway Ave. in downtown L.A. to promote spectator attendance for this race. Number 15 Al Gordon took 1st place, # 8 Stubby Stubblefield was 2nd. and #36 Lou Meyers was 3rd. Many of these young daredevils went on to driving big cars at the Indy 500.

 

The race cars...

 

Cool beans, was the race only run that one time? Shouldn't poster number 8 say proveN dependability instead of proveD?

 

YES it should've? NO proof readers back then?
More pictures coming, having trouble loading?
Yes I think it was a one time deal.

 

more race cars......

 

and more.......

 

that's it for now.......
I have lots of 1950's CRA TRACK ROADSTER pics if ya want to see'em?
cw.

 

Good pix!---Not too many guys know that Mines field is now LAX!!
Our home was just 2 miles East of "Mines field"----I was 2 years old when they had that race!

 

Those pic's remind me of this car....from the Outriders Picnic.

 

That 99 car is tits!

 

Hell yes. Lets see the roadsters.

 

Fantastic stuff !,... Thanks so much for posting !

 

Oh man, Leather helmets,coveralls,no roll bar,and probably no seat belts.
That was nuts! Love it!

 

I have a few pics....

 

Chris Swenson, are you seeing this?????

Incredible photos!!!!

 

Wasn't it at Mines Field where an unsuspecting spectator's new Ford was stripped for parts to keep one of the roadsters in the race?

Love the Mines and Elgin cars.

-Dave

 

Amazing pictures! This is why I signed up here

 

That was one of those short sweet episodes of Americana that we can only rationalize the bitterness of having missed it and being old enough to dig it then by the fact that we wouldn't be here now posting this thread. Like the early Salt Flats, sports car, hydro and airplane racing....the all American "right stuff" of men and machines, raw and priceless!
Chuck

 

awesome

 

I wonder what happened to the two guys in the #7 Chet Gardner car that rolled

No youtube videos of the race that I could find. Seems like someone would have filmed the race

 

nostaligia59......
Thanks for posting more pictures, most of yours I haven't seen!
It's too bad we don't pics of the pits and infield cars and trucks.

 

This is the coolest post I've seen in many a day. Awesome! Yeah, Chris will go crazy.

 

Coolest stuff I've seen in a long time!!! Thanks for posting.

 

Thanks for posting the pics, CW. I have that GGC program and most of the pics. There are several that I haven't seen before though.

A few corrections- 1) True, Al Gordon was announced as the winner on that race day. However, it was later determined that Stubby Stubblefield was the actual winner. 2) The shots that show racing at Legion Ascot are not from practice for the GGC race, but are actually from the Targo Florio Stock Car race that was later held at the reconfigured Legion Ascot Speedway.

There's this HAMBtube footage of the race (I know the blog post says it is Gilmore Stadium but it is actually the Mines Field race)... http://www.jalopyjournal.com/?p=3667

EDIT: found this on youtube... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8hPymtL1_A

 

Loud and clear...one of the best threads started in a LONG time!!!!!

 

This thread stared off really good, gets better all the time. Any more pics or video?

 

These are probably from the Elgin Ill. race...

 

And my favorite....