CAJON SPEEDWAY TRACK HISTORY For forty ... - City of El Cajon

More documents

Recommendations

Info

and Hoagland’s daughter (Vicki) would also end up racing at Cajon. Bill Hoagland would become the 1990 pony stock champion at Cajon. And so by 1960 it seemed as if County Stadium, originally planned as a baseball facility, was destined to remain a high school football stadium and a motorcycle race track. But then over the winter of 1960‐1961, a weird series of events combined to lead County Stadium into becoming Cajon Speedway. Since about 1937 auto racing in San Diego County had taken place on several tracks around the county, but the most successful occurred in Balboa Stadium. In late 1960 it became obvious that the Los Angeles Chargers were moving to San Diego and would use Balboa Stadium as their facility. Tom Haynes and Frank Guthrie, the auto racing promoters in the stadium, announced plans to build a new 1/2 mile dirt oval on Kearny Mesa. But that track was never built. In early 1961 it looked as if auto racing in San Diego County was going to be without a home. But Tom Jackman, the man most responsible for the El Cajon Industrial Park and also owner of one of the top racing machines in the San Diego Racing Association, approached Earle Brucker Sr. with the idea of constructing a 1/4 mile dirt oval at County Stadium. "Jackman talked to my father and they were ready to build a race track," Brucker Jr. recounts. "But they didn't have anyone to run it. One night I got a phone call from my father. I was told I was going to run it." The rest is history. 1964 ` Photographer: Bob Hardee
The modified sportsman of Jim Culbert (60) flips spectacularly in the south turn of Cajon Speedway. Also pictured are Rosie Roussel (79), Don Ray (1), and Harris Mills (21). Culbert was uninjured despite the wild ride. Opening night for Cajon Speedway was July 15, 1961 just eleven days after Balboa Stadium closed its doors on racing. The modifieds of SDRA were the featured attraction that first year. Less than a year later a group of guys met in El Cajon and formed the Speedway Racing Association to sanction stock car racing. They planned to keep the cost of building and maintaining a car down by allowing anyone to claim a car after the races for $150. But by 1963 the claiming stocks were on their way out and were replaced by faster and more expensive super stocks. Motorcycle racing still continued for a time at the facility. The oval track was enlarged from 1/4 mile to 3/8 mile for the 1964 season and was paved two years later. 1978 Photographer: Marty Wells
Page 1 and 2: CAJON SPEEDWAY TRACK HISTORY For fo
Page 3: all‐time leading main event winne

CAJON SPEEDWAY TRACK HISTORY For forty ... - City of El Cajon

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?