July 8 – 9 , 1961 Connecticut Dragway Poster Print
49 years ago today . July 8, 1961… the place …. Connecticut Dragway. An awesome reproduction poster print. This poster measures 13 inches wide x 20 inches tall.
1961 Connecticut Dragway Poster Print
1937 Gilmore Red Lion Oil Co. Advertisement Poster Print
This retro poster print is one of four prints of Gilmore Oil .Gilmore Oil –What began as a farmers market and grew to be a successful dairy farm, resulted in Arthur Fremont Gilmore striking oil at the turn of the century in Los Angeles, California. The Gilmore family took their fortune and became very active in the community, constructing Gilmore Stadium in 1934 with the very first race track specifically designed for midget racers.
This reproduction poster print from 1937 measures 15.5 inches wide x 21.5 inches tall. Makes for a great gift.
1937 Gilmore Red Lion Oil Co. Advertisement Poster Print
July 4, 1921 Tacoma Speedway Poster Print
1921 Tacoma Speedway Poster Print, measures 17 inches wide x 22 inches tall. Did a little Google search and found an awesome site with some great Washington State History. During its years of operation between 1912 and 1922, the Tacoma Speedway, located in Lakewood, hosted some of the big names of racing, rivaling the best in the world. The “Who’s Who” of races — “Terrible” Teddy Tetzlaff, Earl Cooper, Barney Oldfield, among others — left rubber on that track. Others left their lives. The grandstands closed in 1922, and the site is now (2004) home to Clover Park Technical College. Lakewood is a suburb of Tacoma.
1921 Tacoma Speedway Poster Print
The track was built by a group of Tacoma businessmen led by Arthur Pitchard, president of the Tacoma Automobile Association. They collected backers and built a five-mile, all-dirt track, which opened in 1912. The track ran around what is now Lakeview Avenue, where the grandstands stood, to Steilacoom Boulevard to Gravelly Lake Drive to 112th Street. The first races were held on July 5 and 6, 1912.
“Terrible” Teddy Tetzlaff, a famous racer of the day, was set to headline the first race that year. He was kidnapped days before the race, however, and held for ransom. Rumor has it he was held in a Tacoma brothel.
“When his bosses came to pick him up, he didn’t want to leave,” Herstad said.
The track changed quickly in those first few years. It shrunk to a 3.5-mile course in 1913, then in 1914 to a two-mile track. The shorter course was roughly what is now Steilacoom Boulevard and Gravelly Lake Drive to 100th, then back to Lakeview.
July 4, 1933 Los Angeles Air Races Poster Print
1933 Los Angeles Air Races Poster Print
Today is July 4 th !! Happy Birthday America !! Back in 1933 there was the Los Angeles Air Races. This poster print measures 17 inches wide x 22 inches tall. A great reproduction poster from the 30′s.
1949 Oakland Hard Top Stock Car Racing Poster Print
1949 Oakland Speedway Stock Car Racing Poster Print. Measures 17 inches wide x 22 inches tall. A great print that would look awesome in the office, den, game room, shop or garage.
1949 Oakland Speedway Stock Car Racing Poster Print
- Click here to buy the 1949 Oakland Speedway Stock Car Racing Poster Print in the Amazon WebStore
- Click here to buy the 1949 Oakland Speedway Stock Car Racing Poster Print in the eBay Store
The Oakland Speedway was the first motor racing track near Oakland, California, a one-mile, banked dirt oval track built in 1931, which operated throughout the Great Depression and postwar years. The track featured AAA National Championship races with Indy cars and drivers from 1931 until 1936, when the AAA pulled out of the West Coast. Thereafter the track still featured racing by members of the Bay Cities Racing Association, in roadsters and motorcycles, as well as Big Cars, stock cars, and midgets. It was known as the “fastest dirt track in the Nation”.
In 1931 the Oakland Speedway was built near Oakland, but actually was located between Oakland and nearby Hayward, California, on the site of what is now Bayfair Mall in San Leandro, California.
Annually each fall the track hosted the “Oakland 500″ race. Many of the local East Bay races were exhibited by the Bay Cities Racing Association (BCRA). In 1948 local East Bay driver Bob Barkhimer quit racing to become the Business Manager for BCRA. In 1949 Barkhimer took over San Jose Speedway and also started his own association (CSCRA), and in 1954 he co-founded west coast NASCAR.
Among top drivers who were killed at the Oakland Speedway was Clyde Rea Bray, who had held second place in the A.R.A. points in 1939, behind champion Wally Schock. Bray had come in 5th in the Oakland “500″ that year. Two years later, on Labor Day, 1941, during the Oakland Speedway 500 race, on the 356th lap, Bray was fatally injured after being thrown from his car, after it sailed over the south fence.
Among legendary top race drivers who got their start at the Oakland Speedway was Bob Sweikert, the 1955 Indianapolis 500 winner. On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 at the Oakland Speedway, Sweikert drove his own handbuilt track roadster in his debut race for prize money, and finished second.
In the early 1930s, Emeryville Motorcycle Speedway was built on 53rd Street in nearby Emeryville, California, on the present site of the Emery Bay Village residential and shopping center.
Another rival 1930s motorcycle track was Neptune Beach Speedway, on the Alameda, California bay shoreline.
A later local venue similar to the Oakland Speedway was Oakland Stadium, a 5/8 mile track, with a banking of 62 degrees, held racing events between 1946 and 1955 that featured Big Cars, Sprints, Midgets, Roadsters, and Hardtops. Before he moved up to the sprint cars, Bob Sweikert won a 50 lap feature in his Thompson Motors Special Roadster at that venue on October 17, 1948. In October 1949 he set the new one lap track record there at 20.78 seconds in a V8 Special. Surprisingly, there were no driver fatalities at this race track even with the extreme banking in the turns.
Another local venue was the downtown Oakland Indoor Midget Race Track, the only one west of Chicago. It was built inside the converted Exhibition Building, and featured a small 1/12 mile oval track, and became the site of featured races by the Bay Cities Racing Association, with the debut event on January 8, 1949. Bob Sweikert won that Indoor Midget championship that year with the concluding event on February 12, 1949.
1939 Alexander Tether Car Poster Print
1939 Alexander Tether Car Poster Print
1939 Alexander Tether Car Poster Print. Measures 24 inches wide x 21 inches tall. An awesome reproduction poster.
In the earliest beginnings — Racing of miniature cars powered by gas airplane engines started in California around 1937. In the beginning the cars were home built with ashtray tires and primitive parts. They could reach speeds of around 40 MPHs. Soon clubs started to form, rules were drafted, tracks were spawned, and events planned. The earliest cars were lovingly modeled to appear authentic with windshields, seats, steering wheels, gages and sometimes even little drivers.
Pre-War — Manufacturers started to spring up and produced both kit cars and factory built ready-to-race cars. These cars were expensive for the day considering the depression had just recently ended. Most factory built cars sold for around $20 – $30 with the most expensive being the B.B. Korn selling for $53.50 in Magnesium form. Kit cars sold for as low as $10. Prior to the war, cars reached speeds in the mid-70s for Protos and 100 MPH for cable streamliners.
War time — Unfortunately, the hobby suffered like so many others during the second World War. Most manufacturers went out of business because metals were shifted to the war efforts. To my knowledge, The Dooling Bros. were the only one notable manufacturer resumed operations after the war.
Post War — After the war ended, manufacturers began to spring up once again. Because of the war, there were new, light-weight materials to work with such as plastics, and fiberglass. Most cars began to take on more streamlined looks and began to reach speeds of 100+ MPH.
The End — It has been said that the hobby came to a close due to the lack of fan participation. The cars had become too fast and the fans could not longer view them. The cars also lost their appeal when they took on a more streamlined appearance and no longer represented the real midget race cars of the day.
1946 Dooling Brothers Tether Car Poster Print
1946 Dooling Brothers Tether Car Poster Print
1946 Dooling Brothers Tether Car Poster Print. A great print from 1946. This reproduction ad measures 22 inches wide x 17 inches tall.
Wikipedia: Tether cars were developed beginning in the 1920s-30s and still are built, raced and collected today. First made by hobby craftsmen, tether cars were later produced in small numbers by commercial manufacturers such as Dooling Brothers (California), Dick McCoy (Duro-Matic Products), Garold Frymire (Fryco Engineering) BB Korn, and many others. Original examples of the early cars, made from 1930s-60s, are avidly collected today and command prices in the thousands of dollars.
The cars are about 12-24 inches long, 3-4 inches wide, run on rubber tires 3-4 inches in diameter, have a cast metal body (usually magnesium and aluminum, but also fiberglass and wood bodies), and have robust gear drives. Engines are nitro or methanol fueled, with displacements from 0.09-0.61 cubic inches (1.5-10 cubic centimeters). Early engines (prior to 1960s) had spark ignition systems. Later engines use glow plug ignition. The cars are tethered to a central post hitch by a steel cable and run around a circular track of 19.9 meters in diameter.
Current racing activity in the U.S. is governed by the American Miniature Racing Car Association with three racetracks in NY, CA and IN. Contemporary cars run at speeds of up to 200+ miles per hour giving them the reputation as fastest model cars in the world. After push-starting the car the driver decides when to take the speed measurement. As soon as he presses a button the time for 8 laps, which equal to 500 meters, is accurately measured by 1/1000s.
- Click here to buy the 1946 Dooling Brothers Tether Car Poster Print in the Amazon WebStore
- Click here to buy the 1946 Dooling Brothers Tether Car Poster Print in the eBay Store
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