Speedway Posters » California

1966 Oakland Indoor Midget Racing Poster Print

stevo — Mon, 16 May 2011 13:00:21 +0000

1966 Oakland Indoor Midget Racing Poster Print

1966 Oakland Midget Racing Poster Print. Measures 17 inches wide x 22 inches tall. This reproduction poster is from 1966 Oakland , California. Bob Barkhimer Associates Inc. presents 1966 Pacific Coast Indoor Championships Midget Auto Races. Sanctioned by BCRA. Oakland Exposition Building.

click here to buy the 1966 Oakland Indoor Midget Racing Poster Print in the Amazon Webstore

August 28, 1932 Oakland Speedway Program Poster Print

stevo — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:00:13 +0000

1932 Oakland Speedway Program Poster Print

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.

click here to buy the 1932 Oakland Speedway Program Poster Print in the Amazon WebStore

August 2, 1975 Calistoga California Sprint Car Poster Print

stevo — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 21:37:11 +0000

1975 Calistoga California Sprint Car Racing Poster Print

In 1937, as the Model A was dominating America’s roadways when a promoter with the colorful nickname of “Fancy Pants” came to Calistoga with a ‘fancy’ idea. He believed the town’s horse racing track was ideal for another kind of horsepower. He persuaded the town’s leaders to promote a car race on the Napa County Fairgrounds. About a dozen cars showed up for an afternoon of hippodrome-style speed exhibitions. It was the beginning of a tradition that has endured for over 70 years.

Except for the years of World War II, when all racing in the nation was put on hold to conserve fuel and rubber, Calistoga Speedway has hosted open-wheel race cars. From spindly wire-wheeled wonders with four-cylinder engines to midgets and the V-8 powered, winged and modern sprint cars of today, Calistoga’s first racing heroes were family names that are still found in the Napa Valley, such as Figone, Normi, and Pacheteau.

The first races were sanctioned by the Bay Cities Roadster Racing Association and later the American Racing Association. The track hit its stride as a racing destination under the nurturing hand of another well-known Calistogan, Louie Vermeil, owner of the former Owl Garage on Washington Street, whose association with the track spanned over 40 years. Initially, he was a mechanic and later a car owner. By 1960, Vermeil and others had formed the Northern Auto Racing Club, now known as the Golden State Challenge Series, to boost the professionalism of sprint car racing. For the next 25 years, Calistoga Speedway was known as the “home” of the Northern Auto Racing Club while Vermeil presided as president.

Some things have changed over the years. Admission price in the early years was a mere 55 cents. The fastest cars of the hippodrome days took more than 30 seconds to turn a lap on the half-mile oval. To be sure, they were daring speeds at the time in rough cars with narrow tires. But they seem tortoise-like compared to speeds of modern sprint cars, which rocket down the long straightaways twice as fast at more than 120 miles an hour.

Over the years, Calistoga Speedway has hosted some of the best drivers of their eras. Indy car veterans Jim Hurtubise, Bob Veith, Freddie Agabasion (’52 Indy pole winner), and Earl Motter raced here in the ’50s and ’60s. Some of the best race car drivers of the next generation took their place, including 20-time World of Outlaws champion Steve Kinser and Tony Stewart, who has gone on to win championships in the United States Auto Club, the Indy Racing League, and NASCAR stock cars. Many of the drivers on the track’s all-time win list became nationally known for their talent, even if they raced primarily in Northern California, as the track gained a reputation for requiring the best effort of the area’s best drivers in order to win.

Today, Calistoga Speedway continues its tradition of presenting special events for some of the region’s most competitive racing series, including the winged sprint cars of the traveling Civil War and Golden State Challenge series and the traditional sprint cars and midgets of the United States Auto Club.

by Bill Sessa

July 18 – 19, 1953 Paradise Mesa Drag Strip Poster Print

stevo — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 13:00:30 +0000

1953 Paradise Mesa Drag Strip Poster Print

57 years ago …!! it was 1953 at the Paradise Mesa Drag Strip. This poster print measures 17 inches wide x 22 inches tall. An awesome reproduction poster print.

At Paradise Mesa, a strip southwest of San Diego California which opened in 1951 on a a site once notorious for “chaotic illegal sprint bashes,” competition was about equally divided between two and four wheeled vehicles. At the end of a day’s racing it was often a cycle that emerged on top. Still, there were four wheeled machines competing which looked a little like something purposefully designed, as opposed to having merely been “stipped to the bare essentials.” These machines were classified as “modifieds,”, a traditional dry lakes designation for a one-seater built on a narrowed frame.
It was at Paradise Mesa that many of the first drag racers emerged who became houshold names to hot rodders nationwide.

1937 Gilmore Red Lion Oil Co. Advertisement Poster Print

stevo — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:00:23 +0000

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, 1933 Los Angeles Air Races Poster Print

stevo — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 13:00:53 +0000

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.

1946 Dooling Brothers Tether Car Poster Print

stevo — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 13:00:54 +0000

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.