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.

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1934 Los Angeles Municipal Airport Pacific Speedway Poster Print

Before Los Angeles International Airport became a bustling modern airport, it included L.A. Municipal Airport Speedway, where cars raced from 1934 to 1936.  Speed-mad Angelenos flocked to the two-mile dirt track to see such daredevils as Rex Mays of Riverside, Louie Meyer of Los Angeles, Lou Moore of San Gabriel and Kelly Petillo of Huntington Park, who wore dashing scarves, white-cloth headgear and goggles during their adventures.  In the early part of the 20th century, L.A. was the centerpiece of motor racing. In Beverly Hills and Culver City, tracks were made of lumber. Long Beach and Santa Monica used city streets. Lincoln Heights and Saugus favored dirt.  In fact, according to author Harold L. Osmer, Southern California was the biggest racing market in the world.

This program poster print from 1934 is awesome. The reproduction poster measures 16 inches wide x 20 inches tall, will make for a great candidate to be framed up for the garage, shop, office or workshop.

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1949 Oakland Stadium 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 1949 Oakland Stadium Speedway Program Poster Print in the Amazon WebStore
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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.

• Click here to buy the 1921 Tacoma Speedway Poster Print in the Amazon WebStore
• Click here to buy the 1921 Tacoma Speedway Poster Print in the eBay Store