Naturally, it’s a golf course today. Damnit.
In 1955, however, the Hansen Dam park hosted the 1st Los Angeles Sports Car Races. Ernie McAfee won the day in the #76 Ferrari 750 Monza; completing 67 laps at an average speed of 93mph.
I wonder what you had to do to gain access to the Guild Area VIP parking.
More of the racing program at FScheff’s.
Imagine the nerves that a 17-year-old (!) Ricardo Rodriguez must have felt climbing into his Porsche RSK Spyder for round 3 of the USAC Road Racing Championship at Meadowdale Raceways on May 31, 1959. Imagine how you’d have felt at 17, waiting for the start of the race, thinking of the daunting nature of the track with it’s Monza-style banking and lack of runoff areas. Now realize that Ricardo probably didn’t feel any of that because he was Ricardo Rodriguez. Even after he rolled the Porsche near the silo turn, he attempted to enlist the help of corner workers to right the car so he could continue.
The race report at Chicagoland Sports Car Club Memories sums up the performance of the then relatively unknown Mexican driver nicely.
“That young Mexican we mentioned was 17-year-old Ricardo Rodriguez of Mexico City. His astonishing ability as a driver had almost every one cheering him along as the David chasing the Goliath. Certainly all we had heard about this lad’s ability was founded on fact. He certainly proved it here at Meadowdale. It was unfortunate that he ‘lost it’ coming through a turn at the northeast corner of the track. While he flipped and completely rolled over in the car, he was able to crawl out from under with only minor bruises. Rodriguez was a comfortable second place and challenging the leader when he went out of the race.”
Chicagoland Sportscar Club Race Report
Reconstructing lost tracks as playable environments for video games should be considered a charitable donation.
Jesse Laakso’s build of Meadowdale for play in a variety of racing simulators is just that; a race-fan community service. While the track is still under construction, it will ultimately be available for play in a variety of games, including popular titles such as RFactor and GT Legends. I can hardly wait to boot this up in GTL and take a spin around her in a Alfa GTA or 911 RSR. Jesse’s level of commitment to the details is what is really selling this for me. He has scoured the web, and reached out to the community at The Nostalgia Forum for assistance in ensuring the accuracy of everything from the iconic “PRAY” graffiti at the top of the hill, to the textures of the signage that separated the pit lane from the straight, to the construction methods of the pit garages.
For a work in progress, Jesse’s track looks remarkable complete. In the hands of a lesser developer, this would be considered finished and pushed out to the racing sim community. That Jesse is reserving release until it is as accurate as possible is fantastic—if nerve racking. Keep up the great work!
Check out the Nostalgia Forum thread for an indication of the level of effort and research that Jesse has been putting in to the project; as well as how eager the vintage racing community has been in helping him along.
It’s short. It’s hard to make out. But it’s precious.
The first race at Meadowdale was both a triumph and a disaster. The track was completed within only a few short months. So there was much to celebrate for this inaugural running in September of 1958. It was a difficult day for the participants (and the viewers of this video), however, because the earth moving to construct the track left huge swaths of open land; open land that was left as bare dirt. The resulting dust storm was an unhappy occurrence for opening day.
An inauspicious start to a much loved playground.
EDIT: I hate when videos go offline.
Meadowdale may be gone (well, for motorized vehicles anyway), but thanks to this early 60’s slot car article, it’s still possible to sort of race it. It even looks like fun at 1:32 scale. Just add a paper towel tube as the iconic silo in the Greg’s Corkscrew complex and you’re ready to race!
Yes, there was a time when the “pit men” who serviced the cars were actually in a pit below the racing surface. What a terrifying view it must have been.
Via Rumbledrome.
After seeing our earlier post on the Golden Gate Road Races, a reader was kind enough to send in these photos that were part of a collection of recently purchased negatives. A marvelous shot of Masten Gregory crossing the finish line in his Jaguar C-Type and another celebrating in the pits with his wife.
Just look at how closely he seems to pass the flag waver. What a thrill it must have been to have a speeding racing car pass within a couple of feet! The flag is being waved enthusistically, but I bet the air being pushed around the Jag would have been enough at that distance to give the checkers a proper dance.
Thanks for sending these in, Skullyspice! If you have a box of old photos in the attic (or on your hard drive), we’d love to share them with our readers. Drop a line to tips@thechicane.com
Here’s another installment from the McClure archives. This time it’s the 6th running of the Torrey Pines Road Races held on October 22-23, 1955. Some wonderful footage from the pits starts off the clip with shots of a Siata 208 Coupe alongside a Paul Berry’s Arnolt-Bristol, Lotus IX, MGAs and Austin-Healeys, and is that Lance Reventlow climbing into the Mercedes 300 he shared with Bruce Kessler before crashing out in the 6 Hours? The LeMans-style running start of which is captured here as well.
A fantastic field for the race with cars such as Jack McAfee’s 550 Spyder, Pearce Woods’ C-Type Jag, The O’Shea/Hill Mercedes, and the Ives Cad-Allard.
An excellent race!
Another wonderful clip of the 1951 Road Races at Bridgehampton (here’s another that we featured last year). Marvelous!
I guess I’m a big fan of the Bridgehampton races; I’ve written about both the Bridgehampton Street Course, and the later purpose-built track.
Here’s a short but important film from the John McClure Archives. This was the 2nd annual Agoura Hill Climb presented by the Singer Owners’ Club on February 6, 1955, and I think it can be safely described as a smashing success. West Coast Sports Car Journal reported in their March ’55 issue that the event drew 160 competitors and over 2,000 spectators. Even if those numbers are an exaggeration, that is still incredibly impressive. Can you imagine 2,000 spectators coming out to the secluded mountains for a hillclimb? Unless it’s the Goodwood Festival of Speed, or maybe Pikes Peak, the public simply doesn’t care about hillclimbing—not in those kinds of numbers anyway.
I also think this film is incredibly important because it captures something we’re unlikely to ever see again; high performance sportscars driving as fast as they can up a dirt road. Have you ever driven behind a sportscar on a dirt road? Chances are they are driving VERY slowly, just crawling in 1st gear, repeating a silent prayer that no stone is kicked up to mar their paintwork. Even Pikes Peak is almost completely tarmac today. Boo!
Not so in ’55. These drivers are putting everything they have into taking their factory fresh XK120s from the bottom of the hill to the top; bodywork be damned. I think this is what I most enjoy about these vintage club racing films, sportscars just weren’t the luxury status symbol that they are today. They weren’t precious jewels to be polished and parked in front of the dance club. They were simply tools—tools that were built for a purpose—and in 1955 that purpose was to get the Hell to the top of Agoura.
A young Richie Ginther took the Austin-Healey class victory at 29.66 seconds.
Update: Chris sheds some light on the Eliminator Model-T in the comments, which quickly lead to this article from Street Rodder. Another example of the greatness of the era; when a T-Bucket shares the track with Siatas and Ferraris. Thanks, Chris!