Poster from 1964 USAC stock car race

Reader Grace Nunes kindly passed along a photo of a cool poster promoting the 1964 USAC stock car race won by A.J. Foyt. Nunes said her father purchased the poster in an antique store. Nunes is a hard-core racing fan herself and continues to watch open-wheel races in Central California. 

As for the race in question, I pulled this detail from my Marchbanks history: 

"The 200-mile season-ending race on Nov. 29, 1964, was called the Billy Vukovich Memorial and drew 6,500 fans and was televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sports." A.J. Foyt took victory, averaging 108 mph in a race full of spins. 

"Joining Foyt in the 25-car field were legendary racers Ron Hornaday Sr., Parnelli Jones,  Joe Leonard, Bobby Unser, Lloyd Ruby, Marvin Porter and Jud Larson (According to Ultimate Racing History, "Marvin Porter replaced Bobby Marshman, who was critically injured in a tire test in his Indy car at Phoenix the day before the race. Marshman died on December 4th in San Antonio, Texas.")"

Thanks, Grace, for letting me share this. As a reminder, this whole Marchbanks history is a collaborative project so if anyone else has photos, stories, maps, etc., feel free to share them with me.  

April 1969 Champ Car race program

The third annual "California 200" on April 13, 1969, was the last of four IndyCar races held at Hanford Motor Speedway -- as far as I can tell -- the last major race held at the track.

The 36-page program was the first of four Champ Car races that didn't  feature cartoon-like artwork, instead featuring 1968 USAC national champ Bobby Unser sitting in his checkerboard No. 1.

The chassis-engine mix had a new twist for 1969, as turbines were nowhere to be seen, although Art Pollard was driving one of the wedge-shaped chassis retrofitted with a turbo Offy.

Here's an index of the various chassis-engine combinations listed in the program:

Click to read more ...

1970 stock plan tried to keep Hanford Motor Speedway alive

I ran across an interesting item in an Oct. 1, 1970, Modesto Bee column by Art Glattke that references promoter J.C. Agajanian's plans to issue stock in order to pay for Hanford Motor Speedway improvements -- including grandstand seating for 20,000, new pits and a new infield tunnel -- required to continue hosting USAC races.

Glattke, citing a story by The Fresno Bee's Everett Feay, reported  Agajanian was trying to raise at least $750,000 by selling stock at $25 per share in blocks of 100 (and a maximum of 300). At that time, $400,000 reportedly had been raised, but "incorporation papers say the firm must have the $750,000 stock sale or no go."

"The USAC board recently gave tentative approval for Hanford's race plans and Aggie (Agajanian) is talking in terms of two Indianapolis car events and possibly a stock car program on the mile and a half triangle," Glattke wrote.

Obviously Agajanian's plan failed. I'll try to find out why, but if anyone knows, leave a comment or otherwise contact me.

---

RELATED STORIES: Read more about Marchbanks Speedway and Hanford Motor Speedway in my Marchbanks section, including this regularly updated "History of Marchbanks Speedway, aka Hanford Motor Speedway."