132:, 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.
104:
The
Oakland Speedway claimed scores of injuries, and ultimately, the lives of four motorcycle racers. The first was Dick Ince, the millionaire son of Hollywood Director Thomas Ince, in 1938. Tommy Hayes and June McCall died in a multi-rider accident in 1940, and Gus Hunter died in October 1941. After
139:
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
42:
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
100:
But for motorcycles, the track was notoriously unsafe. It was full of sand that flew up into your face, and little chunks of clotted, oiled dirt were missing along the straightaways. On warm afternoons, the top of the banked curves would sweat oil, which oozed down onto the track’s lower sections,
96:
Championship motorcycle races were also held at the
Oakland Speedway. The American Motorcycle Association sanctioned 200-mile nationals for 1935, 1938, 1939, 1940 and 1941. They were won, respectively, by Jimmy Young, Sam Arena, Jack Cottrell/Armando Magri, Louis Guanella and Ernie Holbrook. All
127:
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
73:
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
105:
that race, Oakland
Tribune columnist Alan Ward called for the end of motorcycle racing on the track. But two months later, there would be no more racing at all. Oakland Speedway lost its lease just as America entered World War II.
101:
making some parts slippery while others buckled-up. "You had to find the right groove, and stay in it," said
Armando Magri's brother Ernie, who rode practice laps but did not compete. "It was flat-out dangerous," said Magri.
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66:
quit racing to become the business manager for the racing association. In 1949 Barkhimer took over San Jose
Speedway and also started his own association, and in 1954 he co-founded west coast
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1015:
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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. In 1948 local East Bay driver
78:, 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.
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93:, May 26, 1947 at the Oakland Speedway, Sweikert drove his own handbuilt track roadster in his debut race for prize money, and finished second.
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172:, Key System, Ltd.; Key Terminal Railway, Ltd.; East Bay Street Railways, Ltd.; East Bay Motor Coach Lines, Ltd., ca. 1933 (during
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In 1931 the Oakland Speedway was built near Oakland, but actually was located between Oakland and nearby
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234:, (1998, Nicholas Ward Publishing, LLC.), no longer in print, reprinted under new publisher ca. 2005
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31:. It was a one-mile, banked dirt oval track built in 1931, which operated throughout the
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In the early 1930s, Emeryville Motorcycle Speedway was built on 53rd Street in nearby
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Motter, Tom, A History of the Oakland Speedway, 1931-1941, 2002, by Vintage Images
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Motter, Tom, A History of the Oakland Speedway, 1931-1941, 2002, by Vintage Images
81:
Among legendary top race drivers who got their start at the Oakland Speedway was
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117:, on the present site of the Emery Bay Village residential and shopping center.
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Where to Go, How to Go, A guide to points of interest in the east shore empire
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Midget championship that year with the concluding event on February 12, 1949.
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309:
296:
75:
158:
History of the Oakland Speedway, 1931-1941; (Volume 1, Tracks of the West)
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Another rival 1930s motorcycle track was Neptune Beach Speedway, on the
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A History of Oakland Stadium 1946-1955, (Volume 2, Tracks of the West)
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winners rode Harley-Davidsons, except Holbrook, who won on an Indian.
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Magri, Ernest, The Autobiography of Ernie Magri, 1995, self-published
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273:, City of Emeryville fact box, as retrieved on Aug 7, 2007
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Stormwater Guidelines and Requirements, "Did You Know?"
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Buildings and structures in San Leandro, California
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176:Construction and after Morcom Rose Garden (1932))
1006:Defunct motorsport venues in the United States
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55:, on the site of what is now Bayfair Mall in
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1016:Sports venues in the San Francisco Bay Area
360:race venues (1905, 1916, 1920–41, 1946–55)
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35:and postwar years. The track featured
202:, Davis Motorsports, reminiscence by
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193:Lap #1 How Barky Got Started RACING
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1021:Sports in San Leandro, California
174:San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
1001:Motorsport venues in California
232:Along For the Ride-A Love Story
1:
135:Another local venue was the
23:was a motor racing track in
198:September 29, 2007, at the
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220:Clyde Rea Bray 1902 - 1941
57:San Leandro, California
25:San Leandro, California
697:Pittsburgh-Bridgeville
115:Emeryville, California
43:track in the Nation".
358:National Championship
40:National Championship
642:Baltimore-Washington
310:37.7005°N 122.1268°W
306: /
122:Alameda, California
53:Hayward, California
29:Oakland, California
16:American race track
315:37.7005; -122.1268
109:Other local tracks
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390:Narragansett Park
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852:Great Barrington
451:Charter Oak Park
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137:downtown Oakland
87:Indianapolis 500
33:Great Depression
21:Oakland Speedway
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702:Rockingham Park
627:Akron-Cleveland
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574:Rockingham Park
564:Recreation Park
509:Kenilworth Park
446:Centennial Park
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981:(hill climb)
975:(brick oval)
973:Indianapolis
966:Other tracks
780:Santa Monica
737:Road courses
554:Randall Park
543:
529:Legion Ascot
501:Indianapolis
496:Hudson River
380:Indianapolis
291:
283:
282:Tom Mottor,
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156:Tom Mottor,
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91:Memorial Day
83:Bob Sweikert
80:
72:
61:
50:
20:
18:
912:Selinsgrove
770:Mines Field
687:Kansas City
667:Culver City
619:Board ovals
594:Springfield
539:Morris Park
505:Kansas City
471:Empire City
436:Bay Meadows
367:Paved ovals
313: /
301:122°07′36″W
130:sprint cars
89:winner. On
85:, the 1955
995:Categories
979:Pikes Peak
952:Winchester
942:Washington
882:Port Royal
867:Harrington
857:Greensboro
847:Flemington
822:Bloomsburg
672:Des Moines
657:Cincinnati
579:Sacramento
476:Fort Miami
431:Bainbridge
427:Ascot Park
410:Dirt ovals
375:Darlington
298:37°42′02″N
210:co-founder
144:References
937:Uniontown
922:Skowhegan
877:Langhorne
827:Charlotte
802:Allentown
775:Roosevelt
727:Uniontown
652:Charlotte
559:Readville
534:Milwaukee
519:Langhorne
481:Glenville
423:Arlington
400:Twin City
395:Southland
385:Milwaukee
76:Labor Day
927:Thompson
902:Richmond
872:Lakewood
807:Altamont
599:Syracuse
589:San Jose
584:St. Paul
514:Lakewood
196:Archived
932:Trenton
907:Rutland
897:Reading
892:Raleigh
862:Hamburg
817:Bedford
812:Batavia
793:Big car
632:Altoona
604:Trenton
549:Phoenix
544:Oakland
466:DuQuoin
461:Detroit
456:Del Mar
418:Altoona
47:History
917:Shelby
887:Powell
837:DuBois
832:Dayton
795:tracks
765:Lowell
760:Fresno
750:Corona
722:Tacoma
677:Fresno
662:Cotati
208:NASCAR
160:, 2002
68:NASCAR
755:Elgin
692:Omaha
790:1946
569:Roby
19:The
355:AAA
37:AAA
997::
181:^
70:.
59:.
739:/
347:e
340:t
333:v
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.