This message was edited on
February 06, 2009 at
10:03:10 AM by AMP
http://roadracerx.com/article.php?article_id=1200
The surface at Ascot Park Raceway. "I don’t know if you’d call it clay or dirt,” Chris told me. “They’d dump the dirt from graves they dug in the cemetery across the street. It had spark plugs from blown-up sprint cars in it, and rocks. Racing there was like wearing a bullet-proof vest and standing in a shooting range, and just letting them unload on you with semi-autos! Before we had hand guards, guys would cut up milk cartons and try to use them to protect their knuckles.”
Five time AMA Grand National Champion Chris Carr
Ascot only held 7,500 people, but the track’s promoter, J.C. Agajanian, advertised it heavily and it attracted a faithful crowd that could not be confused for church-goers. In 1965, smoke from the fires burning in the Watts riots drifted over the track. Through the ’70s, the pall came from the herb being burned right in the stands.
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