|
Mud & Dust,
100 Years of Arizona Racing
There has been a lot of great racing in the Grand Canyon state over
the last century. To relive your favorite venue, click on any link to the left and get ready for a wild ride!
or just scroll on down for news & views:

Racin' and Rockin'
Arizona Native Marty
Robbins
 Arizona's
Marty Robbins loved racing stock cars as much as he loved music. I
don't think he ever smashed a guitar in victory lane, though.

MANZANITA
1951-2009
Manzanita Speedway, home to racing since 1951 will have its final races
the weekend of April 11.
Once a defunct dog racing track, Manzanita opened its gates to auto
racing on August 23, 1951. The dog track was built at 35th
Avenue and Broadway in 1949 but folded after only three months of
competition with the more established tracks.
A driver’s revolt at South Mountain Speedway sparked the conversion of
the dog track into a quarter-mile oval. The drivers formed the Arizona
Jalopy Racing Association for Manzanita’s first race.
After South Mountain folded, the half-mile track was built in 1955.
That year, Tucson’s Bill Cheesbourg won ten straight Jalopy Main
events. Twenty years later, he won the state late Model Championships.
It was, however, hard to make a go of it with bi-monthly competition,
and bankruptcy loomed until Harry Redkey picked up the lease in 1961. A
guaranteed purse increased the field from 21 cars to 46 in just three
months. Redkey started the twice weekly racing trend with Early Model
Stock cars during the week and Spring Cars on Saturday nights.
In 1966, Keith Hall purchased the track, and added increased purses and
additional racing divisions. Hall started the Western World
Championship in 1968. By 1977, it had grown to a $40,000 extravaganza.
Motorcycles were added in 1968, claimers in 1969 and Modified Stocks,
Midgets and Sprint Buggies in 1973. Indy 500 drivers who raced at
Manzanita included Wayne Weiler, Don Davis, Art Bisch, Parnelli Jones,
Bobby Unser, Roger McCluskey, Jim Hurtibise and AJ Foyt. That’s why
Manzy was called “the training camp of champions”.
Excepted from the Mike Garret article, Western Racing News, Oct. 13,
1977
For more information, see the
Manzanita Speedway site.

Manzanita Speedway's Desert Thunder
For a detailed track history, order longtime track announcer Windy
McDonald's latest book, Manzanita Speedway's Desert Thunder. You
can contact Windy at windymcd@cox.net
or visit his website,
http://www.windymcdonald.com/

National Speedway Directory
Speaking of books, Allan
Brown's newest edition of his National Speedway Directory is now
available. This guide to active tracks and events will help you
plan a more exciting vacation. Allan is also the author of The History
of American's Speedways, Past and Present and helped me compile our list
of Arizona racetracks. For more information or to order a copy of
either book, visit Allan's website http://speedwaysonline.com
c)2009 Jim & Nancy Schaut. Our
mission is to preserve the rich history of automobile racing in the
American West. We have done our best to credit
the proper people for information contained on this site. It is
sometimes impossible to find the original source. We welcome your
comments & corrections. If you would like to submit items to the site,
please send them to
Nancy.
Thank you for your support of our
website! Jim and Nancy

|