In the winter of 1973 Steve Stapp was building sprint cars for numerous customers coast to coast, he built one for himself to campaign for the 1974 United States Auto Club (USAC) national sprint car season. His driver for that year would be second generation open wheel standout Duane "Pancho" Carter jr. The state of the art construction for midgets and sprint cars of that era, was the four bar cross torsion space frame design. A few builders would stay with the lighter, but older design of using cross torsion on the rear, but using the old "cross spring", or "buggy spring" front suspension. Stapp's choice was to use the old "springer" front suspension. With Indiana Chevrolet dealer, "Dobbins Chevrolet" on board as sponsor, Stapp and Carter set out on the USAC trail, and what a combination it turned out to be. As one of only 2 drivers to complete all 31 USAC sprint races that season (2nd place in points Tom Bigelow was the other) Carter won 7 features in a dominatint performance and won the 1974 USAC National sprint car championship. In 1975 the Stapp/Carter team used the same car, although not as successful, due to Carter missing some sprint shows due to his Indy car career starting. They finished 4th in points in 1975. The old "springer" front car was replaced for 1976 with a brand new 4 bar car, which they really spanked the competition with, winning 12 features out of 36 and the 1976 USAC national sprint car championship. Here's a look at a beautiful car from a time when one car was used on dirt and pavement, regardless of track length, and cars that were crafted to last.

Following World War Two, a lot of young men came home from the service itching for something to do. During this formative post war period, Circle track racing on the local level was a popular vent for these guys, especially with midget racers and now track roadster (hot rod) racing.

By the late forties, stock car racing as we know it today was born, rapidly taking over interest from the track roadster boys.  As more and more young men discovered, a stock car could be built for far less than these other forms of racing.  Pretty rudimentary  at first, for a few bucks just latch onto the old coupe or sedan in the neighbor’s yard, gut the interior, put in one of those army surplus seat belts that were now plentiful, paint a number on the side and go racing.  Some protective iron on the front and rear didn’t hurt, and it was soon learned that fenders trimmed for tire clearance was also a good idea.  Roll bars, from just a single hoop at first (I remember some that didn’t have any at all) to a full cage soon became the norm.  In an era of drab colored family sedans, bright paint jobs were also popular to set these cars apart from the rest.

Short tracks for stock car racing, both paved and unpaved, sprang up all over America, in small towns and large cities alike.  Longmont was one of those with an unpaved oval carved out just northwest of the U.S. route 287 and Pike Road intersection south of town.  This is the west end of the track as viewed from the south, a little fuzzy, looking through wire fencing that protected the spectators.  Number 53G is Vern Grams, then from Greeley.  Tracks in Greeley, Cheyenne, Fort Collins and Denver’s Lakeside Speedway as well as this track at Longmont offered several nights of racing each week during the early and mid fifties.  Any trace of that track is long gone as a housing development filled that land during the sixties.

Culver City Speedway was located about one block from Lincoln Blvd. and Washington Blvd. in Culver City, CA. near Long Beach.  It was a former dog track that was enlarged, banked and paved in 1947 during the height of the midget racing boom.  There is documentation of races being held on a 1/5 mile dirt oval in 1933, and maybe racing in 1941.  

The track became a permanent auto racing facility for the 1947 racing season.  Midget racing was the featured division at Culver City, and as midget racing's popularity began to weaken, tracks began to compete for the racing fan's dollar, so in 1949 the track owners made a 1/2 mile paved road course using part of the oval, and part of the parking lot.  The road course included a hill, that actually crossed over the track so the cars crossed over and under one another at one point.  In the aerial photo of the track you can kind of make out where the crossover, and parking lot portion of the road course was used.  Land values, and encroaching home development spelled doom, the track property was sold to Douglas Aircraft, the track was torn down in 1954.

In the aerial view you can see Washington Blvd and the tracks grandstands, to the left you can see the intersection of Lincoln Blvd. and Washington Blvd.