Reminiscing... Culver City Speedway - California

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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.



Below is a photo of the midgets racing on the road course, when can you remember seeing midgets turning right? this is from a midget race in 1949, you can see the crossover hill behind the lead midgets.



Here's a great shot of 1952 Indy 500 winner Troy Ruttman "Catching some big air" as he crosses over the hill on the Culver City Speedway road course in 1949, check out the beautiful Kurtis Kraft Offy midget that Troy is flying in.



REFERENCE: Allen E. Brown's "History of the American Speedway", Harold L. Osmer's "Where They Raced", and flying midget photo from a Open Wheel Magazine article by Terry Reed, for their March 1988 issue of Open Wheel magazine.