Beverly Hills Speedway

Beverly Hills Speedway

Location	Beverly Hills, California, United States
Time zone	GMT -7
Owner	Beverly Hills Speedway Syndicate
Broke ground	1919
Opened	February 28, 1920
Closed	1924
Construction cost	$ 500,000
Board oval track with 37 degree banking
Surface	2 in × 4 in (50 mm × 100 mm) boards
Circuit length	1.25 mi (2.01 km)

Beverly Hills Speedway was an American board track in Beverly Hills, California, USA. It was the home to speeding Model Ts and airplanes which cut through the airspace of Beverly Hills during the roaring 20s. Built in 1919 on what is currently Beverly Hills High School, the Regent Beverly Wilshire and many shops and homes on the 275 acres (1.11 km²) was then called Beverly Drive West. The track ran south of Wilshire Boulevard, between Lasky Drive and Beverly Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. At a cost of $500,000, it was completed and ready for inauguration on February 28. The money for this project came from a group of actors and others in the industry. Together they were known as the Beverly Hills Speedway Syndicate and in 1919, they finally had enough money to go ahead with their project. The majority of this money went to buying the land. The lima-bean farmer who sold the Syndicate the land offered it to them for $1,000 per acre ($2,500/ha). Using 2-by-4-inch (50 by 100 mm) boards since the material was cheap, the 1-mile (1.6 km) speedway was built by Jack Prince -- famous at the time for his speed track constructions. Though not only cheap, the wood was better than the typical dirt race track since it didn't have the dust flying into driver's faces.

An aerial shot of the Beverly Hills Speedway with a look at the bend. Eucalyptus trees line the south side of Wilshire Blvd on the northern border of the track.

At the time, the wooden raceway was ranked second only to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On its first race day, Jimmy Murphy, driving car #14, competed in the track's first 250-mile (400 km) race and won. After only four years, the 70,000-seat stadium was disassembled to make room for other improvements. The land was deemed more expensive than the track that lay atop it. The last race was held February 24, 1924, before a crowd of 85,000. On that day Harlan Fengler broke the world record for a 250-mile (400 km) race. By 1928, the Beverly Wilshire hotel would be built on the site of the track's north-east turn. The developers of the racetrack would later move it to Culver City, just south of MGM studios.

The speedway was built at a time when car races were popular. The Los Angeles Coliseum Motordome was another popular speedway just south in Playa del Rey. There were about six of the wooden tracks—or "toothpick tracks" -- in California.

Races

Statistics for winners of each race.

Jimmy Murphy in the number 12 Duesenberg is leading Ralph DePalma in the number 4 Ballot on April 10, 1921.

Poster for November 24, 1921, race.

Bennett Hill at Beverly Hills in 1920

1. 500 mi ≈ 800 km, 250 mi ≈ 400 km and 25 mi ≈ 40 km
2. Gaston Chevrolet and Eddie O'Donnell collided and crashed into one another during the Thanksgiving Day Beverly Hills Speedway Classic race. Chevrolet was killed along with O'Donnell, and Lyall Jolls, his riding mechanic, died the next day^[1].

Resources

• "BOARD TRACKS: Before Indianapolis, L.A.'s Toothpick Ovals Were King" SHAV GLICK. Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1987.
• "Column: L.A. Scene / The City Then and Now". CECILIA RASMUSSEN. Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1992.

Coordinates: 34°03′58″N 118°24′8″W / 34.06611°N 118.40222°W / 34.06611; -118.40222