Legion Ascot Speedway

After the construction of a {{fraction|5|8}}-mile dirt oval near Lincoln Park had been announced in early December 1923,{{cite news|title=Motor racing events on dirt track to be staged weekly in Los Angeles|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40758501/|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=December 6, 1923|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201010007/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40758501/19241206-will-revive-ascot-park-la/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} the new Ascot speedway, which was built by promoter George R. Bentel and his publicist Bill Pickens, opened on January 20, 1924, when 35,000 spectators attended the inaugural event, which featured both auto and motorcycle racing.{{cite news|last=Frayne|first=Ed.|date=January 21, 1924|title=Dirt racing proves huge success at Ascot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89897574/|newspaper=Los Angeles Record|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201010533/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89897574/new-ascot-speedway-draws-a-huge-crowd/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=Press agent did his bit|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47621545/|newspaper=The Pomona Progress|agency=United Press|date=January 22, 1924|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201234748/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/47621545/19240122-bill-pickens-press-agent/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}}

The next racing program, which was held two weeks later, was marred by the tracks' first fatality when Jimmy Craft was killed on the southeast turn.{{cite news|title=Jimmy Craft is killed in Ascot Speedway crash|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40759586/|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=February 4, 1924|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131191425/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/40759586/19240204-jimmy-craft-killed-in-ascot/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} Many drivers would die at this curve, which was immediately nicknamed "death curve."

The promotion of Ascot during the first months of its existence was a popular and financial success.{{cite news|title=Speedway suit filed in court|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89897104/|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=November 10, 1925|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201011408/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89897104/suit-against-lessees-of-ascot-speedway/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} However, the Ascot Gold Cup, a road race held on Thanksgiving Day 1924, saw its outcome challenged by drivers contesting both the eligibility of other competitors to participate and the official race distance.{{cite news|title=Drivers protest Frank Lockart's victory in Ascot road race|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89897904/|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=November 29, 1924|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144008/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89897904/victory-of-ascot-gold-cup-race-winner/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} Drivers also charged that prize money had been withheld.{{cite news|title=Bentel faces felony charge|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38996126/|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=December 11, 1924|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201234945/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/38996126/culver-city-speed-way-bennett-hill/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} Bentel and other officials of the Ascot Speedway Association were handed suspended 30-day jail sentences for false advertising in April 1925.{{cite news|title=Speedway officials get suspended terms|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898032/|newspaper=San Francisco Examiner|date=April 28, 1925|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144208/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898032/ascot-speedway-association-officials/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}}

In the meantime, Ascot had been taken over by the creditors' committee of the association, the new management being headed by its trustee John S. White, who scheduled the next racing event for late January 1925.{{cite news|title=Ascot Speedway reopens Sunday with fast bill|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898113/|newspaper=Illustrated Daily News|location=Los Angeles, California|date=January 20, 1925|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144119/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898113/ascot-speedway-to-reopen-under-a-new/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} The site was run unsuccessfully by various promoters in the years that followed, occasionally serving as a venue for boxing matches.{{cite news|last=Ziff|first=Sid|date=December 20, 1929|title=The inside track|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898172/|newspaper=Evening Express|location=Los Angeles, California|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144403/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898172/ascot-speedway-finally-flourishing/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}}{{cite news|last=Ziff|first=Sid|date=December 23, 1929|title=The inside track|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48471994/|newspaper=Evening Express|location=Los Angeles, California|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201014146/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/48471994/los-angeles-evening-express/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}}

The American Legion Post 127 of Glendale, which had started promoting the track in the fall of 1928, entered into a long-term lease of the property in early March 1929, having secured AAA sanction for the American Legion Speedway.{{cite news|title=Legionnaires to take over Ascot track|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898393/|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=March 3, 1929|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144246/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898393/ascot-speedway-taken-over-by-american/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} 15 months later, it was renamed Legion Ascot Speedway based on the legionnaires' assessment that they had rehabilitated "Ascot,"{{cite news|title=Speedway's name is changed officially|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898450/|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=June 6, 1930|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144703/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89898450/american-legion-speedway-renamed-legion/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} giving the track the name it would be widely known by. Major drivers raced at the track such as Bill Cummings, Al Gordon, Ernie Triplett, Kelly Petillo, Wilbur Shaw and Rex Mays.{{cite web|url=https://elserenohistoricalsociety.org/legion-ascot-speedway|title=El Sereno's Legion Ascot Speedway|website=El Sereno Historical Society|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201004510/https://elserenohistoricalsociety.org/legion-ascot-speedway|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} It also attracted celebrity spectators such as Bing Crosby, Andy Devine, Loretta Young, Clark Gable, Charlie Chaplin, Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Clara Bow and Carole Lombard. Actresses sometimes presented trophies to the winning drivers.

The high speeds the racers reached contributed to heavy and spectacular crashes at the speedway. About two dozen people died in the twelve years that Legion Ascot operated, earning it the nickname "killer track."{{cite web|url=https://www.theeastsiderla.com/multimedia/videos/the-killer-track-once-attracted-fans-of-cars-and-speed/article_7410c6b3-96ec-5407-b3c9-dccf8cb921e8.html|title=The "Killer Track" once attracted fans of cars and speed to El Sereno|website=The Eastsider|date=January 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105011112/https://www.theeastsiderla.com/multimedia/videos/the-killer-track-once-attracted-fans-of-cars-and-speed/article_7410c6b3-96ec-5407-b3c9-dccf8cb921e8.html|archive-date=2019-11-05|url-status=live}} It had the most deaths of any American race track in that time period. In 1933 alone, six deaths occurred, stirring turmoil in the newspapers as racing continued before large crowds.

In July 1934, a flat half-mile dirt oval was opened.{{cite news|last=Price|first=Paul|date=July 11, 1934|title=Speed merchants set as Ascot track reopens tonight|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899003/|newspaper=Hollywood Citizen-News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201014616/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899003/flat-half-mile-dirt-oval-to-open-at/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} It was built inside the old track,{{cite web|url=http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/ascot.html|title=Ascot|website=The GEL Motorsport Information Page|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200114130950/http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/ascot.html|archive-date=2020-01-14|url-status=live}} the banked five-eighths-mile oval, which at some point had been paved with asphalt{{cite news|title=Old track, made safer, re-opened at Legion Ascot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899283/|newspaper=Covina Citizen|date=November 23, 1934|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131144904/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899283/banked-five-eighths-mile-asphalt-oval/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} and was reopened in November of the same year after its south curve had been refurbished for safety purposes. With the bulk of its tenure a profitable effort, the Glendale American Legion post had been facing a host of problems since 1934: anti-racing sentiment in the public, upcoming competition from midget car racing luring away popular drivers and waning interest among the fans as a consequence, as well as disagreements with the lessors on rent and other issues.{{cite news|last=Coughlin|first=Gene|date=September 5, 1935|title=Legion drops auto racing at Ascot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899436/|newspaper=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145003/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899436/american-legions-glendale-post-to-stop/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} Hence the leasing contract was not renewed and expired at the end of September 1935.{{cite news|title=Auto racing bows out at Ascot|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899746/|newspaper=Los Angeles Evening Post-Record|date=September 26, 1935|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145132/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899746/glendale-american-legion-posts-lease/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}}

Management of Ascot was then assumed by former race car owner and promoter Bill S. White, who was asked to do so by his peers.{{cite news|title=Bill White to reopen Ascot saucer Sunday|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899800/|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=October 13, 1935|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145157/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899800/ascot-speedway-to-reopen-under-a-new/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} The last race was to be held on January 26, 1936, when both Al Gordon and his riding mechanic, Spider Matlock, suffered fatal injuries as a result of a crash.{{cite news|title=Gordon, mechanic die in crash|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58433537/|newspaper=Oakland Tribune|agency=Associated Press|date=January 27, 1936|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201015450/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/58433537/oakland-tribune/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} The track was closed, being denied an AAA license.{{cite news|last=Hertel|first=Howard|date=April 14, 1936|title=City council okays new auto track|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899872/|newspaper=Illustrated Daily News|location=Los Angeles, California|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145322/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899872/construction-of-los-angeles-speedway/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} In late April 1936, a quarter of the grandstand of the abandoned speedway was destroyed by fire.{{cite news|title=Fire damages Ascot track|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24211318/|newspaper=The San Bernardino Daily Sun|agency=Associated Press|date=April 27, 1936|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220201020017/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/24211318/19360427-fire-damages-ascot-track/|archive-date=2022-02-01|url-status=live}} Seven years later, Linden Emerson, a former janitor at the track, turned himself in, confessing that he had burned down the grandstand because he did not want to see any more of his friends die there.{{cite web|url=http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/9509/|title=Ascot Motor Speedway #2, Lincoln Heights, Los Angeles, CA|website=PCAD|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191105011111/http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/9509/|archive-date=2019-11-05|url-status=live}}

Today, Multnomah Elementary School and a tract of houses cover the land that Legion Ascot Speedway had occupied. The dangerous "south curve" remains as a curve in Hatfield Place, being the only trace of the track and its checkered history.{{cite news|last=Newman|first=Claude|date=April 29, 1936|title=For what it's worth|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899963/|newspaper=Hollywood Citizen-News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145359/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89899963/ascot-speedways-eventful-history-to/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}}

Legion Ascot was the second of four Ascot sites in Los Angeles after the original one-mile South-Central oval was open between 1907 and 1919. Ascot Park was then replaced by a Goodyear tire factory. A third site, which opened as Southern Speedway near South Gate in June 1936,{{cite news|title=South Gate auto racing oval opens tomorrow|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89900060/|newspaper=Illustrated Daily News|location=Los Angeles, California|date=June 6, 1936|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145426/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89900060/southern-speedway-to-open-near-south/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} was renamed Southern Ascot in January 1938{{cite news|title=Southgate track to change name to Ascot today|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89900139/|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=January 23, 1938|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131145451/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89900139/southern-speedway-renamed-southern-ascot/|archive-date=2022-01-31|url-status=live}} and held races on a half-mile dirt oval until 1942. The fourth track in the series was Ascot Park in Gardena, which operated from 1957 through 1990.{{cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-17-sp-4174-story.html|title=End of an era|last=Glick|first=Shav|date=November 17, 1990|website=Los Angeles Times|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123092111/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-11-17-sp-4174-story.html|archive-date=2021-11-23|url-status=live}}

• Lucero, John R. (1982). [https://www.hotrodhotline.com/feature/bookreviews/07legionascot/ Legion Ascot Speedway: 1920s – 1930s]. Huntington Park, California: Orecul Publishing. Book on the history of Legion Ascot Speedway.

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{{AAA tracks}}

{{Motorcycle speedway tracks}}

Category:Defunct speedway venues in the United States

Category:Motorsport venues in California

Category:Sports venues in Los Angeles

Category:Boxing venues in Los Angeles

Category:American Legion buildings

Category:1924 establishments in California

Category:1936 disestablishments in California