History CARRELL SPEEDWAY January,1949

As promised, these are the January,1949 images from Carrell speedway that my father took.
Carrel was located in the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena.
More Carrell Speedway history here
Carrell Speedway in Gardena | South Bay History (dailybreeze.com)

These cars & drivers are in these pics
Rex Mays, driving for car owner Cliff Beregere(?)
Mays lost his life in a racing accident later that year in Del Mar.
Also, Johnny Mantz, driving for car owner JC Agajanian, in the 98 car.
Always the sharp dressed man, Agajanian is easy to spot with his Stetson, boots and styled suit.

Possible race results for the event are shown as January 30 1949
AAA Pacific:1949-04 - The Third Turn
The pics I have are dated January 9(?) so the only way to verify is to have old race programs from January '49. That will also help to put names on the other cars & drivers in these photos.
The old Carrell program cover with the Johnny Parsons pic shows a date of January 9,1949 so must be true?
The photo file info can be read by right clicking the image and selecting "save as".
Some of the dirt car experts here can piece the rest of it together.
"Gentlemen, Start Your Engines"

 

The good old old days .

 

Thanks for the post, nice to see.

 

Outstanding photos. Thank you for posting them.

 

Thanks. I'll be putting a few up from Balboa Stadium, San Diego 1942 in a few days.
I fixed my original post. I goofed it up and there were duplicate pics uploaded by me.
Mo' betta now.

 

Thanks for the great pictures. Some friends of mine traveled down to Southern California in Oct of 48, to race a Track Roadster at Huntington Beach, and then Carrell the next weekend. They were Rolla Vollstedt and his driver Len Sutton. At Huntington, Len won, and Troy Ruttman was 2nd, in Bert Letner's Elco-Twin. The next week at Carrell, Len backed Rolla's car into the wall in practice, and damaged the rear axle. As luck would have it, 2 more Oregonians showed up, Don Waters, and Jack Greiner towed Don's car down, looking for a driver. So, Len hopped in Don's car and finished 2nd to Troy Ruttman. Troy, Len and Rolla would go on to Indy, and be friends for life. @Dean Lowe , wasn't 'The Big Wheel" in 1949 filmed partially at Carrell ?

 

Very Cool History There
Just up
link to Balboa Stadium 1942 midget race pics
History - Balboa Stadium 1942 Midget Races | The H.A.M.B. (jalopyjournal.com)

 

Did those cars have V8-60s or flatheads or something else?

 

They ran the gamut as far as powerplants go, but the Offenhauser reigned supreme for many years.

 

Artesia Blvd was put right thru the center of the track. I remember driving on it and could see the “white” painted tires sticking out of the ground. Ascot, the one I knew, was constructed after Carrell was closed..

 

1957 I think.

 

I wanted a better look at the convertible (almost certainly Agajanian's) so I brought the pix into PhotoShop for adjustments:




'46-8 Continental?

 

Yeah, probably all he could afford.

 

Those are fantastic photos! From the photographer's (seated) vantage point, it's just as much a rare look/study of the spectator's as the racing.
It demonstrates just how tidy folks were when they went out in public back then. Looks to be date night for a few couples with women's hair done up and nice coats, etc. Especially when you consider this is bleacher seating at a dirt track race!