Saugus Speedway Racing Program.

Saturday, June 14, 1980.

Orange spot color cover, else brown, 28 pages.

Cover: Oren Prosser, Agoura, No. 8 Camaro, Modified.

Driver profile: Dan Press.

Feature: "Roaren" Oren Prosser Victorious at Saugus Speedway.

Photos, in order of appearance: Prosser, Press, Jimmy Insolo, Cliff Garner, Glen Steurer, Mike Willard, Roman Calczynski, Cindy Liedblad (trophy girl), Jim McAlister, Pamm Woodside, Jim Gardella, Ken Bosse, Wrong Way Willard, L.A. Woodside, Rodney Peacher, Jon Christensen, Ken Richter.

Previous week's attendance: not listed

Driver Profile: Dan Press

After winning 15 main events, several trophy clashes and setting fast time over 20 different nights at the Super Track, a driver deserves to be Track Champion ... and that's what Dan Press did during the 1978 racing season. In addition to that, he's traveled all over the Western states practically, racing on several tracks in his 8-year racing career. Of course that doesn't count the VA Midget racing from 10 to 13 years of age or the bike racing for a year or two after that.

Dan's also a native of Southern California, born in Burbank on January 30, 1949. He graduated from Hart High School, Class of '66. Currently employed as a machinist for Electrofilm, the same company producing Electro Helmets. Dan Press and Bill Droege, also of Electrofilm, both own the number 25 Modified car. They call it "P.D.Q. Racing." Conrad is crew chief and Sal, Lizzard, and Anthony make up the rest of the crew. Dan and wife Bonnie have one child, 11-year-old Marquee. Dan's Mom and Dad are at the Super Track every night he's behind the wheel.

As has been my practice during these write-ups on drivers, I've been asking about their worst and best experiences since they started racing. For Mr. Press, his first altercation with the crash wall was the worst. Did lots of damage to the Chevelle, but fortunately no injury to Dan. His first year, 1973, ended with Dan winning Rookie of the Year honors. His best experience to date was winning the '78 Championship here at Saugus.

When it comes to getting the horse power to the track, Dan Press has proved to be one of the best, and not just for his own car, but for several others, as well. In his words, "I just like to experiment with the suspension. The only way to get good at it is try different things."

Keep an eye on the black #25 Modified, currently in second place in the points standings, at the time of this writing, that is. I'm sure you, the Super Track fans have as big a thank you for Dan Press as he does for you.

Thanks Dan!

"Irish"

"Roaren" Oren Prosser Victorious at Saugus Speedway

Super Track Scene by Lyn Pherigo

"Roaren" Oren Prosser, five-time former "Super Track" champion drove the Precision Instrument Repairs Camaro to victory in the feature 40-lap Modified main event Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. It was the first regular-season feature win for Prosser since his last championship year of 1972. Valencia's Gary Johnson won the Sportsman 30-lap main, Jim McAlister, Chatsworth, took the 25-lap stocker oval event and Ken Christian, Canyon Country, was awarded the victory in the 15-lap Figure Eight finale.

Prosser, in scoring his victory, jumped into the lead on the first lap from his inside, second-row, starting position and held a comfortable quarter to half-lap lead most of the way.

Mike Willard, moving into the second-place spot on lap 17, "chased" Prosser the final twenty-three circuits on the flat, third-mile paved oval, finishing about four car lengths back.

Dan Press, '78 Saugus champion, set a new one-lap qualifying record of 16:21 in the PDQ Racing Camaro, and his third-place finish boosted him back atop the Modified point standings.

Jim Insolo, '68 Saugus champion, came in fourth, Ken Sapper, La Crescenta, was fifth and Ken Davis, West Covina, sixth. All were running on the lead lap when Prosser flashed under the checkered flag.

Johnson's victory in the Sportsman main was his third of the season and earlier in the evening he set fast time of 17:53, equaling the current record, and also drove the Durbin Inc. Camaro to victory in the Sportsman dash.

Chris Falconer, Sepulveda, making his first driving appearance this season, finished second after "pressuring" Johnson the final laps. Falconer was "substitute driving" the Mickey Bell Buick for vacationing John Covan, the current Sportsman champion and point leader.

Tom Reilly, Azusa, came in third, Ron Hornaday Jr., Simi, fourth and Roman Calczynski, Van Nuys, fifth. Bruce Erickson, Canoga Park, finished in sixth and all were running on the lead lap.

Jim McAlister, Chatsworth, registered his first stocker oval feature win of '80, ahead of Bill Sedgwick, Van Nuys, and Ken Bosse, Sylmar, who set fast time for the stockers. McAlister and Bosse also won earlier heat races.

Pamm Woodside, Saugus, finished fourth, her best showing yet in her first year of stock car racing.

Dave Harrison, Sylmar, was first to cross the finish line in the Figure 8 main but was later set down one position for passing "under the bumps" giving the win to Ken Christian, Canyon Country.

About Saugus Speedway

The future Saugus Speedway was built originally as a rodeo arena in 1927 by Roy Baker, brother of shoe magnate C.H. Baker.

Roy Baker purchased the 40-acre property east of Bouquet Junction in 1923 for the purpose of breeding and selling show and pleasure horses. To that end he imported saddle brood mares from Kentucky and studded them with a pedigreed, chestnut-colored saddlebred stallion named Peavine McDonald (b. 1910), which sired five pedigreed mares and four pedigreed colts between 1920 and 1936. Baker advertised that he had 2,500 acres of grazing land and also offered training and boarding services for outside horses.

Probably to attract horse buyers to his ranch in faraway Saugus, Baker staged rodeos. Some references suggest he built a 12,000-seat arena in 1924, but this is dubious. (Promoter Bob Anderson organized a local rodeo in 1924, but its exact location is unclear, and it wouldn't have had grandtands.) Anderson did hold the annual rodeo on Baker's property in April 1926. That December, Baker and Anderson started construction on a new stadium, complete with partially covered grandstand seating and a quarter-mile oval track. When it opened May 1, 1927, it seated 18,000 fans, and thousands more had to be turned away for lack of room.

Over the next decade, ownership of the arena would change hands three more times.

As with a majority of the American populace, Baker was hit hard financially by the Great Depression of 1929 and was forced to sell the stadium to cowboy actor Hoot Gibson in 1930. Gibson continued to hold rodeos at the stadium and drew a Hollywood crowd including famous actors such as William S. Hart, Harry Carey, Tom Mix, and John Wayne. He also used the stadium as a movie set or leased it to other companies for film making.

But Gibson felt the effects of the Depression, as well. In September 1933 he appeared in a Los Angeles courtroom and pleaded poverty, saying he had no assets with which to repay a $2,500 loan. He testified that he owned a one-third interest in Hoot Gibson Inc., which owned the Saugus rodeo, and that it was in arrears.

In 1934, Gibson sold the stadium to Paul Hill, owner of the Western Livestock Stockyards, who continued to call it the Hoot Gibson Rodeo. As with his predecessors, however, the stadium brought Hill financial hardship when it was hit by the Great Flood of March 2, 1938. Heavy rains that year caused a river of water to flow down Soledad Canyon and filled the ranch home and arena with mud and debris. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the "old buildings ... collapsed during the March floods" and the arena was built anew.

Nonetheless, Hill lost the ranch sometime after the April 1938 rodeo. According to Reynolds, the property was repossessed by the bank. In 1939, ownership passed to William Bonelli, and it was renamed Bonelli Stadium.

Bonelli, a professor of economics at Occidental College, continued the annual rodeo tradition for a number of years but introduced auto racing in 1939 on a more frequent schedule; ultimately auto racing became the primary draw and Bonelli renamed the arena Saugus Speedway. Occasional rodeos and circuses continued until at least the late 1960s, auto racing until 1995. The facility was sometimes used for concerts before the grandstands were removed in 2012 (the originals had been replaced in 1955). The venue continues to host an outdoor swap meet.