Saugus Speedway Racing Program.

Saturday, June 21, 1980.

Yellow spot color cover, else black, 28 pages.

Cover: Gary Johnson, No. 30 Durban Inc. Camaro, Sportsman division.

Driver profile: Bill Sedgwick.

Feature: Prosser Wins Second Straight at Saugus Speedway.

Photos, in order of appearance: Johnson, Sedgwick, Roman Calczynski, Bruce Erickson, Mike Barnett, Bill McKnight, Tony Balzano, John Covan, Ron Hornaday Jr., Tom Reilly, Jim Ayers, Ray Stansberry, Frank Bulot, Larry Warholic, Joe Astone, Allen Thacker, Dave Shearman, Bryan Hayden, Luke Koback, Vic Salls, Jerry Hoefelman, David Haner, Dwayne McReynolds, Kerry Horton, Scott Klassen, John Kirby.

Previous week's attendance: not listed

Driver Profile: Bill Sedgwick

Tonight's driver profile features one of the younger men behind the wheel, Bill Sedwick. At the time of this writing Bill's in 4th place in the Street Stock championship race. Last week he won his second race ever, the Street Stock Trophy Dash. The first win came on May 17th, another Trophy Dash. You see, Bill's only been racing since early last year.

Bill impressed me as being a reserved, slightly shy type of individual. Although our talk was brief and all we talked about was racing, this was my first impression. Don't misunderstand, Mr. Sedgwick knows what he wants and he's very aggressively going after it. In January of this year, he went out and bought himself a Grand National car from Jack Simpson. Make sure you keep this is perspective, Bill's 25 years old, only been racing 10 months or less and he owns a Grand National Car. The first time out at Ontario he qualified 23rd, and finished 19th out of 35 cars...not too bad for a first timer. Unfortunately, the last time out at Riverside, he didn't do as well, which is the way it goes in racing. It was rather comical as Bill related the experience to me. "It was during practice when the engine blew and caused the guy behind me to spin. I thought I was really in trouble when I saw Daryl Waltrip going by me backwards."

Bill's originally from Portland, Oregon, born on March 19th. He came to California at the age of 5 and it's been home since. He graduated from John Marshall High, class of '73 and has been working as a mechanic at A-1 Automotive in Hollywood for the past 7 years. See what I mean about reserved, not too many guys his age can talk of that kind of time at one job. I have to admire character like that.

As for a worst experience, Bill lost a hub during a race last year and hit the turn three wall pretty hard. Not much more was said about it, it's human nature not to dwell on bad experiences. In little more than a year and a half, Bill Sedgwick has gone from spectator in '78 to Grand National car owner & driver and to major contender here at the Super Track. Thanks Bill, I'm sure the fans will be seeing #25 in a lot more trophy presentations.

"Irish"

Prosser Wins Second Straight at Saugus Speedway

Super Track Scene by Lyn Pherigo

Simi's Oren Prosser scored his second win in as many weeks driving the Precision Instruments Repair Camaro to victory in the feature 40-lap Modified main event Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. Tony Balzano, also from Simi, collected his first stocker main in the 25-lap oval event and Ken "Bozo" Bosse, Sylmar, "zig-zagged" to victory in the figure eight 15-lap finale, also his first feature win of '80.

Prosser, the five-time champion of Saugus Speedway, replaced early leader Ken Davis, West Covina, on the sixth lap and held a comfortable quarter-lap lead until a yellow flag interruption on the 21st circuit. On the re-start, Dan Press, Arleta, and Jim Robinson, Sylmar, maneuvered past Davis and set their sights on "Roaren Oren".

The final fifteen laps was a "bumper to bumper" battle of champions with Prosser taking the checkered a car-length ahead of Press leading Robinson by a similar margin. Press and Robinson were the '78 and 177 Saugus champions.

Press, in the PDQ Racing Camaro, set a new one-lap qualifying record for the second week in a row, lowering the mark to 16:18, a speed of 74.17 around the Super Track's flat one-third mile paved oval.

Mike Willard, Reseda, finished fourth, Davis was fifth and Ken Sapper, La Crescenta, trophy dash winner was sixth. Press and Chuck Wahl, Burbank, won earlier heat races.

Balzano, in scoring his victory, moved to the lead on the tenth lap from his inside-third-row starting position. Allen Thacker, Saugus, was running second and Jim McAlister, Chatsworth was in third. Fifteen laps later they finished in the same order with Dave Harrison, Sylmar in fourth and Tim Kerbrat, Reseda, in fifth. As in most stocker main events, fourteen of the finishers were still going for the win and running on the lead lap as Balzano flashed under the checkered. Balzano and Ken Christian, Canyon Country, won earlier heat races and Bill Sedgwick, Van Nuys, was victorious in the trophy dash.

Bosse lead from "wire to wire" in notching his first main win of the year. He also won the figure eight heat race and Rodney Peacher, Sepulveda, drove to victory in the trophy dash.

Six main events, twin Monzas for Sportsman, Street Stockers and Figure 8'ers headline Saturday nights action preceding a giant destruction derby finale.

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.