Saugus Speedway Racing Program.

Saturday, August 2, 1980.

Light Green spot color cover, else black, 28 pages.

Cover: Jim McAlister.

Driver profile: George Stiles.

Feature: Robinson Wins Third Feature at Saugus.

Photos, in order of appearance: McAlister, Stiles, Gary Johnson, Dave Shearman, Ron Miller, Mike Smalley, Mike DiMarzo, John Covan, Angela Dunn (trophy girl), Mitch Thompson, Ron Hornaday Jr., Bill McKnight, Roman Calczynski, Rodney Peacher; Leonard Thompson, Herb Thompson, Jack Frost (firemen); John Cran, Vic Salls.

Previous week's attendance: 4,667 (paid)

Driver Profile: George Stiles

Tonight's driver being featured is not a driver at the "Super Track," but he drives at Indian Dunes, California City, Las Vegas and lots of other "off road" tracks in his spare time. George Stiles' official position at Saugus Speedway is chief Steward. That means he's father confessor, arbitrator, judge, jury, defense counsel and prosecutor for the Olympic Racing Association, and that is as it should be. George has a staff of tech officials, track safety crew, starter & assistant starter as well as a scoring team ... all of whom he must rely on to get the job done.

George was born in Santa Paula on September 22, 1947, and graduated from Santa Paula High School. As a matter of fact, he told me he's never lived in a house more than ten miles from the spot he was born. George's racing official experience began in '67 as assistant starter in Bakersfield at the Oildale Speedway. He became a pit steward at Saugus in '68, pit manager in tech director in '73, chief of communications in '76 and in mid-1977 he was appointed chief steward, and he's been there ever since. George's wife Brynda began working at the "Super Track's" pit gate in 1972 and has just this season, taken over as chief scorer. Not only is racing at Saugus a family affair for many owners and drivers, but it is for many officials of the O.R.A., as well. Speaking of families, the rest of the Stiles family includes Rod, 13, and Kamie, 11.

Getting back to George's off-road exploits, he took second place in the 1980 running of the "Mint 400" in Las Vegas. That's one tough four-hundred-mile, four-lap race in the desert around Los Vegas. I had the opportunity to announce a race for A.M.S.A. (American Motor Sports Association) at Indian Dunes this year. Four members of the Stiles family walked away with trophies that day. George and Brynda, she got the first place trophy, while George's cousin Jim and his wife Suzanne also took home trophies. His first season with the A.M.S.A. off-road circuit earned him a fifth place finish in points, which was last year.

Though tempers flare occasionally in the pits, George Stiles enjoys a lot of respect on the part of the drivers and owners. The job of chief steward is a thankless one, but I think most people are thankful a man like George holds that position.

George, thank you, and thanks for the opportunity to get a closer look at the man behind the O.R.A.

"Irish"

Robinson Wins Third Feature at Saugus

Super Track Scene by Lyn Pherigo

Sylmar's Jim Robinson, 1977 Saugus Speedway champion, piloted the Oval Three Enterprises Monza to victory in the feature 40-lap Modified main event Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. It was Robinson's third feature win of the season and put him within 25 points of Modified point leader Dan Press of Valencia. Press damaged his PDQ Racing Camaro when he brushed the crash wall during the first laps of his qualifying run. He drove the Marshall Aycock Camaro that is usually driven by Tru Cheek, and finished thirteenth, retiring after 31 laps.

Ken Davis, West Covina, led the first six laps with Oren Prosser, Simi, going to the front on lap seven. Prosser, the top qualifier with a 16:16 in the fast Precision Instrument Repair Camaro, was trying for his fourth straight feature win but mechanical difficulties ended his quest during a lap-29 caution period.

Don Lindner, Reseda, inherited the lead at that point with Robinson running second, Mike Willard, Reseda, third, Davis fourth, and Bryan Brown, Bakersfield, in the fifth position.

Robinson and Willard overtook Lindner on the 33rd circuit after Brown and Ken Sapper, La Crescenta, squeezed by Davis on lap 31. Robinson won the dash to the checkered despite a last-lap fourth turn challenge by Willard. Lindner held on for third, Brown was fourth, Sapper, fifth, Davis, sixth and Hans Wesski, Simi, was seventh. They were all running on the lead lap at the end.

Willard won the 4-lap trophy dash. Gary Pike, Burbank, and Walt Price Sr. of Sylmar, former Saugus champion, won the heat races.

Dale Herron, Reseda, drove the Synthoil "100" Chevelle to victory in the 25-lap stocker main. Herron, starting 21st, took over the lead from Rodney Peacher, Sepulveda, on the sixteenth lap. Peacher had led the first 15 laps from his pole-starting position.

Roman Calczynski, Van Nuys, current street stock champion and point leader, finished in second, Luke Koback, Valencia, was third, Bill McKnight, Northridge, fourth, and Dan Challgren, Newhall, fifth. In typical stocker action, fourteen of the twenty-four starters were still running on the lead lap at the checkered.

Tim Kerbrat, Reseda, set fast stocker time, Scott Klassen, Ventura, won the trophy dash with Peacher and McKnight taking the heat races.

Wrong Way Willard, Simi, won the crash-shortened 14-lap figure eight finale with Mike Barnett, Newhall, second and Bill Sedgwick, Van Nuys, finishing third.

Calczynski won the dash and Willard won the heat race.

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.