Saugus Speedway Racing Program.

Saturday, July 25, 1981.

Red spot color cover, else black, 28 pages.

Cover: Ken Sapper.

Driver profile: none.

Feature: Hornaday, Calczynski, Hooper & Bosse Win at Saugus.

Photos, in order of appearance: Sapper, Jim Kent, Roman Calczynski, Gabby Garrison, Larry Warholic, Chuck Berry, Steve Colbert, Brad Miller, Ken Bosse, Sherry (trophy queen), Luke Koback, Carl Doyon, Al Siegel, Steve Deaver, Tim Kerbrat.

Previous week's attendance: 4,442 (paid)

Hornaday, Calczynski, Hooper & Bosse Win at Saugus

Super Track Scene by Lyn Pherigo

Ron Hornaday Jr., Simi, won his second straight 40-lap Modified main event Saturday night at Saugus Speedway, and Roman Calczynski, Van Nuys, added to his Sportsman point lead by winning his seventh Sportsman feature of 1981. In other action, Ray Hooper Jr., Valencia, registered his 4th stocker oval triumph, and point leader Ken Bosse, Sylmar, won his ninth figure-eight 15-lap main event.

Current point leader and former champion Tru Cheek, Sylmar, was leading the Modified main event and appeared to be headed for victory when near-disaster struck. On a restart after a caution delay, Cheek roared toward the first turn only to discover that another car, pitting with a flat tire, had cut across the infield to head into the pit exit located at turn one. Cheek skillfully maneuvered to avoid the obstacle and chose to use the pit exit as an "escape" route. In so doing, he struck the protective hay bales, glanced off the wall, grazed an official and struck several pit-side spectators. No serious injuries were sustained in a situation that could have ended in tragedy. Cheek's Camaro suffered major damages and ended his quest for victory. Hornaday led the final three laps to take the win.

Calczynski took the lead from Bill Sedgwick, Van Nuys, on lap ten and fought off challenges by Steve Colbert, Mission Hills, Joe Astone, San Fernando, and Sedgwick in winning the 30-lap event. Sedgwick, second in the points race, finished second, Colbert, third, Ken Sapper, La Crescenta, fourth and Astone.

Hooper led wire-to-wire in his 25-lap stocker oval triumph as nine cars finished on the lead lap. Jim McAlister, Chatsworth, fast stocker time setter, was second, John Redmond, Saugus, third, figure-8 dash winner David Hard, Newhall, was fourth and Kevin McCurdy, Ventura, was fifth.

Bosse replaced early leader Bryan Hayden, Canyon Country, on lap five and led the rest of the way in the 15-lap figure eight finale. Hayden held on for second, Scott Klassen, Ventura, was third, Hard was fourth and Mitch Thompson, Sylmar, was fifth.

Hornaday won the Modified dash, Jim Kent, Saugus, triumphed in the Sportsman and Tim Kerbrat, Sylmar, was first to the checkered in the stocker oval trophy run.

Results from July 25, 1981

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.