1981 SAUGUS 330

WINNER: Ron Hornaday Jr.

Saugus Speedway Racing Program

Saturday, October 10, 1981.

Red spot color cover, else black, 36 pages.

1981 Saugus Champions: Tru Cheek (Modified), Roman Calczynski (Sportsman), Ken Bosse (Street Stock)

Results from October 10, 1981

[Previous Year's Results:] Insolo Wins Saugus "330"

Super Track Scene by Lyn Pherigo
October 4, 1980

Jimmy Insolo, former Saugus and Winston Western champion, drove the Trick Instant Horsepower Camaro to victory in the sixth annual Saugus "330" Saturday night at Saugus Speedway. It was Insolo's third win in the six-year history of the annual classic, and he went home with $5,000 for winning, $320 for leading the final 32 laps and several hundred dollars in contingency money.

There were six lead changes among five drivers during the 220-lap event, run in two 110-lap segments with a mandatory 30-minute pit stop in between.

Only eighty-five hundredths of a second separated the starting field of twenty-six cars with '77 Saugus champion Jim Robinson, Sylmar, posting a new track record of 15:65 in the Oval 3 Enterprises Monza. Tru Cheek, the '79 Saugus title holder, also from Sylmar, occupied the other front-row starting position by a 15:69 timing in his newly completed, first-time-out No. 62 Camaro. The last car in the starting field turned in a qualifying time of 16:50, making this the fastest and most competitive of all "330's!"

The qualifying times of Robinson and Cheek broke the old qualifying record of 15:75 set by Dan Press, Valencia, in the PDQ Racing Camaro on July 5, 1980. Press, the '78 Saugus champion, demolished his car during a September 6th qualifying run and due to injuries would only be watching this year's event.

Mike Willard, Reseda, the newest Saugus champion was in the third starting slot beside Jim Thirkettle, Sylmar, also a former champion. Bryan Brown of Bakersfield, started in fifth, Steve Starr, Woodland Hills, in sixth, Insolo in seventh and Oren Prosser, Simi, five-time Saugus champion, in eighth.

Prosser won the initial "330" in 1975, Thirkettle was victorious in '76 and Insolo recorded back-to-back wins in '77 and '78. Last year's winner, Dave Watson of Milton, Wisconsin, has since retired.

Robinson led the first lap followed by Willard, Cheek, Thirkettle, Starr, Brown, Prosser and Insolo. After ten laps the only change was Prosser and Insolo moving to fifth and sixth, pushing Starr and Brown back to 7th and 8th.

Robinson led the first 21 laps before an oil leak forced him to the pits relinquishing the lead to Willard. Willard's lead, however was short-lived as his differential let go in the front straight-a-way as he completed the thirty-eighth lap. Cheek became the leader with Willard out but four laps later, Prosser maneuvered past cheek to move into the lead.

At the 50-lap mark it was Prosser, Cheek, Thirkettle and Insolo. Starr was running fifth, Don Lindner, Reseda, was sixth, Brown, seventh and Chuck Becker, San Bernardino, eighth.

Prosser ran strong until lap eighty-nine, then, as he went into turn one his right-front brake cylinder broke, spinning him into the infield and out of the race.

Cheek resuming the lead, held on to the front spot until the mandatory pit stop after the first 110 laps. Thirkettle was second followed by Lindner, Starr, Insolo, Brown, Ken Davis, West Covina and Becker. They were the only cars still running on the lead lap.

After the intermission, Cheek continued to lead with Insolo moving into fourth on lap 116, to third on lap 130 and getting by second-running Thirkettle on lap 179.

Insolo continued to close on Cheek and on the 188th circuit moved inside and around Cheek in the third turn and Lindner moved into third as Thirkettle spun in turn three of the same lap.

Thirty one laps later, Insolo took the checkered victory flag for his third "330" win. Cheek finished second collecting $2,250 plus $1,030 for leading 103 laps and several hundred dollars in contingency money. Lindner finished in third with Thirkettle fourth. Starr, who won the six-lap trophy dash, was fifth and Becker, sixth, both one lap down.

Hans Wesski, Simi, was seventh with Brown, eighth, both three laps back. Greg Scates, Newhall, was ninth, six laps back, and Davis was tenth, eleven laps in arears.

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.