Just Thinking About Bay Area Racetracks

“Just Thinking"

I was driving to “The City” the other day, on one of my many treks from Martinez to SF. Depending on whether I have other stops along the way, what time of day it is or what the traffic pattern is, will determine which path I take. If I have other stops in Contra Costa County, I will take Highway 680 to Highway 24 through the Caldecott Tunnel, to Highway 580 and onto the Bay Bridge. Or Leaving Martinez, West on Highway 4 down to Highway 80 onto the Bay Bridge and into San Francisco. Although Highway 4 to 80 is a straighter line, it is more susceptible to traffic delays, so I will usually go into “The City” on Highway 24 and come home on Highway 80 to 4.

A couple weeks ago on a Friday, mid-morning I was heading into “The City” on Highway 80 when I was passing Golden Gate, Golden Gate, Golden Gate Fields and I thought, what a shame that it has closed,  I had only been there on a couple occasions, but it was a good time and a salute to the golden days of horse racing. In June the track will be 2 years since it has closed, never to return. At one time, in my lifetime, there were 3 Horse Tracks in the Bay Area: Golden Gate Fields, in Berkeley, closed in 2024, Bay Meadows Racetrack, in San Mateo, closed in 2008 and Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno, closed in 1964. If you go way back, the Ingleside Racetrack was in San Francisco from 1895–1905, the track was closed when gambling was outlawed in “The City”. I had often wondered what the significance of the name Ingleside was when referring to the neighborhood, now that I have cleared up that dilemma, I now wonder the significance of the name Ingleside Racetrack. As city lore has it, the Sullivan’s and the McNulty’s live where the Jockey houses once stood, just downwind from the manure pile.

Thinking about old racetracks, this is really ageing myself. When I was young, just across highway 101 from Visitacion Valley was Champion Speedway. Although I never attended a race there, I do have vague memories of seeing the logo covered fences from the outside and hearing the roar of the engines at home on race night.

Champion Speedway opened in September 1963, the track was unusual even by racing standards: a dirt oval measuring just under half a mile, built atop landfill that had once been a garbage dump. When the cold wind kicked up and the fog rolled in, think Giants night game at Candlestick, along with the rough track conditions all added to the unique experience, of gritty, no‑frills racing that the Speedway was renowned for. The track hosted stock cars, midgets, motorcycles, and occasional drag racing.

One of Champion Speedway’s most notable moments came in November 1964, when NASCAR’s Pacific Coast Late Model Series held a heavily promoted 200‑lap race at the track. The event was postponed twice due to poor track conditions and rain, underscoring the challenges of running a dirt track oval in San Francisco’s fall climate.

When the race finally ran, conditions were brutal. Only six cars finished with veteran driver Ron Hornaday Sr. emerged as the winner. For that moment in 1964 Champion Speedway was recognized on the national racing stage.

The struggles with weather conditions, maintenance issues, and rising land values the track closed in 1966. For a short time in the early 1970s, part of the property was used as a paved drag strip, that is probably what I remember hearing from the backyard, but that too eventually disappeared as the property was slated for redevelopment.

As Golden Gate Fields goes the way of its Bay Area racetrack predecessors, it offers another moment to pause and reflect on a simpler time. A more romantic era, when people flocked to the track in person or gathered around the radio to follow the races, sometimes waiting until the next morning to read the results in the newspaper. It was a time when fans packed the Cow Palace for the Grand National, filled the Civic Center for boxing matches, or caught both ends of a doubleheader between the Oaks and the Seals, with one game played on each side of the Bay. Mornings began with the Sporting Green, scanning box scores and statistics. A simpler time, perhaps. A better time, maybe. A very different time, without question.

Let me know what you think.

 

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