txtom Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Arlington Downs raceway was located in Arlington, Texas. This facility started life as a horse racing track located on property owned by W.T. Waggoner, the same person responsible for the huge North Texas Waggoner ranch. It opened for business in November 1929. It featured a 6,000 seat grandstand. The first auto race was a 100 mile AAA Championship race held on November 2, 1947, and won by Ted Horn with Paul Russo, Emil Andres, Eddie Zalucki and Milt Fankhouser rounding out the top 5. In the coming weeks I will have a couple more for this track, as well as a couple other collections of some historical significance. Here are programs from 3 events from 1948 to 1950. https://public.fotki.com/txtom/racing-programs/arlington-downs-raceway/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BW Stevens Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Good stuff Tom! Bart Stevens www.KurtisKraft.net www.RadiusNation.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted June 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 (edited) Thanks Bart, I have a profound interest in anything that relates to this track, due to the involvement my father and grand father had with it. If you look at page 3 of the 1948 program, you will see that the race was presented by a group called Racing International of Texas. The president, Allen Guiberson, was a well noted Dallas/Chicago business man that developed lots of oil field tooling. He also designed and sold diesel radial engines for Army tanks. In the very early 40's, Guiberson had one of his 1020 radials installed on a Stinson Reliant, and my Grandfather was the pilot for the program. The diesel program was suspended during WWII, and dropped when it became apparent that jet engines were the future. Guiberson was also a sports car enthusiast who entered a few races in the World Sportscar Championships with various drivers that included Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, Ernie Triplett and Richie Ginther. He also had an interest in Indianapolis racing. My Grandfather's Association with Guiberson set the stone for my families involvement to this day. The vice president of the sanctioning group was a man named E. Fred Lockwood, and I don't have any real history of him. The Secretary/Treasurer, E. Babe Stapp, was a driver with a checkered history as a driver, but he also was the technical advisor for the movie "To Please a Lady" with Clark Gable and Barbara Stanwyck, which was partially filmed at Arlington Downs. My Mother has a picture of my Grandparents and the Stapps having dinner somewhere in the late 40's. Babe Stapp's son Stephen is the noted Indy/sprint builder and mechanic. Notable also is the Chief Starter for the race, Les Butler of Dallas. He needs no introduction to anyone even remotely familiar with Dallas racing history.. I will pull out a few things about all this in the next couple weeks, Edited June 24, 2019 by txtom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BW Stevens Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 Can't wait, I too enjoy the stories surrounding this track and the players. I'll dig up some of my photos taken by a couple of local brothers from the infield during practice and the races. Candid photos of the cars and stars. Bart Stevens www.KurtisKraft.net www.RadiusNation.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txtom Posted June 24, 2019 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 If you need help with scanning let me know, I am doing a lot of that right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickHolt Posted June 24, 2019 Report Share Posted June 24, 2019 This is what this forum was built for! Keep it up, TOM! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BW Stevens Posted July 7, 2019 Report Share Posted July 7, 2019 Tom, Here are a couple of photos from the track. The brothers roamed around and were associated with one of the teams. Bart Stevens www.KurtisKraft.net www.RadiusNation.net Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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