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Pics of Corpus Christi Speedway being torn down


NickHolt

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I can handle pictures and videos of the demise of the tracks I grew up with. You can always refer back to them and relive the memories. What I find hard is actually going to the location. I was in San Antonio for a meeting few years back and had 4 other co-workers with me. It was the first time I'd been back to San Antonio since SAS closed. After a day and a half of exciting sales meeting my co-workers couldn't wait to get back home but I had to stop by SAS on the way back. I parked by the pit gate and was surprised by the waves of emotion by what I saw. Memories were rapid firing through my brain to the point one of the guys had to shake me out of it.I get a funny feeling going past the CTS site even though I didn't go there much. When word came that CCS was getting torn down I  won't go by there at least not now although I am only 7 miles from it. I rather remember the way it was for me for all those years than a pile of rubble or a wrecking yard.

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3 hours ago, King237 said:

Me too but I'm much more at ease with it now than in the past.....I guess I'm older now and can handle it better

Some of us are lucky in a sense and not ..listening to sounds of the old jalopies from my home as a child when corpus was just an out house size city you could not  hide from it and wanting so bad  to go there . finaly 4 years old we went . the smell of burning wood cooking the food and the taste of cotton candy all sticky on my fingers   and lips a hugh treat to us  and wishing someday i will get to play there ... sitting with my parents long gone now . the part of the stands where we sat that first time and many afterwords was the first section torn down .. . getting my first win  seeing my son sit there with the same dreams   . later seeing his first lap  his first race his first win  and championship  MY  wifes first ever race to see . getting the chance to race my brother   and spending countless hours helping around the track doing what ever was needed  even fixing the wall where rick rapp took flight //.... . it was home to me  it will always be home to me .. that cant be taken away till im gone ..... YOU KNOW  WHATS FUNNY  those of us who lived  here then  may have went to the same schools at  the same places and may have played at the beach around with each other  sat in the stands next to each other walk passed each other down town during chistmas the buc days .. just never know right .......  nick when was  your first trip there .

Edited by HiTech
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6 hours ago, HiTech said:

 nick when was  your first trip there .

Probably 1979 or 1980 for a Pro Sedan race.  It was after our Vega mini stock tried to take down the turn 1 boiler plate at Highway 16 Raceway (San Antonio Speedway) the same year that Pan American Speedway closed. 

I made many trips to Flato Rd with Ed Sczech, Anthony Jetter and Rick Rapp. I never got to turn a lap there because all the drivers I worked said it was too much fun to give up the ride - even for a lap or two!

I also made many trips to CC Speedway with the late Neil Upchurch as Pro Sedan Tech Inspector in the 1990s and early 2000s.

And, of course, who could ever forget the laughable job I did as a fill-in announcer for a TIDA Late Model race back in the 1990s.

It is hard to comprehend the incredibly poor decisions made by many - not all - asphalt track owners and promoters (if the shoe fits, wear it) of the now-defunct Texas paved short tracks over the years.  Texans wanted to race and Texans wanted to watch racing, but poor track management slowly eroded that demand and we now reap the results of their incompetence. Of course, there were other factors at play as well, but those factors were overcome in other areas of the country.  Maine has five thriving paved asphalt short tracks for crying out loud! Vermont has quite a number as well. And Florida seems to have some decent paved tracks.

IMHO, the basic reason we have only one viable asphalt short track in Texas lies with the folks who ran the tracks. 

There. I said it. 

Nick

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WELL I HAVE TO AGREE WITH YOU NICK .. the dirt tracks took them a while to  figured out they  need each other , there were  not enough  cars in some  parts of texas than can fill each dirt track  every race night ..why drive 200 miles to race when i can go just down  the street . they came up with a set of common rules . now for those who can afford it  you can hit sometmes more than one track a weekend with out changing much on your car .. case in point jesse was able to race edna after sts could not open   couple of hours drive and  bingo .would not have been able to do that with out common rules .. same with i37  both tracks are with in reach ..... with out the common rules someone would be shut down .some where .. just like local asphalt tracks ..  its to bad we cant run our cars at houston . i know there was talk at one time ...we would load and go if they picked an open date i think it would be fun and a big deal .. .. ill add all the dirt track managers we race at do a fine job over all  with the teams the show and the fans ..  not very easy to do .

Edited by HiTech
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On 7/28/2021 at 10:31 AM, NickHolt said:
On 7/28/2021 at 10:31 AM, NickHolt said:

Probably 1979 or 1980 for a Pro Sedan race.  It was after our Vega mini stock .... 

did pro  sedan let  yeah run an iron duke under the hood or did it still have that crappy what i would never call a  automotive   but a head cracking joke of  a  boat motor .....or was it a  1975 cosworth ....

 

 

 

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  • 8 months later...

 LOOKING AT  the forth  picture of  the opening  below the flag stand ..  , i see this little boy all excited  walking across the grass that once grew just in front of the stands   and going through that opening  i see a teen riding wheelies with walter after the races . i see this young boy running out to touch the  hot sticky  tires after the last feature  .dub rollins  all the flanigans  and many more  .i see in  his memory the mustang dare devil .. tractor pulls .figure 8 races .motor bike flat track racing ..go cart racing .. and so forth .. that same young man wishing for the day he could race  on that track  maybe sign an autograph or  make  another driver mad .. hear the voices of  fans who liked his racing and those who hated him  .a wish come true nearly 30 years later  .i see  old jalopies running around the track . .the smell of cotton candy   wood burning  pits  with some of the best cooked  burgers  .the sound of ken cessna   playing the race is on by buck owens ..  working the pit gates  punching staple holes in every ones shirt shaking like heck when it was a females shirt  or less he  had to pull on . . he could hear the races going on in the late 50s and early sixties wanting so bad to go see what all the noise was about .. seeing so many fights break out ..standing under walters flag stand next to terry and kim on his right and bob on the left while the  44 was being teched . his job was to make sure no one touched that 283 small block  before tech man came out ....... he was working for the track .. he remembers the motor bike dirt track  . he remembers digging  the mud tracks . . spent many years helping with painting and repairs for frank ... .. now at 66 years old   he . i can say i was a lucky one who got to live that life .. the best was watching my son race helping him win  his championship .. and other races .. . while his mom my wife sat up in the tower and scored my races  then later on joshua ... working instead of enjoying  . but  that helped her with her nerves ..you know  mothers are always worried ..// this are some of the hundreds of memories i will  take with me .. i wont let the vision of this track destroyed  ruin those memories .... 

Edited by HiTech
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3 hours ago, NickHolt said:

Very personal.  Very touching.

Everyone has them .. i know you have more than i have .. FUNNY  just seeing that ghostly look  brought that on .. talk to my  neighbors son today  he is trying to get his mom to release all the cc speedway programs his dad kept,   i know some are back in the 70s and before .. ..     .. 

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There's something eerie going to an abandoned race track, almost like old baseball diamonds. Love or hate that track or field, but like you said HiTech, the memories flood in. Strange how loud silence is when these memories flood back. You feel like you are back at that moment you're remembering, sights, sounds, smells all come flooding back. I've driven by CCS, and take a look at what's left but haven't dared to try to walk around it. I do have many great memories there, but for some reason SAS ellicits more for me and think it's because I have been able to go onto the property and wander around freely. 

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1 hour ago, top_shelf_12 said:

There's something eerie going to an abandoned race track, almost like old baseball diamonds. Love or hate that track or field, but like you said HiTech, the memories flood in. Strange how loud silence is when these memories flood back. You feel like you are back at that moment you're remembering, sights, sounds, smells all come flooding back. I've driven by CCS, and take a look at what's left but haven't dared to try to walk around it. I do have many great memories there, but for some reason SAS ellicits more for me and think it's because I have been able to go onto the property and wander around freely. 

 if i happen to be around the track i dont pay much attention to it now  .it looks so trashy now half torn down  does not even look like a speedway  . we all know its gone .. from the street   view   i dont feel the loss .. the only thing i notice more is the old pit area where the gate use to be way back before don bought it .. i see the cars lined up along the ditch waiting to get in  many parked on 44 .. i use to park along that ditch as well with my car .. . then during the nights racing you  had to be good at driving just to get out on  flato road  with out hitting  ditch  hitting parked cars on both sides fans walking to get to thier cars  THAT  took talent  .. i remember on man getting hit on his motorcyle  he had broken  leg or legs .. man i burned alot of rubber on flato  and ran my car wide open down flato  to  see what the top speed i could hit on the track .. .. how many time i painted that wall ..  how many time we added plate to that wall ..   when i had time  i help don with the packing of the knew pit area with a steel wheel roller ..  hell things keep popping up  . shoot that could go on and on  and on .. 

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Yeah I remember times when parking along the ditch was common, especially when TIDA or Stock Car Spectaculars were at CCS. I catch glimpses of it and still can make out the walls and turns from Agnes but that's about the closest I've been there since the death nail was hit. Seemed like there was always something weird at CCS from the 80s thru early 2000s.

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