old sas racetrack

[HiTech]

My grand father use to have or ran a old dirt track in sas .i believe it was on the southwest of sa ,in the 40 .s 50.s nascar grand nationals i believe ran there on some nights .last i heard its a indusdtrial place now my mother and all her family from then are all past on .my grand fathers name was carl walker .love to know anything you can tell me .

[Purestock3]

I've seen the track on satellite photo's of S.A. speedway.

Just past the end of Alamo Dragway....somewhere back there.

That's a stonethrow northwest of S.A. speedway.

[SASPEEDRACER24]

That track is a reletively new dirt track. Closed but rather new built in the late 80's early 90's I believe...

[txtom]

The track next to the Alamo Dragway was not built until the 90's.

 

Oldtimer, if you know roughly a street where the track you mentioned was located, I have a listing of all the race tracks that were ever in Bexar County.

 

After a quick look at the list, it is possible that it was one of several tracks that was locatedin the old Hwy 90/W.W. White/Ackermann Road area.

[REBELRACER]

any info on an old track (dirt i think) that used to be on highway 87, basically across the street from what is now lakeside subdivision..........the site of the old track is now shirley's industrial park, also now home to kelly roofing.......

[HiTech]

.When i lived in sa i lived in leon valley .driving down 410

south somewhere between 35 i wish i could remember what road it was .let say 16 i believe if i remember right .there was a industial park and near by was a land fill . to the best of what she remem berd. its been 14 years sence i lived there .we used to have a photo .but long gone .if i could find my map i could get you in better ball park . i really really do thank you guys for trying .youll never know what it would mean to me .my mother past .in 2000 .and i never got to ask her anything else.

[HiTech]

.When i lived in sa i lived in leon valley .driving down 410

south somewhere between 35 i wish i could remember what road it was .let say 16 i believe if i remember right .there was a industial park and near by was a land fill . to the best of what she remem berd. its been 14 years sence i lived there .we used to have a photo .but long gone .if i could find my map i could get you in better ball park . i really really do thank you guys for trying .youll never know what it would mean to me .my mother past .in 2000 .and i never got to ask her anything else.

Correction i think it was between military and 35

[txtom]

any info on an old track (dirt i think) that used to be on highway 87, basically across the street from what is now lakeside subdivision

 

Danny, you are thinking of the old Highland Speedway. It had 1/4 and 1/2 mile dirt ovals, mostly for motorcycle racing. In the mid 70's, they held stock car events on the smaller track.

You mentioned Kelly Roofing is out there; If memory serves me correctly, John SR had something to do with the stock cars being out there. I think that whole place closed in the latter 70's.

[HiTech]

.When i lived in sa i lived in leon valley .driving down 410

south somewhere between 35 i wish i could remember what road it was .let say 16 i believe if i remember right .there was a industial park and near by was a land fill . to the best of what she remem berd. its been 14 years sence i lived there .we used to have a photo .but long gone .if i could find my map i could get you in better ball park . i really really do thank you guys for trying .youll never know what it would  mean to me .my mother past .in 2000 .and i never got to ask her anything else.

Correction i think it was between military and 35

My wonderful wife just informed me that she thinks my grandmother mentioned the track's name was either "Dirt bowl or Dust bowl" .

 

has anyone heard of any of those ?

[txtom]

Oldtimer,

 

There are two references to San Antonio tracks that had "Bowl" in them.

One was called "Devil's Bowl", and was in the Hwy 90/Ackermann Road area. It ran from 1939 to 1948, except for the war years.

The other was called "Gravy Bowl", and the only info I can find is it was a 1/4 mile dirt oval, and possibly ran about the 40's or 50's. There is no listed location.

 

The guy we need to see all this is Craig Schmidt, who is on this forum as see86go. He is related to the Elbels who were long time racers in this area. In fact, Fred Elbel SR is shown in a picture in one of my references, at the Devil's Bowl track mentioned above.

Craig might have additional information that I don't have.

Maybe something from his Uncle Fred JR. I wil pm him to ensure he sees this post.

 

Hang in there, oldtimer, we may find you something yet.

[HiTech]

Oldtimer,

 

There are two references to San Antonio tracks that had "Bowl" in them.

One was called "Devil's Bowl", and was in the Hwy 90/Ackermann Road area. It ran from 1939 to 1948, except for the war years.

The other was called "Gravy Bowl", and the only info I can find is it was a 1/4 mile dirt oval, and possibly ran about the 40's or 50's. There is no listed location.

 

The guy we need to see all this is Craig Schmidt, who is on this forum as see86go. He is related to the Elbels who were long time racers in this area. In fact, Fred Elbel SR is shown in a picture in one of my references, at the Devil's Bowl track mentioned above.

Craig might have additional information that I don't have.

Maybe something from his Uncle Fred JR. I wil pm him to ensure he sees this post.

 

Hang in there, oldtimer, we may find you something yet.

You about brought a tear to my eyes .it is the one that ran in the forty.s i believe you just hit that one on the nail .. [sIR]

you have made my life .i will forever be so gratefull to you and every one that help.ed and I will always owe you one[ THANK ] you and yah very very much .mike mccain corpus christi I DID NOT KNOW IF SOMEONE.would even know what i was asking for .

[Budman]

Tom,

 

What pic would that be? Where/when posted? Would love to see it and others of Fred Elbell, Sr. I can remember him racing around here from back when I was just a kid.

[txtom]

Oldtimer,

You are welcome. I am interested in any history of our local racing, and am glad to contribute to it if I can.

 

Buddy,

The pic of Fred Elbel is in a book I have entitled "The History of America's Speedways", written by Alan Brown.

My copy is dated 1994, and there may have been an updated reprint since then.

If you are coming to Kyle the 29th, I will have it with me.

Tom

[HiTech]

I know it was the DEVILS BOWL my mom was born in 1935 and they used to live at the track .she told me they ran model t.s and the like she was six .seven when they moved to Arransass pass .she told me one day as she could remember that she thought someone was killed after flipping a car . she never came out to whatch me race .and thats when she told me about that track .funny she always read the paper to see if i lived though the night .she did like to whatch the video aslong as i wasnt in a crash.

[txtom]

Buddy,

I just remembered, Alan Brown has a website!

If you have ever seen one of the national speedway directories that everyone had layinfg around, he is the publisher.

 

Anyway, here is his website.

Link

 

Click on the "order blank" link, and it shows a more current copy of the book I have. It was reprinted in 2003, and has a couple hundred more pages then mine.

Until I order the current one................

[HiTech]

TXTOM we race the 7 pro sedan with tps .we cant be there this weekend . but we plan to be at the next tps race up there .if anyone has pictures i would love to see them .thank you .

[Budman]

I will see you there Tom. Will bring a book for you also. Let's hope for good weather.

[see86go]

Tom, thanks for the PM; I have been very busy with work and racing lately and haven't been surfing as much as I used to, and I missed this one. I still have quite a few old photos to post and will add them when things settle down.

 

Fred Elbel, Sr. pased away in 2003, but I will see if his wife can add anything to this.

 

He wasn't aware of the photo mentioned above until I sent a copy of the book to him, and he was quite proud of being mentioned in a racing history book.

 

I checked Racing-Reference, which is a really nice site containing information about every NASCAR GN/Winston Cup/Nextel Cup race, driver, track ,team, etc. ever raced. The site lists only three locations for Cup races in Texas: Meyer Speedway, Texas World, and TMS. But, the GN drivers may have raced in San Anonio in "outlaw" races, though.

[ricky schroat]

the track on 87 was mainly a motorcycle flat track. had a few friends in school that ran their. they did try to run a few cars their. the other track i remember my grandfather telling me stories about when he ran their was on austin hwy. he said they had a big bump or hill in one of the straightaways you had to jump.

[REBELRACER]

thanks for the info on the track on 87 tom......i remember my dad mentioning something about him racing there when he was younger.......

[HiTech]

Any way to get a copy of that book . i also like racing history .started going in 1952 . bad part never was a camera person wished i was. dont have many pictures .young drivers need to take pictures now days .

[ratdaddy]

This is one of coolest web sights that I have found. It is TheVintageRacer.Com it has all kinds of links and if go into some of the bio's and read some of the old news paper articles you would notice the minimum spectator count was about 3000. Oldtimer go to this sight and you may find a map and even some history that you are looking for.

Good Luck........

[HiTech]

Thanks don

[txtom]

Ricky,

I have a couple little things about these tracks and the one your grandfather mentioned.

 

It is possible that the one he mentioned on Austin Highway was one of the following:

The original Pan American Speedway, which ran from 1946 to 1954 as a dirt track, then was a paved track until it closed in 1964.

 

Or, a track that was known as "Speedrome Track", a 1/4 mile midget track that was located on Austin Highway between Lanark Street and Salado Creek. It opened in 1946, and only operated for two months. Could not draw enough cars or fans from neighboring tracks.

 

The track that is listed as having a bump or hill was the previously mentioned Devil's Bowl track at Old Hwy 90 and Ackermann road. It is listed as a steeplechase course. There are archived photos of cars almost 4 feet in the air as they went over the jump section, although I don't know tho has them. They were part of the Old San Antonio Light Newspaper archives.

 

Think about the quality of those cars back then, then the safety equipment of the drivers, and then imagine one of those old no top/no roll bar roadsters bouncing down from 4 feet in the air.

[Budman]

Tom,

 

Anyone who remembers old Austin Speed-o-rama, probably remembers Wade Franklin, the flagman there for many, many years. If you ever met him, it was apparent he at some point in his life had suffered a severe facial injury, including the loss of an eye. I inquired about this one time, and was told he had suffered the injury when a roadster he was racing flipped.