Turn 7, Riverside International Raceway, 1960. Picture by my brother, Don. Click the picture or this text to see a larger version. There are more of Don's RIR photos HERE. He left me his oeuvre, including portraits of our sister Sandy.

In the olden days corner workers stood at the edge of the racing surface and held a green flag to signal clear track conditions. The "No Fear" clothing guys are auto racers. It is said they chose the name of their line in honor of turn personnel.

If this is not the very day I got the drop on Paladin, what you see is surely the same outfit I was wearing that early morning in the paddock. Richard Boone, craggiest of leading men, was a racing fan. He got out of his Rolls and headed my way. I eyed him from under the brim of my hat, spaghetti-western style. When he was about 60 feet away, I drew my imaginary pistol, whirled and "fired" in his direction. He dropped as if I had shot him dead.

I blew the smoke out of the imaginary barrel, he got up and dusted himself off, and we went on about our separate businesses. Both of us grinning contentedly. Life was good.

Old Riverside was different from New Riverside.

RIR Pictures Pages

To see frames from an lap recorded on 8mm film, click HERE
There is a marvelous 50s and 60s
Southern California sports car road racing film
called "Haybales and Asphalt", no longer available on Amazon.com
I bought a VHS copy from the maker when he first offered it, and a DVD version when it appeared on Amazon. Information there is that the DVD is a pirated copy from the VHS, and the seller was a crook. Good luck finding the thing these days. Other, similar films are to be found around the InterWebs, at The Chicane, for example.

  RACING Site Map                       WHOLE Site Map                     PERSONAL Site Map