Carrell Speedway, “Gardena, California”, Kodachrome, shot sometime between 1940-1954

“Carrell Speedway was built by Emmett J. Malloy in 1940 on land owned by Judge Frank R. Carrell… Carrell Speedway quickly became a hotbed of West Coast racing, hosting all kinds of events, from open-wheel racing to stock cars, sprint cars, motorcycles and foreign cars. It remained a dirt track until October 1948, when it was paved… In retrospect, perhaps the most famous driver to cut his teeth on racing at Carrell was 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner and current Rolling Hills resident Parnelli Jones, who writes about his days at Carrell in the early 1950s in his new book… The nascent NASCAR racing organization was only in its third year of existence in 1951, but the fourth race of that season turned out to be historic in hindsight: The stock car race at Carrell won by Marshall Teague in his Hudson Hornet on April 8, 1951, was the first NASCAR race to be held west of the Mississippi River… The track’s closure was announced in April 1954, when W.L. Bolstad of the California Department of Public Works told track lease holders (and brothers) Bob, Ken and Dee Durr that the state had purchased the right of way going through the speedway site for construction related to the Harbor Freeway.”