The first aerial I found turns out to be maybethe athletic field of Richmond High School?-
Dave, that site is priceless. Some of the best early motorcycle photos of this region I've ever seen.
Dave, this is turning into 'The History of Racing in Richmond Virginia' thread. Great stuff! I love the early motorcycle photos.
Topographic map of the old State Fairgrounds -
I found Mooers Field in the 1952 aerial when it was still a ballpark. I did and internet search and saw that Dave Fulton posted a nice aerial shot of the Mooers Field racetrack from 1954 on LocalRaceChat.com a while back.
Here's Mooers Field in 1952 in the left of the shot, butalso to the right on the other side of the train yardis what appears to be a football stadium with possibly a1/4 mile dirt track around it. And then outside of the stadiumlooks like what's left of a 3/4 to 1 mile track. Is that possible? Is thereany history of a mile track being there?
Edit: I just saw in and earlier topographic map that it was the old State Fairgrounds, and that's what was left of the old fairgrounds track.
Richard, it may be up to you to dig up the history of this old track. If there's nothing out there on the internet on it, then probably no one has done anything about it. If you're still in Richmond and are up for making it a project, you should start digging at the library - photo archives, microfilm newspaper articles such as the opening of the track and article about the Curtis Turner race, and even tracking down drivers still living that raced there. You know they'll have stories, and maybe even some photos. Try tracking down the family of the track owner and see if they have any artifacts and photos. Another tip is to go to the City Planning/Zoning office and ask to see their historical aerial photos. They probably have aerials going back to the late 40's/early 50's that they would let you photo or scan.
This would make for aninteresting project to do in your spare time, and keep the history of Richmond Speedway from vanishing forever over time. Time is of the essence with finding people that actually raced or went there.
Here's an aerial of today. I see theRichmond Times Dispatch to the southeast -
Cool pic, Dave.
Here's Perk with the #0 Jr. owned by C.C. Bowman that he drove in the early '50's -
At Peace Haven in 1953 or 54-
