Beverly Hills Speedway
Facility statistics
Location	Beverly Hills, CA
Broke ground	1919
Opened	1920
Construction cost	$500,000
Closed	1924
Nickname	Los Angeles Speedway / The Glamor Track
Track
Track Type	- style="vertical-align: top;"	Track Length	1.25 miles
# Turns	4
Surface	- style="vertical-align: top;"	Banking	37°
Seating Capacity	70,000+

Beverly Hills Speedway was home to speeding Model Ts and airplanes which cut through the airspace of Beverly Hills, CA, United States, during the roaring 20s. Built in 1919 on what is currently Beverly Hills High School, the Regent Beverly Wilshire and countless shops and homes on the approx. 275 acres was then called Beverly Drive West. The track ran south of Wilshire Blvd, between Lasky Dr and Beverly Dr. and Santa Monica Blvd. At a cost of $500,000, it was completed and ready for inauguration on February 28th. The money for this project came from a group of actors and others in the industry. Together they were known as the Beverly Hills Speedway Syndicate and in 1919, they finally had enough money to go ahead with their project. The majority of this money would go towards buying the land. The lima-bean farmer who sold the Syndicate the land offered it to them for $1,000 per acre. Using 2-by-4s since the material was cheap, the 1mile speedway was built by Jack Prince -- famous at the time for his speed track constructions. Though not only cheap, the wood was better than the typical dirt race track since it didn't have the dust flying into driver's faces.

An aerial shot of the Beverly Hills Speedway with a look at the bend. Eucalyptus trees line the south side of Wilshire Blvd on the northern border of the track.

At the time, the wooden raceway was ranked second only to the Indianapolis Speedway. On its first race day, Jimmy Murphy, driving car #14, competed in the track's first 250-mile race and won. However the Sunday afternoons filled with the roars of the engines would not be sustained for too long. After only four years, the 70,000 seat stadium would be disassembled to make room for other improvements. The land was deemed more expensive than the track that lay atop it. The last race was held February 24, 1924 before a crowd of 85,000. On that day Harlan Fengler broke the world record for a 250mile race. By 1928, the Beverly Wilshire hotel would be built on the site of the track's north-east turn. The developers of the racetrack would later move it to Culver City, just south of MGM studios.

The speedway was built at a time when car races were popular. The Los Angeles Motordrome was another popular speedway just south in Playa del Rey. There were about six of the wooden tracks -- or "toothpick tracks" -- in California.

Races

Statistics for winners of each race.

Jimmy Murphy in the number 12 Duesenberg is leading Ralph DePalma in the number 4 ballot on April 10, 1921.

Poster for November 24, 1921 race.

1: Gaston Chevrolet and Eddie O'Donnell collided and crashed into one another during the Thanksgiving Day Beverly Hills Speedway Classic race. Chevrolet was killed along with O'Donnell, and his mechanic Lyall Jolls, died the next day.

Resources

• "BOARD TRACKS: Before Indianapolis, L.A.'s Toothpick Ovals Were King" SHAV GLICK. Los Angeles Times, October 14, 1987.
• "Column: L.A. Scene / The City Then and Now". CECILIA RASMUSSEN. Los Angeles Times, October 19, 1992.