Was the building there because of Eldon's involvement with Dan Gurney?
Thanks,
Marty
Eldon slot car building at Riverside Raceway
Started by
mrtc4w
, Dec 31 2008 08:34 PM
12 replies to this topic
#1
mrtc4w
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Posted 31 December 2008 - 08:34 PM
I have seen pictures before and read reference to the building Eldon had at the old Riverside raceway (I thought was a VERY KOOL track!). I can't find the pictures or the articles now. Does anyone have pictures or info on it?
Was the building there because of Eldon's involvement with Dan Gurney?
Thanks,
Marty
Was the building there because of Eldon's involvement with Dan Gurney?
Thanks,
Marty
#2
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Posted 31 December 2008 - 10:07 PM
In one word, yes. it was a three-race deal. After Nassau, that was it.
Philippe de Lespinay
#3
don.siegel
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 08:28 AM
Here you go Marty. Car Model, June 1964.
Don
Don
#4
Tex
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 10:17 AM
Dokk,
Was it just the sponsorship that was short-lived? Isn't this car also the Arciero-sponsored car that Dan drove?
Was it just the sponsorship that was short-lived? Isn't this car also the Arciero-sponsored car that Dan drove?
Richard L. Hofer
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Remember, two wrongs don't make a right... but three lefts do! Only you're a block over and a block behind.
#5
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 10:22 AM
Yes, it was. The car is still around and decorates the entry of the Arciero Vineyards. It was restored in 1990 in the form it won the Daytona Continental in 1962.
Philippe de Lespinay
#6
mrtc4w
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 12:05 PM
Thank you! The picture I posted is from the front cover! I just forgot where I found it at!
Getting old and losing your memory sucks!
Getting old and losing your memory sucks!
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#7
Prof. Fate
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 01:00 PM
Hi,
Philippe took me to see the museum when he was in the midst of the Cooper Indy project. He was surprised at how excited I got over the Lotus. I couldn't believe they had actually restored THAT car as opposed to just doing a replica.
Watching Gurney wait on the bank drove me crazy. And later, talking about it with him, I learned things about Dan that I didn't expect. I think he was amused that it still excited me decades later.
I did the car for one of the proxy races, but I have always been slightly unhappy with it. And I have yet to do the heavily-flared "Pacesetter" version.
Fate
Philippe took me to see the museum when he was in the midst of the Cooper Indy project. He was surprised at how excited I got over the Lotus. I couldn't believe they had actually restored THAT car as opposed to just doing a replica.
Watching Gurney wait on the bank drove me crazy. And later, talking about it with him, I learned things about Dan that I didn't expect. I think he was amused that it still excited me decades later.
I did the car for one of the proxy races, but I have always been slightly unhappy with it. And I have yet to do the heavily-flared "Pacesetter" version.
Fate
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#8
mrtc4w
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 03:47 PM
The picture in the Car Model article shows a tent. Was that later replaced with this permanent building?
If so, does anyone have pictures of the inside?
Thanks,
Marty
If so, does anyone have pictures of the inside?
Thanks,
Marty
#9
stumbley
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 04:23 PM
No pic of the inside, Marty, but one of our On The Hill Gang club members remembers the Riverside track with the Eldon a-frame, and has memorialized it on his own Riverside replica:
http://www.farroutsl...de-Raceway.html
The track was also featured one month in Model Car Racing...
http://www.farroutsl...de-Raceway.html
The track was also featured one month in Model Car Racing...
Stan Smith
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"No one is completely useless - you can always serve as a bad example." -PartiStan
Democracies endure until the citizens care more for what the state can give them than for its ability to defend rich and poor alike; until they care more for their privileges than their responsibilities; until they learn they can vote largess from the public treasury and use the state as an instrument for plundering, first those who have wealth, then those who create it -- Jerry Pournelle.
Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master. Never for a moment should it be left to irresponsible action. - George Washington
Things that are Too Big To Fail sooner or later become like Queen Bees, the Alpha and Omega of all activity, resulting in among other things, the inability to think of anything else but servicing them. - Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club
#10
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Posted 01 January 2009 - 04:31 PM
Looks really nice! A beautiful job.
I was very lucky to race for many years at that famous track before they shut it down to allow sprawling urbanity, both on two and four wheels. I have fond memories of the place even if the facilities were to say the least, uh, basic.
But the racing was great there, and negotiating those esses up turn 6 flat out was impressive. And that Turn 9 was really scary as it had reverse camber, and we hit it on the bikes at over 150MPH...
Nowadays when I drive by there on my way to Palm Springs, I have tears in my eye thinking of those days.
I was very lucky to race for many years at that famous track before they shut it down to allow sprawling urbanity, both on two and four wheels. I have fond memories of the place even if the facilities were to say the least, uh, basic.
But the racing was great there, and negotiating those esses up turn 6 flat out was impressive. And that Turn 9 was really scary as it had reverse camber, and we hit it on the bikes at over 150MPH...
Nowadays when I drive by there on my way to Palm Springs, I have tears in my eye thinking of those days.
Philippe de Lespinay
#11
sub006
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Posted 31 July 2013 - 07:14 PM
The picture in the Car Model article shows a tent. Was that later replaced with this permanent building?
If so, does anyone have pictures of the inside?
Thanks,
Marty
That looks like a hard-side building to me, not canvas. Maybe a surplus der Wienerschnitzel hot dog stand?
Jim Smith
#12
sub006
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Posted 10 November 2013 - 08:37 PM
Should have added: Note the shingles on the roof side. I was there for a full-size NASCAR race in the mid-'60s after the Eldon display closed, but the building was still standing with the sign attached. It was an A-frame rather than a tent.
Got to run a few laps on the full course during the "Last Day at Riverside" event on a 4th of July in the '80s. Two hundred Porsches showed up. But just a handful of Corvettes and one lonesome Camaro containing the VERY disappointed president of a Camaro club. I invited him to run with our group, rounded up a few more old 'Vettes from the pits, and we had fun. My '64 Grand Sport look-a-like was chosen to leade behind the pace car, driven by a pro who led us around. He went a little faster each lap until we were doing about 80 mph. I'm no racer, so just followed his line and braked when his lights came on, everything was cool.
Jim Smith
#13
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Posted 10 November 2013 - 08:54 PM
My last race at Riverside was also the very last there, it was a vintage race in July 1989. The temp outside was 105-degree, like 200 inside the car!
"After many races that were billed as the last at Riverside, the end finally came on July 17, 1989. Here, Philippe de Lespinay in his ex-Keke Rosberg Chevron B34 leads a Brabham through Turn 7."
Indeed, housing was being built all around the raceway, and soon it would be swallowed by a shopping mall... a sad day.
You can see new housing retaining walls in the background of this picture taken in that very last race.
As far as the Eldon involvement with Dan, it was for 3 races: Riverside, Mosport and Nassau. The car kept breaking down on him,
Philippe de Lespinay
