CAJON SPEEDWAY TRACK HISTORY For forty ... - City of El Cajon

CAJON SPEEDWAY TRACK HISTORY
For forty‐four exciting years the Cajon Speedway was “the finish line” for auto racing
enthusiasts and drivers throughout San Diego County. Now closed, the speedway is an
important piece in the El Cajon history book and is remembered in one of the nine Centennial
Banners you will see around the city.
Below is an article by Bob Gardner, former writer at The Daily Californian and later track
publicist and web master, updated in 2004 just before the Cajon Speedway’s final race:
1976 Photographer: Marty Wells
It's funny how things turn out sometimes.
During the 1950's a plot of land next to Gillespie Field was apparently destined to become a
baseball park and a spring training facility for a major league baseball team. And the last thing
on the mind of Earle Brucker Jr., a former professional baseball player, was the possibility of
becoming a promoter of an auto racing facility.
It was at this time, about 1955, that a major hotel chain hoped to obtain a lease from the
County of San Diego to build such a baseball facility on the land now occupied by Cajon
Speedway. The corporation also hoped to build a major hotel on the hills west of El Cajon.

Left to right: Lance Onnen (President of El Cajon Valley Jaycees), Pat McIntyre (1972,
1973, 1975, 1976, 1977 El Cajon Stock Car Racing Assn super stock champion, Warren
Norris (1976 El Cajon Stock Car Racing Assn President), Earle Brucker Jr. (Cajon
Speedway track promoter).
But a change in the laws of the State of California forced the hotel chain to abandon its idea.
California invented a new tax, the possessory interest tax, which allowed local governments to
collect taxes on lands which they previously had leased tax free.
With the hotel chain out of the picture, Earle Brucker Sr. decided to go it on his own, got the
lease, and put in a stadium.
Year: 1970
Photographer: Doug Wharton
“Smilin Ed” Hale was no doubt the most popular of all the fan favorites at Cajon
Speedway during its 44 years of operation. Hale won track championships in several
divisions and was the all-time leading main event winner. He earned his nickname by his
ever-present smile on his face. Sadly Hale passed away in 2005, almost one year after
the track’s final race.
1970 Photographer: Doug Wharton
“Smilin Ed” Hale was no doubt the most popular of all the fan favorites at Cajon Speedway
during its 44 years of operation. Hale won track championships in several divisions and was the

all‐time leading main event winner. He earned his nickname by his ever‐present smile on his
face. Sadly Hale passed away in 2005, almost one year after the track’s final race.
"At the time the idea was still to build a ballpark," Brucker Jr. recalls. "Then after we got it built,
the baseball team (the Detroit Tigers) decided to go elsewhere because they could get more.
Since the high schools around here didn't have anywhere to play night football and since we
were committed to put in some lights, we converted the baseball field into a football stadium."
"After the first year of football, a motorcycle track was put in around the field. The money we
got from the motorcycles was the only income we had other than the minimal amount we got
from the high schools.”
1961 Photographer: Bob Hardee
Cajon Speedway opened as the home of the San Diego Racing Assn modified sportsman in 1961
after racing at Balboa Stadium in downtown San Diego ceased. Here Rip Erikson (10), the 1961
champion, edges out Glen Hoagland (5) for the victory. Two of Hoagland’s sons (Joe and Bill)

and Hoagland’s daughter (Vicki) would also end up racing at Cajon. Bill Hoagland would become
the 1990 pony stock champion at Cajon.
And so by 1960 it seemed as if County Stadium, originally planned as a baseball facility, was
destined to remain a high school football stadium and a motorcycle race track.
But then over the winter of 1960‐1961, a weird series of events combined to lead County
Stadium into becoming Cajon Speedway. Since about 1937 auto racing in San Diego County had
taken place on several tracks around the county, but the most successful occurred in Balboa
Stadium. In late 1960 it became obvious that the Los Angeles Chargers were moving to San
Diego and would use Balboa Stadium as their facility. Tom Haynes and Frank Guthrie, the auto
racing promoters in the stadium, announced plans to build a new 1/2 mile dirt oval on Kearny
Mesa.
But that track was never built. In early 1961 it looked as if auto racing in San Diego County was
going to be without a home.
But Tom Jackman, the man most responsible for the El Cajon Industrial Park and also owner of
one of the top racing machines in the San Diego Racing Association, approached Earle Brucker
Sr. with the idea of constructing a 1/4 mile dirt oval at County Stadium.
"Jackman talked to my father and they were ready to build a race track," Brucker Jr. recounts.
"But they didn't have anyone to run it. One night I got a phone call from my father. I was told I
was going to run it."
The rest is history.
1964 ` Photographer: Bob Hardee

The modified sportsman of Jim Culbert (60) flips spectacularly in the south turn of Cajon
Speedway. Also pictured are Rosie Roussel (79), Don Ray (1), and Harris Mills (21). Culbert was
uninjured despite the wild ride.
Opening night for Cajon Speedway was July 15, 1961 just eleven days after Balboa Stadium
closed its doors on racing. The modifieds of SDRA were the featured attraction that first year.
Less than a year later a group of guys met in El Cajon and formed the Speedway Racing
Association to sanction stock car racing. They planned to keep the cost of building and
maintaining a car down by allowing anyone to claim a car after the races for $150. But by 1963
the claiming stocks were on their way out and were replaced by faster and more expensive
super stocks. Motorcycle racing still continued for a time at the facility.
The oval track was enlarged from 1/4 mile to 3/8 mile for the 1964 season and was paved two
years later.
1978 Photographer: Marty Wells

Here are three of the top drivers during the super stock era at Cajon Speedway. Mike Hageman
(2) leads Ron Esau (3) and Gary Crossland (4) in the middle of the third and fourth turns at the
3/8 mile paved oval. Esau was the 1978 titlest. Hageman won three championships – 1979,
1980, and 1986. Having finished second in points four times (1974, 1978, 1980, 1981) Crossland
no doubt was “the best driver who never won a championship”.
After several seasons the modifieds of SDRA gradually lost their following as the super stocks
gained in popularity. In 1971 the super stocks became the sole tenants except for an occasional
sprint car or midget show. Cajon Speedway ran but one race in 1972 as the county
unsuccessfully sought to alter the terms of the lease.
So on April 28, 1973 the super stocks returned to action on the Gillespie Field track after
competing the previous year on the 1/2 mile dirt South Bay Park Speedway on Otay Mesa. The
middle of the 1970's were the glory days for Cajon Speedway and the El Cajon Stock Car Racing
Association as nearly 100 super stocks jammed the pits each Saturday night and competition
was exceptionally tight. But that passed. By the mid‐1980's the super stock fields were thinning
due to escalating costs and they too became history at the end of the 1988 season. They were
replaced by the sportsman stocks, which was designed to be a more economical form of racing.
That division is still the premier class on the track today, but shares the oval with the Grand
American modifieds, street stocks, pony stocks, bomber stocks, and factory stocks.
Cajon Speedway joined the NASCAR alliance prior to 1986 and today is one of about 100 short
tracks across the nation participating in the weekly NASCAR Weekly Racing Series presented by
Dodge.
Since 1961 more than 3,965,000 fans have attended the racing events at Cajon Speedway,
making the track one of the most successful and longest running race tracks on the west coast.
There have been 1299 nights of oval track racing during those 43 years with 595 different
drivers visiting victory lane following the 3195 main events. The Brucker clan continues to run
the facility. Over the years Earle Brucker Jr. turned over the daily management chores to sons
Steve and Kevin. Kevin is now responsible for the track's operation following the death of Steve
Brucker, who was murdered in his home in April 2003. In 2003 nearly 67,000 fans attended the
races during the season, an average of about 2560 per night.
It certainly can be said the proposed baseball facility has come a long way.
Thank you to Bob Gardner for providing this information and accompanying photos.