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Palm Springs circuit


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#1 Terry Walker

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Posted 13 October 2008 - 07:17

The old Palm Springs circuit, on Tahquiz Canyon Way at Hermosa Drive, looks like it is being further developed. Part of it at the SW corner is built over, and there's some site clearing going on on the NW corner.

An interesting circuit, part public roads, part permanent track.


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You can still see parts of it by virtual tour on Street View:

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#2 Hoofhearted

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Posted 14 October 2008 - 04:21

I remember that track from childhood. Somewhere out in the garage is some old 8mm film of races there. Don't remember the date.

#3 Rob Semmeling

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Posted 10 April 2012 - 10:47

I'm trying to get a complete picture of all the circuits used at Palm Springs, California. They used a variety of courses both for the 1950-60s Road Races and the 1980-90s Vintage Races.

Who can complete this overview further? Does anyone have programmes of the vintage races, maybe with track maps? Also looking for the 1959 and 1994 race dates.

Palm Springs Road Races

City streets:

16.04.1950 (1) (1.65 mi)
01.04.1951 (2)
28.10.1951 (3)
23.03.1952 (4) (2.3 mi) - at the Polo Grounds near Airport

Airport:

22.03.1953 (5)
24.01.1954 (6)
17.10.1954 (7) (2.3 mi)
27.03.1955 (8) (2.3 mi)
04.12.1955 (9) (2.2 mi)
26.02.1956 (10) (1.78 mi & 2.7 mi)
04.11.1956 (11) (2.9 mi) (1st SCCA National)
07.04.1957 (12)
03.11.1957 (13) (2.9 mi) (2nd SCCA National)
13.04.1958 (14) (2.9 mi)
02.11.1958 (15)
xx.xx.1959 (16)
24.01.1960 (17) (2.2 mi)
22.01.1961 (18)

Palm Springs Vintage Grand Prix

01.12.1985 (1)
30.11.1986 (2)
22.11.1987 (3)
20.11.1988 (4)
19.11.1989 (5)
18.11.1990 (6)
24.11.1991 (7)
22.11.1992 (8)
xx.xx.1994 (9)
19.11.1995 (10)
24.11.1996 (11)
29.11.1998 (12) - cancelled - date TBC

The vintage races apparently moved around several times...

The 1985 inaugural edition was held on city streets near the Convention Center. The second edition in 1986 reportedly used a 1.1 mi 7-turn course on the airport.

Later that decade, the event moved to the half-temporary half-permanent next to the Convention Center and Wyndham Hotel. But this track was used in at least two versions, a short one of about 1.15 mi (seen HERE) and a longer one of about 1.55 mi (seen HERE).

Apparently the circuit was later abandoned, as the 1996 races reportedly took place at the intersection of Gene Autry Trail and Ramon Road, which is near the airport.

Palm Springs Revival Historic Auto Racing Festival

20.11.2005 (1)

This one-off (?) was held on a 2.2 mi course at Jacqueline Cochran Regional Airport in nearby Thermal, California.

Note that most meetings in Palm Springs spanned more than one day; in those cases the date given above refers to final day of the meeting.

Edited by Rob Semmeling, 10 April 2012 - 10:48.


#4 RonPohl

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Posted 10 April 2012 - 16:50

HSR West conducts a vintage race at Chuckawalla raceway ( a very nice road course) every November which is billed as a "Palm Springs revival " However, it's about a 45 minute drive to the east of palm springs, in the middle of the desert. It's a great event, but definitely does not have the feel of the eariler palm springs races.

#5 rdrcr

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Posted 10 April 2012 - 17:21

HSR West conducts a vintage race at Chuckawalla raceway ( a very nice road course) every November which is billed as a "Palm Springs revival " However, it's about a 45 minute drive to the east of palm springs, in the middle of the desert. It's a great event, but definitely does not have the feel of the eariler palm springs races.


Rob,

Perhaps more to the point, the organizer of the abovementioned HSR West event is Ed Swart. Ed also put on the Palm Springs Historic races back in the '80s and '90s (IIRC) along with noted local architect and driver, David Christian and others. You might contact Ed at HSR West to see if he has any track maps. Regarding the other, earlier races, if you Goggle Search under Web and Images, all sorts of info pops-up.

Edited by rdrcr, 10 April 2012 - 17:23.


#6 Frank S

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 00:56

Art Evans of the Fabulous Fifties non-organization was a major contributor to the production of the 'Classic' Palm Springs races. He's at agevans atsign yahoo dotsign com .

What I know about the earlier races can be seen at my Springs pages and programs pages.

Edit: There is another PS program on the previous programs page

Edited by Frank S, 11 April 2012 - 01:04.


#7 Terry Walker

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 04:34

This is at least one of the Palm Springs circuits, and a remarkable amount seems to still exist.

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#8 Rob Semmeling

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 09:14

Yes Terry, it is a fascinating circuit because it was partly purpose-built, in the middle of Palm Springs no less, for the vintage races. Also remarkable how much of it still exists, considering the urban sprawl over there. I read somewhere that the property is indian-owned, maybe that is why it hasn't been bulldozed away yet. It's a proper ghost track now, but when exactly did they race there? As I wrote earlier the vintage races were held at several different locations.

#9 Rob Semmeling

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 09:15

Frank, your site is of course very helpful, thanks for putting so much wonderful documents online. :wave:

#10 geoffd

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 12:31

Thank you for these posts, I only knew about the races at the airport. The circuit on Tahqiuz/Hermosa is fascinating - especially as we stay at a place on Hermosa when we visit Palm Springs. It's something to look for next time we visit.

Geoff

#11 RonPohl

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 16:02

For many years there have been rumors and attempts to build a new track in the Palm Springs area. The other day I read that indyCar was looking at a race there. Anyone know anything about a new track?

#12 Rob Semmeling

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 16:19

I believe this refers to The Thermal Club - http://www.thermal122.com - which is now under-construction. Several earlier projects to build a track in or near Palm Springs all failed.

Are there no members here that attended the vintage races ? Or can add anything about the earlier road races ? Hard to believe...!

#13 RonPohl

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Posted 11 April 2012 - 23:13

Well, I was there for two events (1995 and 96 I think) crewing on Tim Long's Merlyn Mk II FF. On of the highlights of the weekend was a dinner/roast titled "An evening with Phill Hill" looking at my program from that evening, I see Sam Posey was the roastmaster. The roasters were: Bob Bondurant, Eddie Cheever, Luigi Chinetti, James Garner, Dan Gurney, Jim Hall,John Lamm, Denise McCluggage and Carroll Shelby. I am not sure if all the listed attended but I do recall Gurney,Bondurant Gardner and Hall being there. Gurney and Hil had wonderful stories about their eariler days in formula I. Needless to say, it was a great evening.

#14 Rob Semmeling

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Posted 12 April 2012 - 12:04

Do you recall where in Palm Springs those two events were held, Ron?

#15 RonPohl

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Posted 12 April 2012 - 15:44

I think it was on the tahquitz circuit. Part of it used Indian land, with purpose built racing surface. I remember pre grid was right in front of a hotel. It was very cool.

#16 RonPohl

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Posted 12 April 2012 - 15:44

I think it was on the tahquitz circuit. Part of it used Indian land, with purpose built racing surface. I remember pre grid was right in front of a hotel. It was very cool.

#17 hhh

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Posted 17 April 2012 - 17:14

I raced there twice on the circuit around the Wyndham Hotel with a Shelby Mustang 350GT.
One year we had three Dutch entered Shelby's in the event and there were some more European drivers (Rolf Versen-Cobra, Charles Zwolsman-Chevron, etc).
Great venue as we could go from the pool at the Wyndham to qualify and back in the pool; also because of the celebrities that came out for the races and the Saturday dinner and show: Phil Hill, Carroll Shelby, James Garner, Arie Luyendyk, etc.
The Chuck Berry concert following the Saturday-night dinner was awesome!

The last time I drove there was on the circuit out of town winning the CanAm race from John Morton, driving a Chevron B23.
John was in the BMW-powered Chevron B21. The circuit was built between concrete blocks, probably the reason the drivers of the big-engined CanAm cars played it cool.

Fatastic atmosphere in a great place!!!
They should do it again but not too far away from the town.