The Silver Screen Oasis

NoShear wrote: ↑May 6th, 2024, 9:26 pm TCM's screening of "THE FIRST AUTO" last night reminded me of the Riverside International Raceway as Charles Emmett Mack is said to have been killed in an automobile accident enroute to a Riverside racetrack during filming of the 1927 movie.
I wondered if there was going to be expounding on the ironic incident, but Jacqueline Stewart only briefly mentioned the Mack death during her outro.
I wonder if the aforementioned Riverside racetrack was located on the land used for the establishment of the Riverside IR about thirty years later...

Dargo wrote: ↑May 6th, 2024, 10:56 pm

NoShear wrote: ↑May 6th, 2024, 9:26 pm TCM's screening of "THE FIRST AUTO" last night reminded me of the Riverside International Raceway as Charles Emmett Mack is said to have been killed in an automobile accident enroute to a Riverside racetrack during filming of the 1927 movie.
I wondered if there was going to be expounding on the ironic incident, but Jacqueline Stewart only briefly mentioned the Mack death during her outro.
I wonder if the aforementioned Riverside racetrack was located on the land used for the establishment of the Riverside IR about thirty years later...

Yes NS, I'd say there is a good possiblity the now gone Riverside International Raceway might have been located either on or near the same grounds that the previously built racetrack sat on and that Mr. Mack had been heading to when he died, but I couldn't tell ya for sure, as the Wiki page for the R.I.R. doesn't mention anything about its earlier history before it was built in 1957.

However, your query about that racetrack's history reminds me of a similar question I've had for years about where exactly in the Salinas area James Dean was headed to in his 550 Spyder when he met his fate on Hwy466 (now 46) just east of Paso Robles. I know it's said he was on his way to race his newly purchased Porsche at something called the "Salinas Road Races" at the time, and so I've always wondered where exactly and in relationship to where the Laguna Seca Raceway would be built in 1957 (and coincidentally the same year as the R.I.R. opened) those road races would've taken place?

(...sounds as if those races might've taken place on public roads at the time, doesn't it)

txfilmfan wrote: ↑May 7th, 2024, 10:08 am
Don't want to derail this much further, but to answer your question, it appears it was held at Salinas airport, per this article...

https://www.newspapers.com/article/the- ... 32773645/