Ascot was a shithole in the middle of a skanky industrial area in LA , not unlike Parramatta Speedway in location, appearance and feel. Even though it could have done with a touch of paint and some decent facilities, the racing there was the best of the best, whether it be flat track, speedway, TT or even sprint cars. There was something very special about the place and Los Angelenos loved it with a passion, with full houses almost every week, no matter what was on the program, a bit like how the Sydney Showground was special to us Sydneysiders.
For the last few years I lived there I worked nights but I had the Ascot race calendar taped to the back of my toilet door so I could sit on the toot and plan out what nights I was going to have off to go to Ascot
. My favourites were Alex Jorgenson who was the king of the place in the mid 70's on the famous Ron Wood Norton. Another favourite was #98 "Little" John Hately who was especially good on the TT. Speedway was also a highlight at Ascot with riders like the Bast Brothers, Bill Cody and Scotty Autrey among others putting on some great racing. Although I'm essentially a bike guy, I also loved the midgets and sprint cars at Ascot. Ascot was unique in 4 wheel speedway for the fact that sprinters raced
without wings due to some local rule and because of that the cars were as hairy as, with big back straight wheelstands and much wilder sideways action.
That little video evoked some great memories of my time going to Ascot, it's even filmed from roughly where we used to sit. Good stuff.
