This beautiful poster has been re-mastered from a 1965 advertisement for the Saugus Speedway, in Saugus, California.
 
The vibrant colors and detail of this classic image have been painstakingly brought back to life to preserve a great piece of history.
 
The high-resolution image is printed on heavy archival photo paper, on a large-format, professional giclée process printer. The poster is shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, and is ready for framing.
 
The 13"x19" format is an excellent image size that looks great as a stand-alone piece of art, or as a grouped visual statement. These posters require no cutting, trimming, or custom framing, and a wide variety of 13"x19" frames are readily available at your local craft or hobby retailer, and online.
 
A great vintage print for your home, shop, or business!
 
SAUGUS SPEEDWAY
 
The Saugus Speedway was originally built as a rodeo arena in 1927 by Roy Baker, brother of shoe mogul C.H. Baker.
 
Roy Baker purchased the 40-acre property east of the Bouquet Junction in 1923 to develop a ranch for breeding and selling show and pleasure horses. Baker imported saddle brood mares from Kentucky, and they were bred with a pedigreed, chestnut-colored saddlebred stallion. Baker advertised that his ranch had 2,500 acres of grazing land, and the facility also offered training and boarding services.
 
Baker staged rodeos at his ranch in Saugus, which were likely held to attract buyers. In December 1926, Baker and his partner Bob Anderson started construction on a new stadium, that included partially covered grandstand seating and a quarter-mile oval track. The 18,000-seat facility opened on May 1, 1927. The venue was so popular, thousands had to be turned away for lack of room.
 
Over the next decade, ownership of the facility changed hands three more times.
Roy Baker was hit with financial hardship during the Great Depression, and in 1930, he was forced to sell the stadium to Hoot Gibson, a prominent cowboy actor. Gibson continued to hold rodeos at the stadium and the events drew a crowd of Hollywood elites including famous actors such as Harry Carey, Tom Mix, William S. Hart, and John Wayne. During Gibson’s ownership, the stadium was also used as a movie set.
 
The depression also affected Gibson financially. In a September 1933 hearing, he pleaded that he had no assets, and could not repay a $2,500 loan. Gibson said that he owned a one-third interest in Hoot Gibson Inc., which owned the Saugus rodeo, and that it was in arrears.
Gibson sold the stadium in 1934 to Paul Hill, owner of the Western Livestock Stockyards. Hill continued to call the facility the Hoot Gibson Rodeo. As with the previous owners, the stadium brought Hill financial hardship when it was damaged by the Great Flood of 1938. The flood’s heavy rains caused a river of water to flow down Soledad Canyon that filled the ranch home and the arena with mud and debris. According to the Los Angeles Times, the "old buildings ... collapsed during the March floods" and the arena was rebuilt.
 
Hill lost the property sometime after the April 1938 rodeo. The property was repossessed by the bank, and in 1939, ownership passed to William Bonelli. The facility was renamed Bonelli Stadium.
 
Bonelli was a professor of economics at Occidental College, and he continued the annual rodeo tradition for several years. In 1939, Bonelli expanded the auto racing schedule, and the racing became the facility’s primary draw. Bonelli changed the name of the arena to the Saugus Speedway. Rodeos and circuses continued occasionally until at least the late 1960s, and auto racing continued until 1995. The facility was occasionally used for concerts until 2012 when the grandstands were removed.
 
The facility continues to operate today, and hosts an outdoor swap meet.