Updates to Marchbanks history

After months of scattered research and a few personal interviews, I just finished a bunch of updates to "History of Marchbanks Speedway, aka Hanford Motor Speedway." 

I've updated the track history in several posts in the Marchbanks section, but needed to add some of that and more to the main history.

Among the changes were to:

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Details of 1957 death at Marchbanks

I know I'm behind on making updates to the main Marchbanks history, and will make those in the coming days.

But I wanted to add this quick note about a third death at Marchbanks Stadium/Hanford Motor Speedway.

You may recall in my interview with Gary Marchbanks that he mentioned a third death at the track, of which I had no knowledge. I previously had uncovered details about the deaths of Arlen Smith in 1956 and James "Red" Stainton in 1969.

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My interview with Tommy Trader

Updated on Sunday, March 31, 2019 at 8:05 PM by Logan Molen

I had the pleasure of talking Monday with Tommy Trader, a Hanford car salesman also known as one of the more successful drivers to race at Marchbanks Speedway. 

Trader was a big name in Central California tracks in the mid-1950s and helped me fill in some blanks I've had about the track during that period between NASCAR dates in 1951 and 1960-61 and leading up to the transformation from dirt-clay tracks into a paved tri-oval superspeedway. 

Trader let me borrow a bunch of wonderful old newspaper clippings and personal photos, two of which I've posted here. 

The 1953 aerial photo of the track shows the third-mile oval inside the half-mile oval, as well as a rodeo arena and what the back of the photo describes as a road course (note the oddly white surface). Destruction derby races also were held in the rodeo ground area in front of the grandstands. 

I'll post more later when I update the main track history story but here are some highlights of my conversation with a gregarious gentleman nearing 80 years old who is filled with great stories:

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