Video from 1961 NASCAR race

I just ran across this cool video showing "Fireball" Roberts at the 1961 NASCAR Grand National race at Marchbanks. 

The only detail shared by YouTube poster Richard Trivette, Roberts' son-in-law, is that the video is 8 millimeter film with no sound. It shows Glenn 'Fireball' Roberts in the Fresno Pontiac during practice, and later being interviewed by famed broadcaster Chris Economaki. 

The quality isn't great but there are some terrific views from within the infield showing cars shooting down

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Poster from 1964 USAC stock car race

Reader Grace Nunes kindly passed along a photo of a cool poster promoting the 1964 USAC stock car race won by A.J. Foyt. Nunes said her father purchased the poster in an antique store. Nunes is a hard-core racing fan herself and continues to watch open-wheel races in Central California. 

As for the race in question, I pulled this detail from my Marchbanks history: 

"The 200-mile season-ending race on Nov. 29, 1964, was called the Billy Vukovich Memorial and drew 6,500 fans and was televised on ABC's "Wide World of Sports." A.J. Foyt took victory, averaging 108 mph in a race full of spins. 

"Joining Foyt in the 25-car field were legendary racers Ron Hornaday Sr., Parnelli Jones,  Joe Leonard, Bobby Unser, Lloyd Ruby, Marvin Porter and Jud Larson (According to Ultimate Racing History, "Marvin Porter replaced Bobby Marshman, who was critically injured in a tire test in his Indy car at Phoenix the day before the race. Marshman died on December 4th in San Antonio, Texas.")"

Thanks, Grace, for letting me share this. As a reminder, this whole Marchbanks history is a collaborative project so if anyone else has photos, stories, maps, etc., feel free to share them with me.  

Interviewed by "Valley Edition"

"Valley Edition" on KVPR/Valley Public Radio interviewed me about the Marchbanks history for a show broadcast this week. 

You can listen to the show here; my segment starts at 42:30. 

One correction to something I said on the show: The track location was southeast of Hanford and Highway 43; not sure why I said southwest, given all the poring of maps I did early on in my research.

Thanks to host Joe Moore for showing interest in the track and for helping further our cause to make this history bigger and better. 

As always, feel free to email me or comment on the main history story to share your own stories or information.