Midwest Racing Archives: The Turkey Night Grand Prix thru 1990

Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The original site of the Turkey Night Grand Prix. - Ron Heddendorf Collection

By Lee Ackerman

Los Angeles, Calif. - The Turkey Night Grand Prix in the greater Los Angeles area has long been considered one of the major events of midget racing. It has been held on Thanksgiving night most years since its inception in 1934 at various southern California racetracks and has been promoted by the late J. C. Agajanian and later his heirs.

Gilmore Stadium hosted the first event and remained the venue of the event through the 1950 race. The Turkey Night Grand Prix took a hiatus until 1955 when it was brought back to life at Gardena Stadium.

In 1960, it moved to its most famous venue, Ascot Park in Gardena, Calif. Except for 1975, when it was moved temporarily to 605 Speedway (Ascot was shuttered for outstanding debts), Ascot had been the event’s homebase until the legendary racetrack closed its doors in 1990.

I thought it would be interesting to look at the star-studded drivers who won the event more than once thru at the legendary racetrack.

Ted Sizemore won the 1935 Turkey Night Grand Prix in a car appropriately named "The Flyin' Bathtub"

Since the closing of Ascot Park, the event has been held at Saugus Speedway, Bakersfield Speedway, Perris Auto Speedway, Irwindale Speedway, and its present location, Ventura Raceway, where it still remains as one of the most prestigious midget racing events in the country.

The first driver to repeat as a Turkey Night Grand Prix Champion was Ronney Householder. Born in Omaha, Neb., his family moved to California. In 1931, he began by racing outboard motorboats but switched to midgets in 1933. Householder won the Turkey Night Grand Prix in back-to-back years 1936 and 1937.

Householder also won the 1934-35 midget indoor Mid-West Championship, as well as the 1935 Detroit Coliseum Championship. Householder not only drove, but also owned many of his rides, usually painted white. In 1939, the Chicago Shriners built a quarter-mile banked board track inside Soldier Field and drew large crowds. Householder won the Championship under the AAA sanction which drew the top drivers in the country.

Householder also raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 1937 and 1938 but his best contribution to racing is his time as head of Chrysler Racing in the late 60’s where under his direction Chrysler dominated racing during the mid and late 60’s and into the early 70’s.

Bob Swanson won the inaugural Turkey Night Grand Prix race in 1934 and again in 1938.

The winner of the inaugural Turkey Night Grand Prix (TNGP) in 1934, Californian Bob Swanson’s short career may have typical of that era. Swanson repeated his TNGP title in 1938. Swanson was also the National Midget Association Champion in 1935 as well as Pacific Coast AAA Champion in 1939.

In 1938, Swanson missed the Indy 500 because of injuries. In 1939 he did not qualify again but drove in relief of Ralph Hepburn who climbed out after 104 laps. Swanson lost control of the car in an accident that took the life of former race winner Floyd Roberts. He was back at Indy in 1940 and registered a fine sixth place finish. Unfortunately, just two weeks later, Swanson was killed trying to qualify for a midget event in Toledo, Ohio.

Another California driver claimed back-to-back TNGP titles in 1940 & 1941. Los Angeles driver Roy Russing had banner years those years not only taking the 150-lap TNGP titles but was also the Pacific Coast AAA Champion both years.

Russing won nearly 50 features in his career, but unfortunately in 1946 after buying the first Kurtis Kraft Offy which raced a couple of times, he was killed racing in another car at Stockton, Calif.

A souvenir program for the 1949 Turkey Night Grand Prix. Perry Grimm (pictured in the lower right-hand corner) would win the race that year. Grimm was also the 1946 champion.

Californian Perry Grimm became the next two-time winner of the race, winning in 1946 and then again in 1949. He also claimed the 1949 Pacific Coast AAA title. Grimm was also the Fort Miami Speedway track champion (Toledo) in 1941 and again in 1945.

Grimm’s third-place finish New York’s Roosevelt Raceway open competition show in 1939 was a classic and is still talked about as he drove the last 55 miles of the 150-miler with a flat tire. That race was watched by a crowd of 61,256. Grimm is credited with transforming the scene of Australian midget car racing when his appearance with fellow racer Cal Niday forced the 1946 update to American standards. The performance of these two completely outstripped the competition when they arrived with their Kurtis Kraft V8-60 cars.

Certainly, the next two-time winner of the event needs no introduction. Before going off to Indy and becoming the first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 and the greatest driver in American racing history, Anthony Joseph (A. J.) Foyt started it all by becoming a pretty darn good midget driver.

Anthony Joseph (A.J.) Foyt was a two-time winner of the Turkey Night Grand Prix (1960, '61). He poses with Jack London's #5 which took "Super Tex" to victory in the 1960 race.

Foyt won the Turkey Night Grand Prix back-to-back in 1960 and 1961 (after he claimed his first Indy car victory). While never a USAC National Midget Champion (he did post 20 wins), Foyt won several times in a midget at the Pan American Speedway in San Antonio, Tex. He was a USAC Sprint Car Champion, seven-time USAC National Driving Champion, three-time USAC Stock Car Champion, Silver Crown Champion, two-time IROC Champion.

In his spare time “Super Tex” managed to win the Indy 500 four times, the Daytona 500, the 24 hours of Daytona, the 24 hours of LeMans, the 12 hours of Sebring and a host of other races.

Rufus Parnelli Jones, Texarkana, Ark., by birth, Torrance, Calif., resident for most of his life, may not have the most glamous midget record but anybody who knows anything about racing certainly knows is accomplishments. The 1964 and 1966 winner of the TNGP started racing in jalopies migrated to sprint cars where he won the Midwest title and then on to the Indianapolis.

Associated with J.C. Agajanian’s famous #98, the pair claimed the 1963 Indy 500 win. After retiring, Jones returned to the 500 behind the wheel of Andy Granatelli’s controversial STP Turbine and came within three laps of winning the event. A former multi-time USAC Sprint Car Champion, he also competed in the old IMCA fair circuit, in stock cars, off-road, Trans-Am and even NASCAR.

Gary Bettenhausen, shown here driving Bob Nowicke's midget, won the Turkey Night Grand Prix in 1967, and again in 1970.

A driver from a legendary open wheel racing family became the next multiple winner of the race when Tinley Park, Illinois’ Gary Bettenhausen won in 1967 and then again in 1970. Gary’s father Tony had also won the race in 1959 before his fatal accident at the Brickyard in 1961.

Perhaps best known for his USAC Sprint Car rivalry with Larry Dickson called the Larry and Gary Show they dominated USAC Sprint Car racing in the last 60’s and early 70’s with Gary claiming the USAC Sprint title in 1969 and again in 1971. He later backed that up with a pair of USAC Silver Crown titles in1980 and 1983.

Bettenhausen competed in the Indy 500 21 times with his best finish a third in 1980. He also won six Indy Car races during his career. He passed away in 2014 at the age of 72.

Bill Engelhart Promo Card

Madison, Wisconsin’s Billy Engelhart doubled up at the Turkey Night in 1971 and again in 1973. A longtime USAC open wheel competitor Engelhart competed in USAC open wheel from the 60’s into the 80’s. He also competed in a number of CART Championship events as well as the 1980 Indy 500. Engelhardt also won the 1982 Pepsi National Midget race at Angell Park in Sun Prairie, Wis.

Tempe, Arizona’s Ron Shuman was the most successful driver to ever compete in the Grand Prix. Shuman won the event eight times including four in a row 1979 thru 1982 again in 1984 and 1987 and then twice more after the end of our time period in 1992 and 1993.

“The Flying Shoe” may not have had much of a Champ Car career but was one of the best ever in a sprint car or midget. He won the famous Knoxville National Sprint Car Championship in 1979 raced for several seasons on the World of Outlaws tour, then left and became the “man” on the west coast winning the California Racing Association (CRA) sprint title four years in a row (1988 thru 1991) and then the successor series the SCRA in 1994, 1996 and 1997. He was also a five-time champion of the famed Western World Championship Sprint Car race.

Hayward, California’s Chuck Gurney is the last of our multiple winners taking the win in 1988 and again in 1989. Like Shuman more a traditional sprint car and midget racer. Gurney also wheeled a midget to win the Midget portion of the Copper World Classic in 1983 and the Belleville Midget Nationals in 1989.

Starting out campaigning in his native Northern California, Gurney won a number of championships and eventually campaigned for a number of years with USAC winning the 1985 USAC Super Modified Championship and the 1989 USAC Silver Crown Championship. During his USAC career he posted nine Midget wins, five wins in Sprint Cars, six in Super Modifieds and 14 in Silver Crown.

While the drivers above had diverse careers, some cut short by fatal accidents, some achieving the highest success in racing, they all shared one common thread, they were all winners and all multi-time winners of the prestigious Turkey Night Grand Prix.

1934 Turkey Night Grand Prix Program

1962 Turkey Night Grand Prix Program

1963 Turkey Night Grand Prix Program

Midget legend Mel Kenyon won the Turkey Night Grand Prix twice (1963 and '75). He's shown here with USAC midget supervisor Bob Stroud (left) and promoter A.J. Agajanian (left) after his 1963 win.