Marchbanks Speedway (Hanford)

Logan Molen has written a detailed history of Marchbanks Speedway. Farmer B. L. ‘Bircha’ Marchbanks built his first short oval around 1949-51, about five miles southeast of Hanford. Over its two decades, Molen wrote, the place was a dirt and asphalt half-mile oval, a 1.4-mile paved tri-oval with two smaller infield ovals, a road course, and even a spot in the infield where drag boats raced.

The Kings Men car club formed in fall 1954, and Marchbanks told its members he’d think about building them a drag strip near his stadium. He seems to have already been planning a bigger track. In late October 1954 he started building a half-mile straightaway as part of the new 1.4-mile speedway. The first race on the oiled dirt strip was May 29, 1955, with racers paying $1.50 and spectators 75 cents. Drag races ran now and then that first season. After that Marchbanks turned to other events, including drag boat races and bullfights with plastic swords until authorities shut them down.

He came back to drag racing in 1962. The first race, set for January 21, was rained out and run on January 28, promoted by E. D. Bolling and Associates under NHRA sanction with trophies in forty classes. The timed quarter mile started in front of the main grandstand and ended with hard braking near a speedway turn. John L. Capps, Sr., who won his first drag racing trophy here, remembered running the quarter mile backwards on the front straight. The first race drew 159 competitors. On April 15, 212 racers ran in 55 classes. Butch Leal ran 13.03 at 108.96 mph in SS/S, Elwin Morey took top eliminator in a Corvette-powered Austin Healey at 13.02 and 111.02 mph, and Ronnie Broadhead won Little Eliminator in a ‘62 Pontiac at 13.55 and 106.28 mph. Only a few races were held in 1962 before the experiment ended.

Nothing is left of the speedway at the northeast corner of Idaho and 8th Avenue, which is now flat farmland. John Toledo, who owns the ground, remembered the track from childhood and said his father went to most of the races. His family still finds pieces of asphalt in the field, which they call race track ranch field R1.