The riot began during the evening of August 20, 1960 as an organized protest over the closing of Hourglass Field, an unused United States Navy airfield, to drag racing.
[1] The Protest was organized by thousands of fliers that were spread around town at coffee shops, car clubs, movie theaters and other places where people would gather.
[2] This led to an organized mass protest the night of August 20 and 21 at the intersection of El Cajon Boulevard and Cherokee Street in San Diego.
[1] After the riot, the City of San Diego promised to form a committee to look into the problem of a lack of drag racing sites.
There was an attempt at running in the parking lot of Jack Murphy Stadium in an organized event in the 1970's, but currently drag strips in the Barona Reservation serve the purpose.