It was a one-mile, banked dirt oval track built in 1931, which operated throughout the Great Depression and postwar years.
[3] Among top drivers who were killed at the Oakland Speedway was Clyde Rea Bray, who had held second place in the A.R.A.
Two years later, on Labor Day, 1941, during the Oakland Speedway 500 race, on the 356th lap, Bray was fatally injured after being thrown from his car, after it sailed over the south fence.
[4] Among legendary top race drivers who got their start at the Oakland Speedway was Bob Sweikert, the 1955 Indianapolis 500 winner.
On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 at the Oakland Speedway, Sweikert drove his own handbuilt track roadster in his debut race for prize money, and finished second.
On warm afternoons, the top of the banked curves would sweat oil, which oozed down onto the track’s lower sections, making some parts slippery while others buckled-up.
"You had to find the right groove, and stay in it," said Armando Magri's brother Ernie, who rode practice laps but did not compete.
[10] Before he moved up to the sprint cars, Bob Sweikert won a 50 lap feature in his Thompson Motors Special Roadster at that venue on October 17, 1948.