Sunday thrill show ads

 Joie Chitwood, 1950, Portland Speedway.

thrill show, Ferndale, 1953

 From the May 10, 1953 Bellingham Herald.

 

Ken Bayko, thrill show specialist

 From the February 2, 1998 Vancouver Province.

Joie Chitwood Thrill Show, Digney Speedway, 1951

Ad from the June 28, 1951 Vancouver Sun for the Joie Chitwood thrill show.

Saturday, July 3 and Wednesday, July 7, 1976, Langley Speedway

Saturday, July 3, 1976

no racing scheduled.

Wednesday, July 7, 1976

Joie Chitwood Thrill Show

Saturday morning thrill show

The Joie Chitwood Thrill Show at Digney Speedway in the 1950s.

a Saturday video

Haven't done one of these in a while. It was Joie Chitwood's birthday a few days back (April 14, 1912 – January 3, 1988. His Thrill Show came up to Burnaby, BC's Digney Speedway annually during the 1950s, usually around Canada (Dominion) Day.

The footage is by A.C. "Andy" Digney. Nice colour, the usual stunts, a full house.

 

Sunday, August 30, 1970, Langley Speedway

Racing was the bonus to a visit by daredevil Orval the Clown. Or maybe it was the other way around, Orval was the bonus to racing.

Either way.

Sunday, August 30, 1970

Modified stock and early-lates

Orval the Clown thrill show

Modified stock main

1 -- Al Tourond

B early-late main

1 -- Cliff Hague

A early-late main

1 -- Don Nickel

No other information on racing for that day.

Thrill show, 1930s

I've seen ads for the Chrysler thrill show at Lansdowne Park in Richmond and The Willows in Victoria circa 1937. This film seems to show what the thousands who paid good Depression-era money saw.

a thrill show video

Joie Chitwood and his thrill show came to Digney Speedway for a number of years. This is an ad for Chevrolet but many of the thrill shows had company sponsors.

an earlier version of the Olympics, part three

Ken Hurtley, hurt in the thrill show Olympics at Digney Speedway a year earlier, comes back for more. And the side story, provided to the press by Andy Digney, is great. Unfortunately the marriage didn't last.

I spoke with Ken Hurtley a few years ago. He had a friend in the lower mainland that he visited when he came up from Blaine, WA. Very nice man. I'm not sure if he's still with us.

One thing I would have like to have asked him about was a proposed speedway to be built in Blaine in 1968. Ken was the name behind the track.

an earlier version of the Olympics, part two

The stuntman that was injured was Ken Hurtley, of the UK, who came to Canada via Australia, for this show. His story doesn't end here.

an earlier version of the Olympics

Vancouver had some Olympics way back in 1956. Thrill show Olympics. International drivers representing their countries for fun and profit, just like these days.

1956 Chilliwack, racing stunt gone wrong

Not sure how this all turned out. One can only hope rider Ross McMillan recovered. Better race report in the next installment.

(Oh yeah, Happy New Year!)

1953 Chilliwack, part one

While looking for something else I found a few things that happened in Chilliwack I didn't know happened. That's usually the way with my research. This one a thrill show, always a crowd drawing event.