Beverly Hills Speedway
The Beverly Hills Speedway (also called the Los Angeles Speedway) was a wooden board track for automobile racing in Beverly Hills, California. It was built in 1919 on of land that includes the site of today's Beverly Wilshire Hotel, just outside the "Golden Triangle". The former site is bounded by Wilshire Boulevard, South Beverly Drive, Olympic Boulevard and Lasky Drive. The project was financed by a group of racers and businessmen that called itself the Beverly Hills Speedway Association. The track was the first in the United States to be designed with banked turns incorporating an engineering solution known as a spiral easement. The Speedway operated for four years and attracted many historically significant competitors including Ralph DePalma, Jimmy Murphy, and Tommy Milton. It was also the site of a racing accident that killed National Champion (posthumous) and Indianapolis 500 winner Gaston Chevrolet in 1920. Because of rapidly increasing real estate values, th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Beverly Hills, California
Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Beverly Hills' land area totals to , and along with the smaller city of West Hollywood in the east, is almost entirely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 32,701; marking a decrease of 1,408 from the 2010 census count of 34,109. In American popular culture, Beverly Hills has been known primarily as an affluent, upscale location within Greater Los Angeles, which corresponds to higher property values and taxes in the area. Many different high-end shops and goods are displayed in the city, and can be observed in the Rodeo Drive shopping district; the district houses many different luxury and designer brands, such as Versace, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Armani and Prada. Throughou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Los Angeles Motordrome
The Los Angeles Motordrome was a circular wood board race track. It was located in Playa del Rey, California, and opened in 1910. In addition to automobile racing, it was used for motorcycle competition and aviation activities. The Motordrome was a scaled-up version of a bicycling velodrome, and was built by Jack Prince, a pre-eminent constructor of velodromes at the time. It was the first of numerous board tracks built for auto racing in the 1910s and 1920s. As an early example of a race track purpose-built for competition, it marked the first use of then-innovative safety features that later became common to most tracks. The Motordrome was highly successful, attracting many competitors and large crowds of paying spectators, but it lasted just three years. A fire destroyed the track in January 1913. Background The Motordrome was the brainchild of Hungarian-born mechanical engineer Frederick Moskovics, who at the time was an employee of Remy Electric, and who later be ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 and based in Beverly Hills, California. MGM was formed by Marcus Loew by combining Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures, and Louis B. Mayer Pictures into one company. It hired a number of well known actors as contract players—its slogan was "more stars than there are in heaven"—and soon became Hollywood's most prestigious film studio, producing popular musical films and winning many Academy Awards. MGM also owned film studios, movie lots, movie theaters and technical production facilities. Its most prosperous era, from 1926 to 1959, was bracketed by two productions of '' Ben Hur''. After that, it divested itself of the Loews movie theater chain, and, in the 1960s, diversified into television production. In 1969, Kirk Kerkorian bought 4 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel
The Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel, commonly known as the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, is a historic luxury hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Located at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Rodeo Drive, it was completed in 1928. It has been used as a shooting location for films and television series. Guests have included US presidents and celebrities. Location The hotel is located at 9500 Wilshire Boulevard on the east side of South Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. History The hotel was constructed by real estate developer Walter G. McCarty on the site of the former Beverly Hills Speedway. It was completed in 1928 (when the city had fewer than 18,000 residents), and was then known as the "Beverly Wilshire Apartment Hotel". The E-shaped structure is built of a Tuscan stone and Carrara marble in the Italian Renaissance architecture style. Renamed the Beverly Wilshire Hotel by new owners, it was renovated with a ballroom in the 1940s by architect Paul Revere Wil ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Harlan Fengler
Harlan Fengler (March 1, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois – March 26, 1981 in New Lebanon, Ohio) was an American racecar driver. Fengler acted as Chief Steward of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1958 until 1974 and lived in New Lebanon, Ohio New Lebanon is a village in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,995 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. History New Lebanon was platted in 1843. A post office called Medill was .... Indianapolis 500 results References Indianapolis 500 drivers 1903 births 1981 deaths Racing drivers from Chicago AAA Championship Car drivers People from Montgomery County, Ohio {{US-autoracing-bio-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Verizon 200, and and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately west of Downtown Indianapolis. Constructed in 1909, it is the second purpose-built, banked oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a 'speedway'. It is the third-oldest permanent automobile race track in the world, behind Brooklands and the Milwaukee Mile. With a permanent seating capacity of 257,325, it is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world. Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. It has two straightaways, four geometrically identical turns, connected by two short straightaways, ter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Velodromes
A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement curve. History The first velodromes were constructed during the late 1870s, the oldest of which is Preston Park Velodrome, Brighton, United Kingdom, built in 1877 by the British Army. Some were purpose-built just for cycling, and others were built as part of facilities for other sports; many were built around athletics tracks or other grounds and any banking was shallow. Reflecting the then-lack of international standards, sizes varied and not all were built as ovals: for example, Preston Park is long and features four straights linked by banked curves, while the Portsmouth velodrome, in Portsmouth, has a single straight linked by one long curve. Early surfaces included cinders or shale, though concrete, asphalt and tarmac later becam ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Louis Meyer
Louis Meyer (July 21, 1904 – October 7, 1995) was an American Hall of Fame race car driver who was the first three-time winner of the Indianapolis 500. Biography Born in lower Manhattan, New York on July 21, 1904, he was the son of French immigrants, Meyer was raised in Los Angeles, where he began automobile racing at various California tracks. Early in his career, he helped prepare the Miller driven by Frank Elliott in 1926, destroking the engine to bring it within the displacement limit permitted by the rules.Wise, p.1330. Meyer went with the car when it was sold in 1927 to Fred Holliday (of Holliday Steel Company) as the ''Jynx Special'' (a morbidly ironic name, since Jimmy Murphy had been killed in it in 1924). He would be mechanic for Wilbur Shaw in the Indianapolis 500 that year. Meyer also served as co-driver, taking the car from seventh place up to sixth. In 1928, Phil Shafer's intended Miller entry went up for sale, and Alden Sampson bought the car for Meyer ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William C
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of England in 1066,All Things William"Meaning & Origin of the Name"/ref> and remained so throughout the Middle Ages and into the modern era. It is sometimes abbreviated "Wm." Shortened familiar versions in English include Will, Wills, Willy, Willie, Bill, and Billy. A common Irish form is Liam. Scottish diminutives include Wull, Willie or Wullie (as in Oor Wullie or the play ''Douglas''). Female forms are Willa, Willemina, Wilma and Wilhelmina. Etymology William is related to the given name ''Wilhelm'' (cf. Proto-Germanic ᚹᛁᛚᛃᚨᚺᛖᛚᛗᚨᛉ, ''*Wiljahelmaz'' > German ''Wilhelm'' and Old Norse ᚢᛁᛚᛋᛅᚼᛅᛚᛘᛅᛋ, ''Vilhjálmr''). By regular sound changes, the native, inherited English form of th ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cliff Durant
Russell Clifford "Cliff" Durant (November 26, 1890 – October 31, 1937) was an American racecar driver. He was the son of William C. Durant, the founder of General Motors and Durant's first wife, Clara Pitt. Cliff Durant had four wives: Lena Pearl McFarland, Adelaide Pearl Frost, Lea Gapsky, and Charlotte Phillips. His second wife, Adelaide Pearl Frost (1885–1977), whom he married on September 1, 1911, was a singing star who later married WW1 fighting ace Eddie Rickenbacker. Early life Durant was born in Flint, Michigan, the son of William C. Durant and Clara Miller Pitt. His older sister, Margery Durant, was three years his senior. In 1900, the family lived at 704 Garland Street in Flint and were attended by servants. Durant went to Flint grammar schools and later the University of Detroit and the Pennsylvania Military Academy. In 1908, his parents divorced and in the divorce settlement, Durant's mother, Clara, was granted the house on Garland Street. Married life ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |