Chuckwalla raceway...they are paving!!! See video!!

[Autobahn]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2iX60L8RHRI

[3rd_gear_ted]

Just some suggested logistal steps to think about on getting to Chuckwalla from San Diego.
1. There is absolutely nothing in Desert Center, no groceries and expensive gas.
2. From San Diego, its a easy tow with a car trailer to take the 8/111/78 to Blythe.
3. If coming from the west, @ Sirocco Summit is the last decent gas station before Desert Center.The gas prices there are outrageous.
4. Much better & more hotels to choose from in Blythe than Indio area,trust me. Its 60 more miles from either place to Chuckwalla. Uphill from Indio, totally flat from Blythe.
5. The gas prices @ the Flying J in AZ across the Colorado River on the 10 @ Blythe are .25 to .50 cheaper than California and they offer a 2% discount card. For a RV and race car thats some change, its just a few miles detour but well worth it.

[Rsylvestri]

Thanks, makes sense pushing >30,000 lbs down the highway

[Mike]

nice berms and run offs and no cones.
Can't wait to try it.
the entire track here...the 180' banked turn on video looks like 3rd gear fun to me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUB05F7-17o

[Ted Myrus]

fULLY PAVED. 2.68 MILES. THAT TRACK NEEDS SOME REFERENCE POINTS. How about some Burma Shave signs

[993Panzer]

Maybe you'd have time to read the Burma Shave signs but I'll settle for some 3... 2... 1 brake markers. I'm sure there will be some markers put in place soon.

Here's your marker.

[3rd_gear_ted]

I got to add one more cool thing about Blythe. On certain Friday nights are the always exciting Lucas Oil speedway events. Those guys actually fight in the pits , way better than TV.
Now a quiz question about Desert Center; who put up all those tall palm trees in huge circles and when

[SDGT3]

Now a quiz question about Desert Center; who put up all those tall palm trees in huge circles and when

I don't know who put up the trees, but a bit of interesting historical trivia about Chuckwalla, the race track now sits where General Patton staged and trained his troops for the invasion of North Africa during World War II and eventual push back and defeat of the "Desert Fox", Field Marshall Rommel.

[Cajundaddy]

Now a quiz question about Desert Center; who put up all those tall palm trees in huge circles and when

Good ol' Wiki. Probably more than you ever wanted to know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Center,_California

[ttweed]

Good ol' Wiki. Probably more than you ever wanted to know:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Center,_California

The most interesting (and possibly relevant, because of the current health care debate) piece of that little history to me was that Desert Center was the birthplace of Kaiser Permanente, the world's largest managed health care provider. The key point in this little bit of history might be that the original participants in 1930 paid $0.15 per week for health care for their whole family. That's what--$.60/month? Even considering that there has been 1200% inflation in the U.S. economy since 1930, that would equal less than $8.00/month in 2010 dollars.

The second most interesting fact is that you can't get Kaiser coverage in Desert Center anymore today.

In the early 1930s, Dr. Sidney R. Garfield, who had just graduated from USC, went to visit a former classmate with a practice in Indio. The practice was thriving to capacity, while Garfield was nearly without business in Depression-era Los Angeles. Garfield's friend explained that he was the closest doctor (50 miles) to 5,000 men digging the Colorado River Aqueduct under direction of The Seven Companies, Inc. The project site's headquarters was just southeast of Desert Center. Garfield borrowed money from his father and constructed a 4-bed clinic near the construction site. The clinic was cooled by an ammonia air-conditioning system and at the time was the only air-conditioned building between Riverside and Phoenix. Garfield would treat the men, who would promise to pay on payday, but who would usually go to Blythe or Indio and drink their paychecks. Within a year, Garfield was broke and announced that he would pull up stakes.

Hearing this, Henry J. Kaiser, whose division of The Seven Companies was building the stretch of aqueduct through the Desert Center vicinity, paid a visit to Garfield at his clinic. His idea was to take a nickel a week out of each man's paycheck to prepay for that man's future medical treatments, should an injury occur while he was working. If the man wanted to be covered for the remainder of the day, after work hours, another nickel would be deducted. If the man had a wife and/or children he wanted to cover, this would cost another nickel. Within a short time, Garfield had a steady income stream and things improved for him immensely. When the aqueduct project was finished, Kaiser's next venture was the construction of the Grand Coulee dam, and he took Garfield with him to manage the workers' health care, but this time there were 50,000 men, not just 5000. Garfield's operation morphed into Kaiser Permanente, the largest managed health care system in the world, but its origins are in Desert Center. Dr. Garfield's sister unveiled the plaque that is on a boulder next to the grocery honoring Desert Center as the birthplace of pre-paid health care. Stanley and Crystal Ragsdale named one of their sons Sidney in honour of Dr. Garfield. Unfortunately, Kaiser Permanente does not serve the area where it started (zip code 92239), even though it serves areas as close as Indio.

[3rd_gear_ted]

Quiz answer: I was told the Desert Center palm trees were planted in the 1930's by one of the Gillete (razor blade) family members as a movie set.

Your right about General Patton, when your coming back from Chuckwalla some time in the future, stop and check the Patton Museum Tanks @ Sirroco summit and the western Vietnam wall replica.

If I got my history right; during WWII, the iron ore from the Desert Center Kaiser mines was made into plate steel @ the old Kaiser steel mills in Fontana and then made into liberty ships @ the Kaiser shipyards in Oakland. BTW, everyone of the miners, steel mill workers or ship builders and their families had Kaiser health care. Some say it was the last efficient thing the government ever did

Now everyone has something else to talk about on the long drive back from Chuckwalla, its all good

[ttweed]

Quiz answer: I was told the Desert Center palm trees were planted in the 1930's by one of the Gillete (razor blade) family members as a movie set.

The Wikipedia article linked above says:
"In the early 1990s, Stanley Ragsdale commissioned the planting of several hundred palm trees in strange patterns on the town’s frontage with Interstate 10. When asked why, he said he always wanted a 'tree-ring circus.' Since his death in 1999, the trees have fallen into disrepair and many have died."

[3rd_gear_ted]

Tom, Your right, I stand corrected.

BUT, one last sobering thing to be aware of in beautiful D.C.

http://paloverdevalleytimes.com/main.as ... onID=1&S=1

http://paloverdevalleytimes.com/main.as ... onID=1&S=1

[MR LIPP]

Here is a "bikes" eye view of the track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_1SmXz3ylk