#Las Vegas Park

[vintagelasvegas]

Las Vegas Park Race Track, 1953

The track went bust after just 13 days of live racing in 1953, a failure of what was intended to merge the Las Vegas gambling and entertainment destination with the Thoroughbred racing boom. The site had sporadic, mixed use throughout the 60s and later became Las Vegas Country Club, Westgate, Regency Towers, and part of Las Vegas Convention Center.

Joe Smoot founded Las Vegas Park in ‘49, and acquired 750 acres from the estate of Leigh S. J. Hunt at $750/acre. The architects were Arthur Froehlich and Paul R. Williams. Construction began in summer of ‘50, and by the following year the business was bankrupt.

Smoot pleaded not guilty to a grand jury embezzlement indictment. In federal court, failing to produce receipts or canceled checks for $500,000 in missing money, he said: “You ever try to pay a politician with a check?”

Las Vegas Jockey Club, a new corporation headed by Lou Smith and Al Luke, emerged as the new owner and operator in early 1953. The park opened September 4, 1953. Their only season was married by faulty ticking and betting equipment. The stables were vacated in Oct. ‘53. Joe W. Brown bought the track following its second bankruptcy.

• Photos of Las Vegas Park Race Track

Las Vegas Turf Club was the second organization to use the track for horse racing. Their Dec. ‘54 season had poor attendance, as low as 400. Ten years later in ‘64 & 65, Las Vegas Park was used for the last time for Nevada Racing Association’s Thunderbird Downs. (The name Thunderbird Downs was also used for the half-mile track a short distance away at the Thunderbird Hotel.)

Throughout the 50s, the track – alternately known as Joe W. Brown Race Track – was also used for convention events and automobile racing: American Automobile Association Championship (‘54), NASCAR Grand National Championship (‘55), and the USAC Grand Prix (‘59). In the middle of the oval track two practice baseball fields were built for the Horseshoe Club midget baseball team and the Bank of Nevada team in the late 50s. In the early 60s, the track was used in the movie “Viva Las Vegas.”

Part of the property was sold to Clark County in ‘57 for the construction of the Convention Center. Joe W. Brown’s estate sold the remaining property to National Equities Inc. in ‘65 for the creation of what became Las Vegas Country Club. National Equities sold some 60 acres to Kirk Kerkorian for The International Hotel; 20 acres to Clark County for an expansion of the Convention Center; the southeast section was saved for what would be come Regency Towers.

• Video: construction and opening of Las Vegas Park in 1953

Photos: Las Vegas News Bureau; Keeneland Library Thoroughbred Times.

Sources. Work to Begin on Las Vegas Park Stand. Review-Journal, 5/26/50; B. Dow. “Sports Snorts.” Review-Journal, 7/21/50; Vegas Park Story of Accomplishment. RJ 9/4/53; Big Car Race. Review-Journal, 5/23/54; Vegas Race to Preview 500 Dash? Review-Journal, 11/7/54; Sad Ending: Turf Club Scratched. Review-Journal, 12/6/54; Vegas Track Mark of 95 MPH Might Fall Under Stocks. Review-Journal, 10/16/55; Home Show Opens Tonight at the Race Track. Review-Journal, 6/12/57; 250-Mile Grand Prix Set for Vegas Today. Review-Journal, 11/29/59; J. Price. “A Dream of Horse Racing that became a Nightmare.” The Nevadan, 2/6/66; R. Miech. A sad saga: horse racing in Las Vegas. Las Vegas Sun, 4/29/2008; J. Lowe. The lavish Las Vegas racetrack that went bust in 13 days. Thoroughbred Racing, 2/25/2019; J. Warren, 2021. The Path of the Shield.

Updated 11/25/2024.

[mayanhandballcourt]

Photographer Tim Ronca

[emaadsidiki]

Vegas, all day and all of the night. 🏙️⏰🌆

[mojavedoll]

pamela anderson in gia coppola’s upcoming film the last showgirl

[userm4x]

18/11/23, Las Vegas - Max Verstappen walks onto the podium after winning the 2023 Las Vegas Grand Prix

📸 by Jakub Porzycki (edited)

[mountaingirl24]

Las Vegas Grand Prix, I will never say bad words about you again.

Honestly, between all the showiness and last year’s manhole incident, I was very skeptical about this race. However, it has now put in two pretty awesome races (mostly thanks to cold weather chaos).

Also, considering Vegas is a street circuit, there was a pretty astounding number of overtakes (or at least that’s what it seemed like on TV). I was not expecting Checo to go 3 wide at the end of the Strip.

Cooldown car is an added (albeit kinda awkward) bonus.

[seoul-bros]

Beautiful man, beautiful voice

How I miss seeing him perform!

Twitter Link

Post Date: 28/11/2023

[kdmatheson]

"CORVUS". kd matheson, 2023

[maxphotoarchive]

[artbypaxsona]

Just a couple of bunnies enjoying their salads backstage 🐰💜🌿 PTD LV Jungkook and Jimin were too cute not to draw. Any time with Bangtan is always a good time 💜 More BTS fan art to come 💜 Prints and stickers too!~

[vintagelasvegas]

Las Vegas Park, c. 1953

The racetrack appears to be open with the parking lot full of cars in this undated photo. We’re looking south. Desert Inn Rd runs across the frame, Paradise Rd on the right.

Photo: Clark County Museum / Review Journal.

[one-way-to-do-it]

George @ toto on the radio while dragging the tractor down the straights in vagas

[emaadsidiki]

The Silver State 🏙️🎡🥈

[ironwilledf-up]

Doing a road trip from Vegas to all the Utah national parks and multiple state parks and national monuments next month. Anyone got any tips or any places I should check out? I probably have most of the open spaces saved but lesser known places are good to know and even more so I'll take some food recommendations or just general tips :)

We are renting a jeep so dirt roads are fine ❤️

Just a photo of my cat watching travel videos with me in preparation, for visibility's sake.

[bunny342]

IYKYK 💜💜💜 Borahae 💟

PTD LAS VEGAS

[mairon-goth-minion]

If ever y’all want to build a real Jurassic Park, do it in Las Vegas, because what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.