Sometime around 1968 thru 72 we were in highschool and the method of
racing on Speedway was as follows: You would stop at the light going
westbound on Speedway at Sway. When the light turned greed, get on it
and you got an extra benefit because it is DOWNHILL right there on
speedway. We would park our cars in the dirt lot on the north side of
Speedway west of Swan where that shopping center is now. That was all
desert back then. Back then I think the car of the day was a 64 Nova
or maybe a fixed up Chevy 2.

Capps

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Hi,

I've started an album for Speedway related photos. It is located here:



So far I've posted a scan of Speedway looking east (taken from
approximately Country Club) from the March 4, 1966 issue of Life
magazine. It is from an article about Charles Schmid, The Pied Piper
of Tucson. That sounds like a topic for discussion.

Also a couple pics of the Redwood Lodge Restaurant that was at 5532 E.
Speedway, and a pic taken inside the Shakey's that was on Craycroft
near Speedway. This is a scan from one of my old yearbooks.


In vanishingtucson@..., "acapps99" <AGCTucson@...> wrote:

Cruising............it's BACK !
Arizona Star had a story a few weeks back about the teens cruising
and hanging out at El Con !
They have permission if they buy food or drinks at the new chicken
place and In 'n Out Burger.
The cops don't hassle because they behave.............
Hooray for traditions.

L






--- In vanishingtucson@..., Helengg1@... wrote:

Funny to think Speedway was NAMED Speedway because it was Tucson's

original

drag-racing strip, way back in the 1920's. Somewhere, in my

grandmother's

photo collection, I was a 1920's picture of a bunch of guys jammed

into a Model T.

The last I heard of cruising on Speedway, cops were giving out

tickets to

cars they saw going by several times. That essentially ended it.

Of course,

there's too much damn traffic for it to be fun anymore.

Oh yeah, and sheriffs patrol all the old make-out spots. The teens

go way

further out in the desert now, probably don't have the good views

anymore. It

feels so good to be pushin' 50, knowing that "times they are a

changin'"

and not so much for the good anymore

peace, Helen



****Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL

Living.

(

campos-duffy/

2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Funny to think Speedway was NAMED Speedway because it
was Tucson's original drag-racing strip, way back in
the 1920's. Somewhere, in my grandmother' s photo
collection, I was a 1920's picture of a bunch of guys
jammed into a Model T.
--------------------------------------------------
I believe that in the old days the corner of Speedway
and Craycroft was the end of the paved road and the
rest was dirt. Must have been a dusty place when them
old Model T's spun in the dirt.....
-Deb R.


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In the 60's Speedway got a chilling reputation when
that Charles Schmidt was said to be a frequent cruiser
around there and was arrested for murdering young
girls. I was terrified when they found the bodies of
Gretchen and Wendy Fritz out in the desert area
between Park Ave and Palo Verde Rd. I didn't want to
go out after dark for a long time let alone cruise
Speedway anymore . They called him the Speedway Killer
or something like that. He ended up escaping prison
and was found dead on the railroad tracks in Tucson.
-Deb R.


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Deb Rollins wrote:

In the 60's Speedway got a chilling reputation when
that Charles Schmidt was said to be a frequent cruiser
around there and was arrested for murdering young
girls. I was terrified when they found the bodies of
Gretchen and Wendy Fritz out in the desert area
between Park Ave and Palo Verde Rd. I didn't want to
go out after dark for a long time let alone cruise
Speedway anymore . They called him the Speedway Killer
or something like that. He ended up escaping prison
and was found dead on the railroad tracks in Tucson.

Actually he died in prison. His nickname was "The Pied Piper of Tucson" as he was dubbed by the press.

Whole story here:
<>

George Cohn

Hi,

Just the other day I posted some scans of photos from the March 4, 1966 article in Life magazine? that labeled him with that name. The scans are located in an album titled Speedway. Here's the link:

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/vanishingtucson/photos/browse/b13d

My intention was to create an album of pics related to Charles Schmid but the topic of Speedway came up so I went with that instead. Also included are some pics of the Redwood Lodge.

If anyone is ineterested I can post the other pics I have related to Charles Schmid. Like the cottage where he held his parties.

My mom told me she had seen him walking around at El Con once. I guess he was such an outlandish looking figure that it was hard to not notice him.

Steve Q.

George Cohn wrote:

Deb Rollins wrote:
>
>
> In the 60's Speedway got a chilling reputation when
> that Charles Schmidt was said to be a frequent cruiser
> around there and was arrested for murdering young
> girls. I was terrified when they found the bodies of
> Gretchen and Wendy Fritz out in the desert area
> between Park Ave and Palo Verde Rd. I didn't want to
> go out after dark for a long time let alone cruise
> Speedway anymore . They called him the Speedway Killer
> or something like that. He ended up escaping prison
> and was found dead on the railroad tracks in Tucson.
>

Actually he died in prison. His nickname was "The Pied Piper of Tucson"
as he was dubbed by the press.

Whole story here:


George Cohn



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---

Never miss a thing.

Actually he died in prison. His nickname was "The Pied
Piper of Tucson" as he was dubbed by the press.
George
---------------------------------------------------
Thank you George, later in the day I remembered his
nickname. I think my memory fades now and then,
something I thought was that he escaped and was found
with a silly wig on near the tracks. Sure glad folks
have a better memory than me, and to think I read the
book about him years ago......did they also make a
movie about him? Wow, John Dillinger, the Bonnano's,
and Charles Schmidt, who said Tucson was a berg!!!!!
Do remember the Old Spanish Trail Motel on Benson Hwy,
where Bill Bonnano was supposedly to have hung out and
something about him being shot at in the barber shop,
probably got that all mixed up too. I do remember
going down that little street in front of UMC and
looking at the house where Charles Bonnano lived and
down the back alley to see where someone had blew up
his back concrete fence in the 1970's.
-Deb




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Re: Cruising Speedway
Posted by: "George Cohn"
Wed Mar 5, 2008 5:51 pm (PST)
----------------------------------------------------
George- Just read up on Charles Scmidd "The Pied Piper
of Tucson" I learned a lot more than even the book I
read years ago. Some of the names were familiar and I
do remember the Hillcrest Nursing Home his adopted
parents owned. His mother was quite a character trying
to act like her little boy was an innocent angel. His
death was about as dramatic as his life, grisly and
predictable.
Thanks for the lead.
-Deb



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Posted by: joebuck95@...
Wed Mar 5, 2008 6:09 pm (PST)
Hi,
Just the other day I posted some scans of photos from
the March 4, 1966 article in Life magazine that
labeled him with that name. The scans are located in
an album titled Speedway.
------------------------------------------------
SteveQ-Thank you so much for your info. I read up on
quite a bit today. Very sad tales but all so true.
Tucson was really a great place to be a teenager in
back then but like most cities there was a very dark
side. Thankfully, the worst thing my group did was
sneak out or an occasional trashing a restaurant table
and just try to have fun and not have the cops catch
us after curfew. I never like the taste of beer or
alcohol and never smoked anything worse than Virginia
Slims menthols, which tasted lousy after awhile. I
think I had fun, then maybe my group was kind of
boring compared to some. Just cruising around and
hangin'out with the radio blasting, multiple trips up
A Mountain on Friday and Saturday nites seemed good
enough. I got my heart broke and broke a few maybe,
but I've had a long good marriage to my first serious
love, so life hasn't been that bad!
-Deb


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