James Dean Fact Error

This site was credited in a story that the San Luis Obispo New Times newspaper did about James Dean. The writer said he was told, and printed, that Dean was on his way to Laguna Seca at the time of his death. That is not true. The race they were on their way to was being held on the runways of the Salinas airport. Laguna Seca did not open until summer of 1957.

Joe Stephan

I guess that's why the movie is called "Almost Salinas" instead of "Almost...something else." I had wondered about that myself because I had read elsewhere that it was a track in Salinas he was heading to. Just goes to show, you need to double check all of the information as a reporter and as a reader maybe the same thing!

angela

Joe,
Your absolutely right. Everything I read says "Salinas Airport" as the ultimate destination. Laguna Seca didn't have it's first race until November 9, 1957. Not sure where the reporter got his info, but it wasn't from an article we pubished. Probably came from what one person told him. I emailed the writer, not that it matters at this point.

In any case, thanks for letting us know about the article. I found it online at

http://www.newtimes-slo.com/index.php?p=showarticle&id=1345

-=theron

The reporter said he got it from the owner of the car he found on this site who took him for a ride. There is a lot of fallacy out there about what really happened that day, including one he really lived and was "secreted" away. My ex-fiance's mother was the emergency room nurse on duty that night. She saw him when he came in and he was deader than a door nail.

I was just about to post the article link -
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I am the person who gave John the ride (he'd posted on this site looking for a Spyder ride) - I'll take a "C-" for my historical inaccuracy...

Richard, you might get a C- for your historical correctness, but you get an A++ for taking the reporter on a great spyder ride! Our local paper did an article on our car and I took the reporter who wrote the article for a ride... He grabbed the wussy-bar and didn't let go for 9 miles and I never took the car over 50. Last corner on the way home, I went ahead and tossed it into a nice drift for about 80-100 feet. Figured why not, he's already holding on.

I also saved the hard copy of the newspaper with your car on it and the article that accompanied. Nice scrapbook item!
angela

thanks Angela - btw - the 100 on the speedo was, of course, kph - so we were only going 60+, but I'm sure it felt like 100 around the L.Seca Corners - it was great fun and tempted me to add a rollbar and start doing track events...... John commented that his dad did some racing in 914's on the East Coast, and was extremely jealous of his son's getting both a Spyder ride and a ride around Laguna Seca.
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Sorry I missed you on the 30th - couldn't make it to Cholame - sounds like you had a good pilgrimage...
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RickJ

Hi Rick:

Nothing personal at you. It's a common mistake. At the time Willow Springs, Riverside and Paramount Ranch were the only permanent road race circuits in the state. Everywhere else they raced on airport runways, parking lots like the Pomona Fairgounds or street courses like Pebble Beach or Golden Gate Park.

There are way too many myths, legends and lies about what really happened that day. About 10 years ago, when I was still living in Sacramento, the daily paper did a story about a company that had developed a then new kind of virtual reality computer program to aid attornies in recreating crime and accident scenes. To demonstrate they used the Dean accident as example. I hope no one's life ever depends on that program because their findings were just as erroneous as the facts they began with. Not only did they have him going to Laguna, but driving alone, the accident as a hit and run, he staged his own death, etc.

Btw, if you want to hear some real myths, legends and lies you should hear the ones about Hollister 1947, which they claim was the basis for the movie "The Wild One". Yes there was a bike meet going on that weekend, and, yes, they were partying in the streets big time and speeding around on their bikes (one of which was ridden into Johnnies Bar which still stands). Times were good again, the war was over, and people had money to spend. But, no, the town wasn't taken over, nor did they attack the locals or rape, pillage and plunder. By time the movie came out in '53 it left such a mark of fear on people (it was banned in Europe for 10 years) that if you ride a bike, like I do, you still pay for that piece of trash 50 years later thanks to its myths, legends and lies. One of the SF Chronicle reporters who took the infamous photo of the guy on the bike with beer bottles all around it that went out all over the world admitted in later life that it was a staged phoney with some drunk they found in an alley who wasn't even a bike rider.

Yes, most definitely post the link to the story. I appreciate your taking the guy for a ride. The article came out much better than what motorsports usually gets, which obviously helps when the writer is motorsports oriented to begin with. Just wish I still had my Speedster to chase you 'round the track with! :)


Regards, Joe