Ontario Motor Speedway - Other Events

Other Events

Attempts were made to provide revenue by holding other events and concerts to promote the track venue more.

On February 28, 1971, OMS promoted and staged motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel’s record jump over 19 cars, drawing a crowd of 50,000 in paid attendance on the day prior to the NASCAR sanctioned Miller High Life 500 mile stock car race. The jump was filmed as the climactic scene in the movie, “Evel Knievel,” starring George Hamilton, which was filmed in and around the race track during that weekend.

California Jam

The first California Jam was held on April 6, 1974. This rock festival concert drew a crowd of 300-400,000, the largest paid attendance for a rock concert. Portions of the concert were televised live on ABC. The performers included (in order of appearance) Rare Earth, Earth, Wind & Fire, Eagles, Seals and Crofts, Black Oak Arkansas, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

California Jam II

The second Cal Jam II was held on March 18, 1978. The second event drew a crowd of almost 300,000 paid attendance. Performers included Ted Nugent, Aerosmith, Santana, Dave Mason, Foreigner, Heart, Bob Welch, Stevie Nicks and Mick Fleetwood, Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush and Rubicon.

By 1980 the Ontario Motor Speedway bonds were selling at approximately $0.30 on the dollar. Generally unknown and unrealized by the bond holding public, the 800 acres (3.2 km2) of land originally purchased at an average price of $7,500 per acre, had now risen to a value of $150,000 per acre. Chevron Land Company, a division of Chevron Oil recognized the opportunity to acquire the bonds and effectively foreclosed on the real estate. For approximately $10 million, Chevron acquired land which had a commercial real estate development value of $120 million, without regard to the historic significance or future potential of the speedway.