Jimmy Murphy

Jimmy Murphy Biography

Jimmy Murphy was born in 1894 but tragedy soon struck the Murphy family when his mother died while Murphy was two and his father succumbed to injuries suffered in the great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906 which left Murphy an orphan. Forced to work for a living at a young age he eventually found employment in a garage in downtown Los Angeles frequented by the local California board track racing fraternity.

Velodromes originated in France and were mostly constructed of wood. These board tracks first appeared around the turn of the century, originally for bicycles and later involving motorcycles. The Playa Del Rey board track opened in 1910 at the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordome was the first of the great wood plank automobile speedways. For years bicycle and motorcycle races were conducted on wooden velodromes, but Playa Del Rey, designed by Jack Prince brought the concept to events for race cars. Unfortunately the track burned down as wood will in 1913.