Biography: Los Al Race Track founder Frank Vessels – He bet the ranch and brought home a winner

Note: this article is a work in progress.  I have come across a number of articles and bios on Los Al Race Track founder Frank Vessels, but much of the information is regurgitated and unverified legend, not to mention often conflicting.  So this is an ongoing attempt to sift the fact from the legend — and the obviously incorrect — and produce a detailed factual biography.  Obviously, there are some surmisals in here which I tried to make using logic.  If anybody has information or facts which  prove or disprove anything in here, please help us set the record straight.  Vessels did so much for this area, he deserves a good biography. UPDATE:  Many thanks to Marv Haney who grew up knowing Frank Vessels — and many other great Long Beach area personalities — and has provided me with some great additions to this opus.

The legend has it that Frank S. Vessels bought his new ranch just east of the town of Los Alamitos  in 1946 for the purpose of farming the land, and raising cattle.  But then he learned that the alkaline soil was bad for crops and the tule fog caused his cattle to catch pneumonia and die off.  Forced to change plans he began to focus his attention on racing quarter horses.[ref] Millie Vessels, interview, LA Times[/ref]

This legend has many holes in it.  Fortunately, the truth is just as impressive.

Frank was born in Kentucky in 1898, and reportedly grew up in the horse country there and developed a love for horses that stayed with him his entire life.  After a short stint in New Orleans,[ref] Marv Haney who knew Vessels for over 20 years, says Vessels once told him, laughingly, that he went to New Orleans, met a lovely young mulatto lady, and she taught him how to be a man., Marv Haney, phone interview, Aug 19, 2011[/ref] he migrated to California in 1920, after learning about the oil strikes in Huntington Beach and Signal Hill, arriving in the state with $19 and a change of clothes.  Discovering that wildcatting was an unpredictable business, Vessels started a construction company that built oil drilling platforms and sold boilers.  [ref].  Joe McPherson, OC Scene, 1997[/ref]

In 1942, Western Construction, Volume 17,  magazine noted that Frank Vessels is “managing partner on this project,” while noting other contractors were installing water supply and sewage disposal at a ground support air base in Riverside California.  This would be March Air Force Base.

But Vessels kept his Long Beach residence and affiliations. In 1940 he joined the Long Beach Mounted Police Patrol, and was president of the group in 1946 and 1947.[ref] Reference Western Livestock Journal January 15, 1947, pg. 138, 139.[/ref]

McPherson and Frank’s daughter-in- law, Millie, say that Vessels struck it rich and went broke four different times, along the way.

“I’m not sure about the number, but Frank had his ups and down in business ,” said Marv Haney, who almost grew up working for Vessels, and knew him for over 20 years.  Haney’s dad, Howell (Hal) Haney and Vessels both came to Long Beach in the early 1920s to work at the Signal Hill oil fields and became close friends.  Besides sometimes working together, they were also horsemen.  Both were in the Long Beach Mounted Patrol together  as well as the Rancheros Visitadores, the exclusive and elite all-men’s riding riding club that gathers for a week each May at a 7,000 acre enclave in the Santa Ynez Valley .  [ref] Described as a Bohemian Grove on horseback, the Rancheros Visitadores (Visiting Ranchers) has been gathering each May since 1931 for a week of for riding, roping, camping, pranking and making friends.  Membership and riders are composed of some of the nation’s top businessmen and political insiders —  including Ronald Reagan, Walt Disney, and the Rancho Los Alamitos’ own Fred H. Bixby.  The membership is restricted to 600 but every year they are joined by another couple hundred invited guests and those on the waiting list.  Money Magazine decribed the event in a 1985 article:  In California the Rancheros Visitadores — ”visiting ranchers” — meet near Santa Barbara each May and ride on horseback for a week through the countryside, feasting by campfire, playing pranks, sleeping in tents, then rising in the morning to saddle up and forge on. For the saddlesore and hung- over, rubber-tired wagons trail the procession.
Much of the land they ride on was once owned by the Fred H. Bixby family.[/ref]

Haney said Vessels’ main business was a company called Oil Field Construction Company (Ofco) which constructed boilers for oil operations.  “He didn’t work on the oil rigs.  He worked on the equipment.  At the time, all the oil drilling rigs were steam operated, and the boilers, you know, would make the steam.  These were big things, as big as two rooms in a house, and they had all this high-pressure tubing.   And Frank’s company would get all this stuff on an oil platform.”

Vessels’ main office was on Cherry Avenue in Long Beach and another one in Bakersfield so between the two oil-producing area, he had steady work.  But he wasn’t making a killing like some of the guys who brought in wildcat wells.

“Frank told me once he had saved some money, he decided to take a chance on his own oil drilling deal, ” recalled Marv Haney.  “‘Make money the easy way,” he laughed.  He didn’t.  He lost all his money, went broke, messed up his credit.” [ref]

We know Vessels was here as early as 1922, because his Big Boy Drilling Company was sued by the California Workmen’s Compensation Fund in the death of a Vessels employee, 23-year old Peter Lilienthal.  Big Boy Drilling would be involved with a few more lawsuits at least through 1939, but as a third party.

In 1938, Vessels owned “Skyline Petroleum (Frank Vessels, operating as), 2650 Cherry Ave., Long Beach, Cal.   Source for this is Summary of operations; annual report of the State Oil and Gas …: Volume 24, California. Division of Oil and Gas, California. Dept. of Petroleum and Gas,California. Division of Mines and Geology – 1938.

This could be the two drilling companies referred to by friends when they say Frank went broke twice doing wildcat drilling.

[/ref]

Frank had to go to a guy named Dick Mitchell.  “Dick was a real tough customer, and he told Frank ‘I will only give you credit if you never ever try to get into another oil well deal.’  Frank promised, and Mitchell lent him some money to get his credit back.  “And Frank kept his promise.”

“Then in the 30’s the drilling operators started changing over to natural gas and diesel gas for power, so Frank’s boiler business was slowing down.  That’s when he started getting involved in all kinds of construction.. not just oil rigs.”

Ofco’s main office was located on the 2600 block of Cherry Street in Long Beach just south of Signal Hill.  Also located in that building (shown left)–was a second Vessels business —  called Southern Engineering which handled the intricate engineering required for some of the oil drilling platforms.  “They did the engineering for the equipment on the oil rigs, a lot of power-related stuff, designing platforms that were light but could hold heavy boilers and the like.  Frank had some real talented people working for him there.  Engineers like Marty Nishkin, who would later design the Queensway Bridge in Long Beach.”[ref] The engineers at Southern Engineering were so skilled, they were much in demand.  I remember going over to the back shop a few times and seeing guys work on some pretty far-out things, and I’d make some joke about it and they’d just say they didn’t know what it was.  We’re just following some plans.  Turns out they were doing work for the aviation companies  who were doing testing for rockets.  And it was the oil engineers who had experience with placing loads and high pressure lines on platforms and concrete encased wells. Which was very similar to what they needed for rocket testing at White Sands, New Mexico and Edwards Air Force Base.  Around 1957, when Sputnik was launched and the US and Russia got into a space race, the large aviation companies saw there was now big money in this rocket thing, and they got into it and Vessels little group was shut out after that.  Haney also remembers in the 1980’s, after Millie Vessels sold out to the Hollywood Park people, she sold Frank’s old office building on Cherry Street to Haney’s company.  “On the second floor they had a a 40-foot wide vault.  It turns out that because of the “top secret” rocket contracts with the aviation companies, all the engineers drafting tables and file cabinets etc had to be rolled into the vault each night for security purposes. Haney, interview.  [/ref]

“Frank built all over Los Angeles county… had his label on boilers at bakeries, large commercial laundries, generating standby power.  But his proudest project was the Bakersfield Inn.  He told me he built that whole thing, including their big swimming pool.”  Haney acknowledges it’s possible Vessels meant just the huge remodel of the Inn when the motel, one of the very first in California, expanded across the street and they built the landmark Bakersfield sign (and bridgeway) to connect them.

But Vessels center of operations was always Long Beach.  He had a home near California and Orange.  And his friends were not only oil men but other guys who liked horses.  He joined the Long Beach Mounted Patrol when that started up in 1940, and in the process became good friends with Long Beach Chief of Police, Alvin Slaight, and many rank and file police as well.   The Mounted Police would appear in many parades, including the Tournament of Roses, Vessels headed the organization at least twice earned a lot of respect when he organized and raised money for the Mounted Patrol to march in a parade in Mexico City.  Vessels also organized a three-day rodeo show that was held at Recreation Park.

Vessels also opened a western apparel store in Long Beach, and advertised it in the Police Association bulletin.  “open to 9 p.m..  He operated it in association with his brother in law, __ Hagey.

Haney says when the war started in 1942, and plans were being made to build military posts up and down the coasts, Vessels went out and cornered the market on boilers.  He contacted everybody who had boilers between here and Texas.  And he either bought the boilers, contracted for them or had an option on them.  So when the military started building they had to use Frank on all those projects.  That turned out to be very good for him, and that money allowed him to buy a ranch in Corona.”[ref] The address was sometimes listed as Riverside, sometimes Corona, although nowadays it might even be listed as Norco.[/ref]

Haney, then about 10 years old, visited the ranch frequently with his family.  “Frank raised Polled Hereford (no horns) cattle at that ranch.  But he had an employee named Bill Lamkin, an engineer with his Southern Engineering Company, who was also a horseman. Lamkin had his own ranch in Westminster, and he was the who got Frank interested in quarter horses.” [ref] Lamkin was listed as a Director of the Southern California Quarter Horse Breeding Association, brochure, SCQHBAMay 21, 1946.[/ref]   In Spring 1944, Vessels and Lamkin went to a quarter-horse show in Stamford, Texas, to buy a good stallion.”

“There was a horse there named Pocobueno.  He was only a yearling, but he had good credentials by King, a great horse. Lamkin urged Frank to buy the horse, but Frank balked when the price got to $5000.  And they all went home. [ref]Pocobueno eventually sold for $5,700 and is now considered one of the greatest quarter horses of all time, the first to ever be insured for $100,000.[/ref].  Despite that setback, under Lamkin’s guidance, Frank stocked up on mares.

Before his death, Frank’s grandson, “Scoop” Vessels,  told a crowd,

Frank Sr. “heard that there were a lot of good broodmares with speed available in Louisiana, he soon went there to get some. Most of them had Thoroughbred bloodlines from the old Army remount stations.  “He ended up sending back two train-car loads of mares from Louisiana; three of which became foundation mares of our operation today.”

The next year Vessels bought a number of mares from some New Mexico horsemen, including Elmer Hepler, at prices ranging from $600 to two thousand (for a mare named DoGood).  “Some of the mares were injured and ran three-legged,” remembered Haney.  Another one was a buckskin with a big white spot which the AQHA wouldn’t registere.  These mares weren’t much to look at. ”  Some of Vessels  friends wondered about Frank’s purchases.  “I met Hepler some years later,” said Haney, “and I had friends who knew him well back in New Mexico and Texas.  It turns out he told his New Mexico friends how he had taken Frank Vessels.  And he told his California friends how he had helped out Frank Vessels when he was just starting out.”

But Frank could pick out good horses.   “He wouldn’t buy just because a horse had good lines,” said Haney, who recalled a trip ro Riilito in Tuescon that his family made with Vessels and Lampkin.  When Lampkin pointed out a good-looking filly, Haney remembers Vessel saying ‘I don’t want a filly.   I want mares. ‘  Frank believed that if she hasn’t produced a racer yet, there was a good chance are she would never  produce a racer.”

With all these good mares, Frank needed a stud.  And he got a good one in the Fall of 1944, when he and another Corona neighbor, Huntley Gordon[ref]Gordon was the Vice-President of the SCQHBA in May 1946.[/ref],  went to Arizona.  Per Scoop Vessels:

Huntley Gordon was an old family friend who owned a lot of land in that area.  He was the great-grandfather of Robbie Gordon, the NASCAR driver.  Gordon had heard of a stallion in Arizona named Clabber. He was supposed to be the all-around Quarter Horse. [He was the AQHA world champion in 1940-41.]  It was said you could do ranch work on him all morning, rope on him all afternoon, and then run him in races in the evening.   At the time, he was the world’s champion quarter running horse. These two guys got into a convertible, drove to Tucson, and bought the horse – likely for a pretty sweet sum at that time. [Vessels paid A.A. Nichols of Gilbert, Arizona for $5000 in Oct. 1944.]  Robbie Gordon’s dad has a photograph in his office of these two men in that convertible pulling a one-horse trailer and smoking big cigars. They must have thought they had hung the moon.[ref]Scoop Vessels, speech to University of Louisville,   2008.  [/ref]

Back in California, Vessels turned Clabber loose in his corral of mares at the Hereford ranch, and produced a number of good horses.  But to race them, Vessels and other California quarter horse breeders still had to ship them to Tucson, Texas, or New Mexico.  Southern California was too far away for the top quarter horse breeders, mainly stationed in Texas, to go to run their horses for a couple match races.  California needed a track and a racing season to attract the best horses.  but before that they also needed an approved Association that would register their foals and guarantee their value.  And Vessels wasn’t the only western horse rancher to raise a fuss.  The American Quarter Horse Association, at a “very active” annual meeting in February 1946, approved the formation of The Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association.[ref]The American Quarter Horse Association was founded in March 1940, and the group started running organized races soon after,  including the opening of Tucson’s Riilito Park in 1943.  Quarter Horse racing began to change gradually from a regional non-pari-mutuel sport found at “bush” tracks into an AQHA-sanctioned pari-mutuel sport with a circuit of quality racetracks around the country — but none in California[/ref] .  Horse breeders in California (and other areas)  received charters to form their own association, which would operate in agreement with newly revised by-laws:  1) Fifty per cent known quarter horse bloodline;  2) a charter for state organizations; 3 prohibition of any spotted, pinto, appaloosa or albino sire or dam;

In only a few years, Vessels had become very involved with quarter horse racing.  He became President of the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association in early 1947.[ref]Per Horsedom’s Hall of Fame, Vol. 5; “A demonstration of the mutuality of purpose and cooperative spirit of the memhers of the PCQHA was found in the last election of officers at Bakersfield on January 8, 1949, when Frank Vessels, president for the past two years…”[/ref]

Perhaps the reason he jumped in so strongly was that he sensed a real opportunity.  The end of the war brought renewed, pent-up interest in horse racing — most of the California tracks had been closed down in 1942. [ref] Part of the closures were due to the rationing of gasoline and other military-necessary materials; part was logistical in that Santa Anita was first used as a station for the Japanese internment and relocation process.  Santa Anita later became an army camp.  Only Bay Meadows stayed open during the war after track owner Bill Kyne showed how he could donate a share to the war department, and make winning payouts in war bond.s[/ref] The rapid expansion of Southern California was bringing a large population to the South Bay and Orange County.  The state’s proposed freeway system had three yet to be built freeways (today’s 22, 405 and 605) being constructed nearby.  There was a demand, a market, and a delivery system.

Next on Vessels agenda was a site for a track — one that was not only near horse owners, but was large enough for the main track and necessary parking and stables, and near a ready population source for attendance.   One site stood out — a big empty section of land  — located between the eastward growing Los Angeles county suburbs and the equally westward spreading Anaheim-Santa Ana community.   And it was coming on the market.  In 1946, Vessels bought the remaining 435 or so acres of “East Ranch” from the Montana Land Company, which was run by Clark Bonner, the nephew of William A. Clark and J. Ross Clark who built the Los Alamitos Sugar Factory.  The “East Ranch” was the original 1,000 acres that the Bixbys had granted the Clarks as a bonus for financing and building the Los Alamitos Sugar Factory.   It was on land east of the new townsite.   (After completing the factory, the Clarks bought an additional 8,000 acres of land northwest of the townsite.  This later became Lakewood and north Long Beach. )

As mentioned before, the legend of the track is that it happened by accident, although stories vary on the exact “accident.”  In 1980 Orange Coast magazine sourced Millie as saying “What started as a cattle operation moved from Riverside quickly turned to horses when the cattle proved vulnerable to the tule fog indigenous to the farming region. “The cattle all caught pneumonia and died, so Frank Sr. turned his attention to raising horses.”   Other printed legends say Vessels was unaware of the high alkali content of the soil.

Why would Vessels’ herds be affected by the fog, but not all the other thousands of cattle in one of the largest dairy regions in the United States?[ref]By 1946 most of the dairy operations which had once been located in South Gate, Hynes, Clearwater (now Paramount), and Gardena had been surrounded by expanding tracts of homes and forced to move to areas of present Cerritos, La Palma, Cypress and the northern part of Los Alamitos.  This area was called “Moo Valley” and was the third largest dairy-production area in the country. In 1955 the dairymen in the other three towns tried to avoid being surrounded and forced out again, by incorporating as Dairy Valley, Dairyland, and Dairy City. [/ref]

And how could such a smart businessman and rancher as Vessels, who was surrounded by equally smart businessmen, be unaware of such a well-known local factor as the high alkali of that property?   Unless, of course, those were just ruses on Vessels’ part.  Horse Racing and gambling still had a negative stigma attached to them, especially by the forces of organized religion.    The good God-fearing folk of Los Alamitos, which had even just recently formed a Baptist Church, might be against the evils of horse racing and gambling, but who could be against a hard-working rancher trying to raise cattle?

Art Parra, a sportswriter for the OC Register, who had been around the Cypress area for quite some time was probably closer to the truth when he wrote “,  “Vessels’ spread was originally planned as a breeding ranch for speedy quarters.”

Haney states unequivocally that Vessels never planned Los Alamitos as a beet farm or cattle ranch.  “He had his cattle at his ranch in Corona, and he wasn’t a farmer.  He was a horseman.  He needed a place for the show horses he used with the Long Beach Mounted Police, and he especially needed a place for his growing stallion farm.”  Clabber had already sired two foal crops before he died in an unfortunate accident.[ref] According to Haney, they had these old rough wooden fences in Corona and Clabber got a splinter that got real infected.  They would only ann0unce that he had died by accident. That was a real tragedy, said Haney, that never should have happened.  Although, Vessels only got two foal crops from the great horse, among his offpspring, especially those from the mare DoGood, came some of the top racing quarterhorses.  Vessels said of him “Although most of his offspring had many of his conformational defects, they also had much of his ability, desire to run, and general intelligence.”^[4] [/ref]

Haney says the only accident was that the ranch was in Los Alamitos.  Vessels originally planned on buying a ranch adjacent to the Mounted Police ranch and shooting range.  It was at Woodruff and Los Coyotes Diagonal, and extended east into the North end of present El Dorado Park).  When Frank first inquired about the property he was quoted a price of $300 per acre.  Frank got busy with some project and didn’t come back form a while.  When he did the guy said the price was now $400 per acre.

Vessels immediately started looking elsewhere, and right across the San Gabriel River and Coyote Creek was Los Alamitos.   More importantly it was across the Orange County line.  “That was the big thing,” said Haney.  “The Long Beach property was in Los Angeles County, and they already had three race tracks — Hollywood Park, Santa Anita and the County Fairgrounds in Pomona.  They might never had gotten approval for a fourth track.”

The sale may have been made easier by the fact that one of Vessels best friends was Merle Hunt who, according to Haney, was a big executive with the Montana Ranch Company.

Haney said Vessels tried to talk his dad into moving onto some of his property.  But the older Haney was not so inclined.  “It was flat.  There were no trails to ride, so we moved to the Sunny Hills area in Fullerton where we could ride our horses through the hills.”

Marv Haney was also not sure Vessels was thinking of holding races when he bought the Los Alamitos site.  But if Vessels wasn’t, he soon was.

“They actually built the track before before he built a real house.  All that was there when Frank moved in was this small house with small cowbarn with a double roof.  To my knowledge never kept horses there, kept hay,. And Jr and Scoop kept cars in there.

They then built a small barn behind original barn – and the track was small.

Next, after finishing the layout of  “a grubby half-mile track on his 475 acre Los Alamitos ranch,”   Vessels arranged to host, on August 3, 1947, a series of quarter-horse races at his new ranch.  The legend says it was just “for friends and fellow ranchers.”  The reality is it was well-publicized choreographed event that had been set in motion months earlier.  One of Vessels’ key partners in the scheme was Bill Kyne, the owner of Bay Meadows Race Track just south of San Francisco, and the the man who has been called “the father of modern horse racing,” having in large part introduced pari-mutuel betting to California, night racing, the Totalizer wagering system, photo finish cameras and electric starting gates.

[ref]William Patrick Kyne was born in San Francisco in 1887. As a boy he sold newspapers, in the city and at the race track at Emeryville.  Kyne became fascinated by the horse racing and worked at and ran tracks in Montana, Kansas City, and Tijuana,  before working hard to convince California legislators — and more importantly, key lobbyists who convinced California legislators — to pass a law approving parimutuel betting on horse racing.
Bay Meadows was the only race track on the West Coast that was allowed to operate throughout World War II. When the government ordered the tracks to close, Kyne suggested that he first run a benefit series to raise money for the war effort. The goal was $1 million. His suggestion was accepted, but with restrictions. To save on rationed gas, the parking lot was to close and fans would not be allowed to drive or take buses to the track. No draft eligible men would be employed for the races. Ten percent of all salaries, purses and fees would be paid in war bonds. Finally, 92 percent of the profits would go to the war effort.[/ref]

Kyne also wanted to introduce quarter horse racing at Bay Meadows.  But this predictably was opposed by the thoroughbred establishment.  To get around this they needed to show the Race Board that there was sufficient public interest in watching quarterhorse racing.

Kyne was good friends with Charles S. Howard of San Francisco, who made a fortune establishing the nation’s largest Buick dealership and became famous as the owner of Seabiscuit, the horse that won the nation’s heart in his match race win over Triple Crown winner War Admiral.   Through his own experience with Seabiscuit, Howard was no fan of the racing establishment, and he and his trainers and jockeys had all had experiences with quarter horses.

On July 24, Southern California newspapers published  the following item:

Agreement signed for August 4 Match Race

Acting for Charles S. Howard, trainer Hurst Philpot yesterday signed with trainer Al Lee, for a quarter mile match race  between Howard’s Fair Truckle, a thoroughbred, and Barbara B, a quarter horse owned by Roy Gill of Tucson, Arizona.   According to Philpot the race will be held on Monday afternoon, August 4, after the regular racing season has ended at Hollywood Park.

Forfeits of $10,000 were posted by each owner but the amount of the purse to be contested for was not disclosed.

Just the agreement gained attention for quarter horses that Vessels never would have otherwise.   Vessels is credited as arranging the race, but he would have need Kyne’s help to get to Howard.  Fortunately, the pair, two kindred spirits,  had a good relationship of their own.

One week later the local papers, including the LA Times  carried this item: [ref]LA Times, August 2, 1947, page 8[/ref]:

Quarter Horse Racing Carded

Quarter Horse Racing which comes to the Los Alamitos track near Long Beach tomorrow preceded the racing of thoroughbreds, dating back to colonial days.

The new quarter horse track, a half-mile oval, is located on the ranch of Frank Vessels.  There will be six races tomorrow, starting at 1:30.

Haney remembers Vessels really working the Press-Telegram hard. “He really wined and dined them,” but they kind  of ignored us then.”  But he thinks it was Vessels secretary who wrote the releases.  “She was real good with stuff like that.”  Haney, who was by now in high school, also helped out with the publicity, placing handbills on car windshields at Knotts Berry Farm on the Sunday before the first race at Alamitos, and during the week on cars in downtown Long Beach.

Parra called it a “a back yard operation”  and that over 2,000 fans showed up.  McPherson says only a thousand.  Haney wasn’t sure it was even that many, despite all the flyers he had passed out. “I think it was mostly just friends of his, people who liked the quarters.  They’d been willing to go out to similar small tracks in Corona and Redlands, and Los Alamitos was a closer, easy drive.”

The guests paid a one-dollar admission charge to see this openfield presentation of these swift horses dashing short distances, contrary to longer races enjoyed by thoroughbreds.

Six races were run that day, at distances of 440 yards down to 200 yards and purses ranging from $50 to $100, depending on the number of entries. Although Vessels couldn’t take bets, “a lot of money changed hands privately,” remembers Haney.

While Frank handled the racing side, his wife Grace sold hot dogs out of their kitchen, apparently helped by her daughter-in-law, Millie Vessels. [ref] The legend is unclear at this point.  Millie had been previously married to It was the second marriage for Millie who had previously been married to Chuck Lundhigh, former owner of the Long Beach Cab Company.   She married Frank Jr. after meeting him at a horse show in Santa Barbara.  The earliest horse show in Santa Barbara seemed to be 1946.  There is also a reference in the Long Beach Independent that refers to newly married Mildred Nelson and Frank Vessels, Independent, Sunday, April 17, 1949.  Millie was also a few years older than Junior and Haney says things never went smoothly between Grace and her new daughter-in-law.  “When Grace died, her will specifically left the house to “Scoop.”   In the end Millie asked if she could live in the house Scoop and he of course said sure, so it all was kind of pointless. ” [/ref]   Years later, of that first event Scoop Vessels said the public had to “bring their own beer.”

Haney worked in the back that day. “They had no barns there for people to use, they just had this triangular area behind the one barn at the end of the track.  All the horses were hauled by their owners that day and my job was to run around and get them all  ready, and then bring them to the front when it was their time to race.  At that time, they didn’t weigh anybody.  I was really running back and forth.  I had two horses because it was too much work for one.  We had to let them rest.”  Haney was paid $5.

Once Haney got all the racing horses up to the track area, “Frank would lead them past the grandstands on his palomino parade mount all the way to the end of the track and turn ’em around and bring ’em back to the starting gate which could only hold four horses.   It was pulled by a small skiploader.  One of the concerns was that since the track was pretty short, as horses came off the finish line they had to make a pretty hard turn.”

Despite the shortcomings, Vessels’ first outing in Los Alamitos was considered a small success.  But the next day was even bigger as several thousand attended Hollywood Park to watch the quarter-mile match race between Fair Truckle and Barbara B.  The Times reported that Barbara B broke quickly from the gate and jumped out to a good lead.  The Irish-born Fair Truckle “made a run at the midway mark and for a moment it looked like the Irish importation might pull alongside.” But then the bush league quarter horse from Arizona added another burst of speed as hundreds of admirers from the ranch country of Arizona cheered wildly from the stands. ”  The official margin of victory was two and one-half lengths.

“I got there just ten minutes too late for the race,” said Haney, “but I still remember seeing all those happy faces coming out of there from the quarter folk. ”

Barbara B’s win was not only reported in all the papers, it got coverage in Time and Newsweek as well.  Popular Mechanics even commissioned an article on the quarter horse.  Vessels and Kyne had shown that a quarter horse could run and could draw crowds.

The crowds at Vessels Sunday meets definitely got a little bigger each week remembered Haney who was at every one of the non-parimutuel races from 1947 through 1951. But even with their growing numbers it didn’t really affect the nearby town that much.  Some of the locals came out, and some of the restaurants probably got some extra business, but for the most part it was horsemen and race fans driving in from other areas.  “For the locals it was no different than if one of the local dairies had a cow show.”

Los Alamitos wasn’t the only new track in the Southland that year.  Three months later, Devonshire Downs in Northridge opened up and ran a slate of seven quarter horse races at their brand new facility.[ref] Devonshire Downs was a 40-acre fairgrounds at Devonshire Street and Zelzah Avenue. It was opened in 1943 when it was purchased by Helen Dillman and Pete Spears.  At first it was a training and boarding center for standard breds, but in 1946 the San Fernando Vall;ey Trotting center was open and began holding Sunday races.  It was open to quarter horse the following year.   The state of California purchased it in 1948 to supplement the annual San Fernando Valley Fair, which moved from Recreation Park in San Fernando. The Downs was used for training by such horses as Silky Sullivan, hosted annual fireworks shows and the Scoutcraft Fair, and used in many motion pictures, but entertained its largest crowd the weekend of June 20-22, 1969. Newport ’69, which drew at least 200,000 people, was the nation’s biggest outdoor rock festival until Woodstock, headlined by Jimi Hendrix, Eric Burdon, Marvin Gaye and others. In 1959 the expanding San Fernando Valley State College (now Cal State University Northridge – CSUN) claimed the land for expansion,  but in 2001 virtually the entire site was razed for a private industrial park under lease to the school. [/ref]

But Vessels Los Alamitos Track had natural advantages.  Unlike Northridge, it still had plenty of open area that was still somewhat prone to flooding and wasn’t yet in the sites of developers. [ref]The San Gabriel Rivers and Coyote Creek would nhot receive money for being channeled until after the 1952 floods.[/ref]  Los Alamitos was more convenient for most race fans than Redlands or Palm Springs.

The other advantage was the determination and focus of Frank Vessels, Sr, to get it done.  As President of the Quarter Horse Race Association he made trips to Sacramento, and worked every angle he could.  He stayed with his goal or years while others fell out.

But as Frank got more and more horses wanting to race, that was more work for me, and after a year or so I had my drivers license, and was driving over from Fullerton, and paying for my gas.  I was barely breaking even at $5 for the day, and I told Frank so.  He offered me ten.  I said I didn’t think so.  It so happens my my mom was having lunch with Frank’s wife Grace a day or two later and told her the story.  When Grace got back home she told Frank to pay me $15 and that was how I negotiated my first raise,” he remembered with a laugh.

Frank continued his Sunday “betless” programs into Spring 1951, all the while adding new wrinkles.   To make his venue more family friendly, Vessels instituted such crowd-pleasing events as The Milk Run (see the photo below).  At the same time he continued to lobby the state legislature and the California Horse Racing Board to approve a window of parimutuel betting days for his new operation.

Haney recalls making a trip with Lamkins and Vessels to Sacramento in 1947. “Frank was now head of the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association and was showing  horses at a show at the State Fairgrounds, so someone arranged for him meet some people out at the State Fairgrounds for a tour. ”  The people turned out to include Governor Earl Warren, and the state attorney general Fred Napoleon Howser (from Long Beach) and Haney marveled at the way Vessels worked the meeting.   “I realized that Frank was the strongest personality there – he was the obvious leader, at least on that day.”[ref] Fred Napoleon Howser was another Artie Samish protege. In 1946, both Howser and assemblyman Sam Collins of Fullerton told Samish they wanted to be attorney general and Samish had a problem who to back.  But since Earl Warren already had an able and popular lieutenat governor named Fred Houser, Samish said he knew the public wouldn’t be able to differentiate, so he backed Howser for Attorney General and Collins for Assembly Speaker.  Collins, a Republican, became speaker by getting the vote of every single Democrat and splitting the his own party vote.  Samish & Bob Thomas, The Secret Boss of California, p. 124-125., “100 Years of Orange County Politics,” LA Times, Mar 21, 1976, p.5.  [/ref]

Vessels had to work magic with the powers-that-be, because he was opposed not only by the Southern California thoroughbred track owners — Hollywood Park and Santa Anita in Southern California, but also some operators of the throughbred horse associations, and even county fairs who had their own short quarter-horse racing season.  He was also competing against other quarter-horse promoters.  The Palm Springs Turf Club applied for a short season in 1951.  Their application was denied, and they appealed to the courts, which affirmed the Racing Board’s authority to take into consideration traffic, transportation, fire protection and revenue issues.

But Vessels persevered.  As President of the Pacific Coast Association, he worked with Bill Kyne and in 1949 they got Bay Meadows in San Mateo to become the first thoroughbred track to feature quarter horses and pari-mutuel betting.  [ref]Samish claims some credit for this as well.  He says Santa Anita track owner Charles Strub insulted him, so Samish caused trouble for his former client by getting legislators to reduce the track share and increasing the state share of track proceeds, and to make it easier for other race tracks to open.  Samish’s account is self-serving but a 1949 Time Magazine profile of Strub confirms that Santa Anita was concerned about the state taking a higher percentage of the track revenues. [/ref] The following year Vessels got Kyne to add quarter horse and harness racing as part of the regular card.

Finally in October 1951, the state approved an 11-day Quarter-horse season with pari-mutuel at Los Alamitos to commence December 4.[ref]Opponents to Vessels and the LA Times, Nov. 23, 1951, pC1, referred to the October meeting as a “secret meeting.”   “Only two of the Board’s three members were present.  The meeting was shrouded in mystery.  No notification of it came to the press, or other interested parties, before or afterward, from Secretary Albert Fiske, who hurried north after the meeting to attend a party at Golden Gate [Fields].  The information just leaked out.”  In early 1953 Fiske would be removed from his position and undergo an inquiry and be formally dismissed in early 1954 for being insubordinate and inefficient and lacking good behavior.  Fisk alleged the complaints came from one disgruntled Race Board board member and his attempts to have stewards and other track officials be paid by the state and not be the race track owners “to maintain independence.”  Other charges being thrown about included involvement with a Santa Anita Charity Fund, .  LA Times, Jan. 24, 1953,  April 23, 1953, Feb 28, 1954.  Santa Anita track owner came out strongly against Fiske. LA Times, March 13, 1954, pB4. [/ref]That was only five weeks away..

Vessels had approval, but the task seemed overwhelming considering all the issues he now had to deal with — pending “traffic, transportation, fire protection and revenue issues.”  Frank needed to construct permanent grandstands, permanent bathrooms, build a clubhouse, and construct barns for the horses.

Making matters worse, Haney says Vessels didn’t have that much cash at this time.  “While he thought he was onto something, no one else really bought into it.  His bank was not that interested in lending him anything.  He went to his friends, including my dad, and they all turned him down.  They liked him, but they just couldn’t see it working.”   Mid-1951 was not a great time to borrow money anyway.  The Korean War was getting bigger, and defense spending was skyrocketing, and there was a lot of uncertainty.

Desperate, Vessels decided to use his construction business accounts payable to fund his track construction.  “He stopped paying all his construction bills and put all that money into the track,” said Haney.

He bought two homes that were already up on blocks and had his  construction crews put in foundations at his ranch and they dropped the houses onto those.  One house was used for the clubhouse, the other was used for the pari-mutuel machines.”  Then he had his crews paint them up, and dress them up for ther races.

For barns and stables, Vessels remembered the portable stalls that were used at horse shows.  “They made temporary barns using ¾” pipe with couplings, dark green or brown canvas on sides, and top. They ordered all they could and made 200-300 of these.”

For utilities, Vessels pulled temporary permits and got the utility companies to run temporary power  lines and water onto the property.

Another issue was the size of the starting gate.  Vessels’ gate could only fit six horses, and they needed a much bigger one.  “I don’t think the thoroughbred tracks — Hollywood Park or Santa Anita — helped him at all,” said Haney.  Not that Vessels needed it.  He got help from Kyne, who much to Vessels’ opponents dismay, not only provided the starting gate but the parimutuel machines.

The grandstands would seem to have been his biggest challenge, but Frank knew the commander at the nearby Naval Air Station.  He loaned Vessels the grandstands from their parade grounds.”  The stands were sufficient to hold the thousands of parents and other family members who watched trainee and then later reserve units graduation and promotion ceremonies.  Vessels arranged for crews to strike them, truck them and then reconstruct them at his site a half mile northeast.  Once the meet was over, they were promptly returned to the station.  While they were at Los Alamitos, a hot dog and beer stand were laced underneath, something not likely seen on the Navy parade grounds.

Vessels’ connections also paid off for his public safety issues. “He had always hired a lot of off-duty Long Beach cops on his betless Sundays to make sure things didn’t get out of hand.  Fore Protection was another matter, so he bought an old used fire truck from the Long Beach Fire Department that he had out at the track.”

Somehow Vessels pulled it all together, even though the opposition to the track still didn’t go away.  As late as November 1951, opponents said the Los Alamitos operation wasn’t ready for a full meeting.[ref]LA Times, Nov. 20, 1951.  “Open Hearing Set on Quarter-Horses.”  Although part of this hearing was called to correct a technicality, the Times noted that “Major tracks have objected to granting a permit to Vessels on the grounds that separate quarter horse racing cards might lower the caliber of racing entertainment.” Vessels was quoted as saying he intended to go forward with his plans to hold a meet beginning Dec. 4, as had been approved by the Horse Racing Commission last month.  He said he had “already spent over $100,000 readying our plant for opening.”[/ref]b and thphe had spent  Board would still hear from heard from

Just a couple weeks before the meet was to open, an “emergency hearing” of the Horse Racing Commission was held at the track and the three state commissioner judged that the facilities fine and the meet would go on.  Vessels was backed by Bay Meadows owner Bill Kyne and Orange County businessmen and three Sacramento politicians, including Assembly Speaker Sam Collins  of Fullerton who testified that it was in the best interests of the people for Vessels track to open.[ref]Collins was one of the more colorful characters in Orange County history. A Republican, and a protege of Artie Samish the unofficial “governor of the legislature” (who for 20 years dominated Sacramento by representing many liquor,  banking, racing, transportation and other industries and would later go to prison for tax evasion) he gained the speaker’s post in 1947, by getting the vote of every single Democrat despite getting only half the Republicans.  Over the next six years, he survived an attempt to impeach him, a lobbyist scandal, and, after leaving the assembly, he was indicted then cleared of  charges involving the manipulation of liquor licenses. LA Times, Mar 21, 1976, pR5.  Haney says his USC classmate  ___ Herren, Collins’ son-in-law, told him, he later took Collins over to Los Alamitos where the former assembly leader demanded some reward money from Vessels.  Vessels threw the former Assembly speaker out. Haney, personal interview, Aug. 23, 2011.[/ref]

The “controversy” got a lot of headlines, and may have actually increased awareness of the track’s 14-day season — which may have been the point.

With the final approval, the worst seemed to be behind them.  It wasn’t.  Not even close.

One problem was that Frank Sr. had run out of money.  He’d messed up his credit, and now he was out of cash — and he needed to have cash on hand for the betting windows.  Haney says Vessels went to a Long Beach businessman named Decatur Mitchell.  “He was the son of Dick Mitchell, who had loaned all that money to Frank 20 years before.  Decatur agreed to loan Frank $25,000.  Then two days before the meet was to open, Frank knew that wasn’t enough, so he went back to Decatur who realized he was right and loaned him another $25,000. “[ref] Haney says  Decatur told him all this at Millie Vessels funeral.   Haney gives it great credibility because Decatur Mitchell was probably the wealthiest guy in Long Beach when he died.  “He kept all that real quiet, but his dad had done real well at picking up properties all over town.  And Decatur had gone to Stanford and knew what to do with all those assets.”   A sidelight of that event revolved around Mitchell and Millie having attended Poly High School in Long Beach together.  But when she married Frank Junior who was younger than her, she became so sensitive about her age she started trimming years off it in public announcements.  Haney said Mitchell told him at the funeral, he and Millie were the same age in high school and now she’s three years younger than me.”  Another side note on Millie, Haney says his dad, who was on the Board of Directors of the Track from 1954 til its dissolution in the 198os, told him of Frank senior, Frank junior and Millie, Millie was the best track executive. [/ref]

Opening Day finally arrived and once again Haney was there — but as a spectator only.   “By then I was entering USC, and that cut into my availability.  More importantly, the pari-mutuel workers were union, and that meant every job at the track now had to be union as well. ”

The Times’ Paul Lowry reported the first day as “mildly successful,” “with a reported crowd of 4,136 in attendance.  Checkers said the turnstile count was about 1000 below that figure.”   But Lowry said “promoter Frank Vessels has done a rather remarkable job in readying his makeshift plant in five weeks time.  He has four separate stands under a continuous canvas top capable of seating approximately 2,500 people.  Two of these comfortably filled yesterday.  The other two sparsely.  Many people, prefer to gather along the rail.”

Lowry noted that not all in the crowd were quarter-horse devotees.  There were many harness and thoroughbred fans, owners and trainers who came down from Santa Anita to “see the fun and take a gander at the carnival spirit of the plant.”

Even with this extra in attendance, Lowry opined that “the day’s take would not be enough to meet expenses, but the promoters hoped the larger Saturday crowds could make up for it.

“What will really hurt the 11-day meeting scheduled to end Saturday, Dec, 15, will be rain.  The parking area is  a light gravel black top over adobe soil.”[ref] LA Times, Dec. 5, 1951, page C1. [/ref]

And rain it did — for the next ten days.  Years later, Frank Vessels Junior remembered:

The racing surface held up pretty well except for one spot.  That spot was right on the finish line. The rain dug itself a pit.  We kept filling the pit, but the rain kept digging it out.  To make matters worse it was in the center of the track.  In complete desperation I stuck a board in the middle of the sinking mass, nailed a piece of white sheeting to the top of it and said “to hell with it.”  We warned the riders about the hole and told them to beware the white flag.  Everybody scrambled either to the right or to the left at the finish line, and nobody got hurt.  All the horse finished, although some were headed for Seal Beach or for Covina.  But nobody hit the pit. [ref] [source, Hank Hollingsworth column, LB Independent Sports, p. S-1][/ref]

Although he didn’t work it, Haney still recalls it well.  “They put tents in to cover parts of the grandstands and vendors.  And there were tractors in the back and they kept putting dry dirt over the mudholes.  It was awful. ”

Per one report the meet resulted in a  $23,000 loss to the Vessels.[ref] Billboard, Dec. 15, 1951, p.54[/ref], but Haney thinks it was more than that.  “Frank never talked much about it.  He would only to say he broke even.  But I know it really hurt his construction business, and hurt his credit badly.”

But others were unaware and to the racing board it was a good start, more so considering the rainy conditions.  Attendance averaged 3,000 persons per day, and the average daily handle was $93,000 — of which 4% went to the state.  And resulted in the season being extended to 16 days in 1952. [ref] The Los Alamitos season was such a success in showing that there was great public interest in quarter horse racing, that that the Racing Board considered a proposal for a 16 days of quarter horse racing to be held in Palm Springs from February 16 to April 5, 1952, see Billboard previous.[/ref]

1952 and 1953 were good years — i.e., dry.  The meet was successful, but the good weather exposed other problems, specifically that grandstand areas were facing south.  “They were looking right into the sun and in the fall and winter afternoons that could be bad. Everyone knew we had to fix that.”

That meant they had to build a whole new grandstand, and Frank knew if they were going to do, this time they needed to do it right.  While the 1952 and 53 seasons were profitable, he still didn’t have the cash to do things himself so he once again went out to his friends, offering them ownership in the Los Alamitos Horse Racing Corporation in return for some cash.  “This time he didn’t have problems, said Haney. “Everybody saw what the track could be. Most of his friends bought $25,000 worth of stock.   Half of the LB Mounted Police, which were mostly wealthy guys, and his horsemen friends… between those groups — the horsemen and the Sunday cowboys — Frank had no trouble raising money.”

With cash in hand, Vessels set out to build not just a good race track, but a great  one.  The main thing was they moved it a little northeast — away from the house and barn.  To design it, he hired Arthur Froehlich, who also designed the renovated Hollywood Park.  Froehlich turned in a classic design.

Haney, who had by now been drafted into the Army, had not seen the track or Vessels for two years.  “I got out in January 1954 and went home, and one day went out to the track.   They had already built the grandstand covering but everything else was still waiting to be built.  There in the middle, I see two sawhorses with a sheet of plywood on it.  A set of plans is on it.  Next to the table is a post with a phone attached and Frank is on the phone, working deals, all the while answering workers regarding the plans. That was his office.  That’s where he ran the job.”

In April 1954 Los Alamitos Race Course opened its brand new facility — moved a short distance to the northeast.  This time the fans backs were to the sun.

The success of the track spilled over to Los Alamitos.  The racing season provided jobs in the parking lots, and selling food and betting tickets, and working in the barns.  But equally important, the California Horse Racing Act of 1933 (which permitted pari-mutuel betting at race tracks) called for track owners to contribute specified percentage of their earnings to charity.  Vessels not only set up a Los Alamitos Charitable Foundation, but he shared fund-raising family days with local churches, and assured the success of the new Los Alamitos Youth Center by making the proceeds of certain races go directly to that group.[ref] Marilynn Poe, who grew up in Los Alamitos, saus her father-in-law William Poe II, being one of the small town’s only attorneys, had many dealings with Vessels.  She said at one such meeting they were discussing the fund raising challenges of the Youth Center, then called the Los Alamitos Boys and Girls Club.  Per Marilynn Poe, Vessels told her father-in-law “you guys need money, I need more racing dates.” He advised the Youth Center to incorporate and change its name as he was already giving money to another local  Boys and Girls Club, and they then filed the papers to be one of the track’s official charity beneficiaries.  By designating one race to be a charity race, Vessels got an additional day of racing on his schedule.[/ref]    (In 1957, he even let the new local Lutheran Church use one of his betting halls, as their temporary church until a new one could be built.)

But by 1953 Frank Vessels next big political challenge had to do with the address of his thriving track. In the mid-1950s, Orange County was experiencing tremendous growth.  The county’s population more than doubled from 1950 to 1955.  Cities like Anaheim, Garden Grove, Buena Park and Westminster were slowly but surely annexing revenue producing and industrial and commercial  properties to the west.  The little town of Los Alamitos, realizing not only that these existing cities may take up some of the land that they would need to survive but that plans were already underway to build 3,000 home tract to be called Rossmoor,  started  incorporation efforts of their own.

To the north of Los Alamitos, the local dairy ranchers had their own issues.  The spread of suburbia and new subdivisions had already forced many of them to sell their land  in areas like Gardena, Lynwood and Paramount and relocate to west Orange County.  They did not want to have to do this again, but they knew the advent of subdivisons would bring in population that would vote in restrictive zoning laws.  These “wealthy dairy ranchers” (per the Los Angeles Times)  organized to incorporate their own towns, and pass laws which would permit 20 cattle per acre and prohibit subdivision of the land.  Three “dairy communities” were formed.  Dairyland (later La Palma) was voted into existence in 1955.  Dairy Valley (now Cerritos) followed a few months later on the land across the county line.  And the farmers of the Cypress area first pushed to incorporate a new city which would include the Los Alamitos, Cypress and Stanton areas), but that effort stalled.  Then they launched another incorporation drive for “Dairy City.” Traditionally, the dividing line between “Cypress” and Los Alamitos had been the old boundary line between the Rancho Los Coyotes and Rancho Los Alamitos.  The Dairyland incorporators knew (from the Tri-Cities effort) that Los Alamitos’ proposed boundaries included the lands of the Race Track and a couple dairies to the north.  And the original Dairy City maps did not include these.  But when the official petition for incorporation was submitted to the county officials, the Dairy City boundaries now included the Vessels and Kuppens ranches (south to Katella and west to Lexington/Moody.  The Cypress incorporators submitted their petition one hour before the Los Alamitos contingent. It turned out the delay for Los Alamitos was caused by the “inavailibility” of a very large rancher to sign the necessary documents including his land.  This rancher  did not cause any delay when he signed the documents for the Dairy City Incorporation. Logic dictates this large land owner had to be Frank Vessels Sr.   He had already told Enterprise editor Dale Kroesen that it wasn’t in his best interest to be in an incorporated area.  And Vessels was already well aware that the residents of Los Alamitos had very strong opinions about proper land use and zoning procedures.  They had already  thwarted him once in the sale of the western part of his property to a company that planned to build a cemetery.   And he might also have been aware that Rossmoor developer Ross Cortese had pulled out of being part of Los Alamitos at the last minute after some conversations over future zoning conditions. [ref]This latter event, as related years afterwards by former Los Al City Manager Mike Graziano, reportedly happened at a cocktail party to celebrate the incorporation.] It appears that Vessels played both sides.  He knew incorporation was inevitable, so he signed both petitions but secretly colluded with Dairy City / Cypress officials to make sure he was included in that new city because their “anti-subdivision laws” and rural mentality suited his personal business interests. [/ref]   There are also stories that the new Cypress leaders promised Vessels some long-term tax deferments if he would be part of their new city.

Haney, whose father was on the Board of Directors and would have been intricately involved in these decisions, says this issue was much simpler.  “Frank needed sewer lines for his permanent toilet facilities.  He asked the Los Alamitos people to run lines to him.   They would — if he paid for it.  Cypress agreed to run the sewer lines to his property line at their own cost. That’s why he went with Cypress.”

Vessels (and his Board’s)  actions effectively stopped the 1956 attempt at incorporation by Los Alamitos’ civic leaders.  But although Vessels would be part of Cypress, and a portion of the sales tax revenue would always go to that city, he maintained close ties to Los Alamitos.  He arranged to have the construction of the new Youth Center completed in 1957.  He donated money to the Rossmoor-Los Alamitos Little League when it first moved over to their new fields at the Navy base.  He let St. Isidore Church celebrate family days at the track and donated money from to their cause.   His attorney (and sometimes horse-raising partner) Garland Stephens was a long-time resident of Rossmoor.

Vessels would die in 1963.

Obituary,  LA Times, Feb. 21, 1963

Frank Vessels, Sr., 64, Racetrack Owner, Dies

Los Alamitos Founder Has Heart Attack While Attending Convention in Tulsa

Frank Vessels, Sr., owner of Los Alamitos Race Track. died Wednesday in Tulsa while attending the annual convention of the American Quarterhorse Assn.

Mr. Vessels had just returned to his hotel room from a morning session and was visiting with several delegates when he was stricken with a heart attack.

In the group was his son, Frank., Jr., also attending the convention.

Ranch Owner

Mr. Vessels, who in 1962 was named Orange County’s Man of the Year, was the owner of the world”s largest quarterhorse ranch, a land development company, a western clothes store, an oil field constructioncompany and an engineering firm.

He was active in many civic and charitable endeavors, the Shrine and the Los Alamitos Youth Center.

Mr. Vessels was born in Elzabethtown, Ky., south of Louisville, and grew up on his grandparents farm.

Founded Firm

He came to San Bernardino in 1921 where he meet the former Grace Hagey and married her a few years later.

A career which took him from affluence to near bankruptcy several times in the construction and oil business followed in Huntington Beach.

During the depressions he founded the successful Southern Engineering & Construction Co., of which he remained a part owner util his death.

Small Start

His interest in quarterhorse racing started in 1946.  That year he bought a 475-acre ranch in Los Alamitos and built a half-mile track just north of his residence.

The present track developed from this small development.

Mr. Vessels leaves his wife and a son and a grandson.

The body will be sent to the Peek Funeral Home in Westminster.

 

and the track operations would be taken over by his son, Frank, Jr.  who would die a few years later in a gun accident.  Police reports say it was suicide.  His wife, Millie never accepted that.  She would take over as president of the track.

 

 

 

 

 

Long Beach License Nn. 66781, Class C-4 Grace M. Vessels, Frank VesselsOIL FIELD CONSTRUCTION COMPANY OF BAKERSFTELD 2650 Cherry Ave.,Long Beach License No. 87336, Class C-4 Frank Vessels, Grace M. Vessels, Chas. …

August 23, 1968

Time Magazine —

HORSE RACING

To most dyed-in-the-silks thoroughbred fans, quarter-horse racing is not horse racing at all. When it comes to purity of breeding, the quarter-horse wins no prizes; a chunky, bandy-legged brute, it looks almost grotesque next to the sleek, stately thoroughbred. Besides, what railbird wants to bother with a race that covers only 350 to 550 yds. and is over before he can focus his binoculars? The answer is the 2,000,000 quarter-horse devotees who showed up at 100 tracks in 26 states last year to watch the husky hybrids dash to photo finish after photo finish.

For compact action, nothing quite compares with quarter-horse racing. A horse that covers 350 yds. in 18 sec. is likely to win, while a horse that finishes only one second later can be dead last. And big money rides on every split second. Pari-mutuel betting is now permitted in 13 states, and last year’s total handle was $78,328,686. In that same period, purse money increased from $1,752,256 to $6,984,558. Dollar for distance, it is the richest racing in the world.

Whup ’em or Weep. Most of that money was gouged from the hard-baked Western soil in which the sport has its roots. A cross between the pioneer plow horse and the Mexican mustang, the quarter horse was bred for the short bursts of speed needed to herd cattle. To fill the lonesome hours, cowpokes began match-racing for payday stakes and, as one oldtimer put it, “if you couldn’t whup the guy you beat, you didn’t get your money.” Before long, horsemen were organizing races at state and county fairs across the West. Whole herds of cattle were common stakes, and more than one ranch changed hands after a head-to-head race.

For all that, the quarter horse remained a no-account critter until 1941, when the American Quarter Horse Association was formed to legitimize the breed. Since then, more than 500,000 quarter horses have been registered in the U.S., and many of the racers among them work in plush surroundings. California’s Los Alamitos Race Course, a $15 million complex 35 miles south of Los Angeles, was built in 1947 by Frank Vessels Jr. and his late father on the site of a former beet farm. Los Alamitos drew 457,080 fans last year and attendance is up 30% this year. It pays better than beets, too: close to $750,000 a night passes through Los Alamitos’ parimutuel windows.

The biggest quarter-horse race of all is the annual All-American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs, N. Mex. Come Labor Day, some 10,000 bona fide and drugstore cowboys—along with doctors, lawyers and oil-rich Indian chiefs—will turn out to see the tenth running of the 400-yard event billed as the “World’s Richest Horse Race.” Prize money for this year’s Futurity is $615,000, nearly four times the size of the purse offered at the Kentucky Derby.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,838620,00.html#ixzz1NquvZbeE

Clabber was the first in a long line of illustrious horses owned or bred by the Vessels. Among other notable horses who resided on the Vessels Stallion Farm were Go Man Go, Chicado V, First Down Dash. Alamitos Bar, Timeto Think rich, Tiny Charger, and Beduino (TB). These were exceptional race and/or breeding horses. First Down Dash, under the management of Scoop, surpassed his famous sire, Dash for Cash as a leading sire of racing Quarter Horses. Chicado V was a prodigious producing mare who foaled five offspring that had a huge impact on the American Quarter Horse that is still evident today. These horses were Triple Chick, Three Chicks, The Ole Man, Table Tennis, and War Chick.

 

Today, crossover between Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred racing is common. Many of today’s Thoroughbred owners, from Johnny Jones to Mike Pegram, got their start in the Quarter Horse business. D. Wayne Lukas and Bob Baffert both started as Quarter Horse trainers. Plus, a number of racing states have mixed meets. Quarter Horse racing has served as an entryway to the sport of Thoroughbred racing for decades, and still does.

Quarter Horses and beef cattle have had a special connection for over a century. The fact that Kentucky has over a million beef cows, making it the largest beef cattle producing state east of the Mississippi, may help to explain why Kentucky also has such a large number of registered Quarter Horses, as confirmed by AQHA’s owner data. Quarter Horse racing has the potential to provide a logical cultural bridge between the Thoroughbred industry, concentrated in a handful of central Kentucky counties, and more widespread agriculture.

Sanctioned Racing of Quarter Horses

Following the opening of Tucson’s Rillito Park in 1943, Quarter Horse racing began to change gradually from a regional non-pari-mutuel sport found at “bush” tracks into an AQHA-sanctioned pari-mutuel sport with a circuit of quality racetracks around the country. Advocates of Quarter Horse racing met with owners and managers of many tracks. Most were not harness because of regional issues – that sport was more common in eastern states – and, besides, most such tracks were not suitable either because of their configuration, their length or their surface (or all three) to accommodate Quarter Horse racing.

Frank Vessels, a former Kentuckian, who moved to southern California as a young man in the 1920s, was among the more prominent advocates of Quarter Horse racing. In 1947, he got Hollywood Park to stage a quarter-mile match race between a Thoroughbred runner named Fair Truckle, and a registered Quarter Horse mare named Barbara B. When Barbra B won it handily, the media made a big thing of Quarter Horse racing in southern California then being run at both Hollywood Park and Pomona. Vessels went on to build Los Alamitos in Orange County, which was awarded its initial pari-mutuel license in 1951. Running mostly Quarter Horses year round, Los Alamitos is the leading Quarter Horse track today.

By 1953, there were 32 tracks; most of them in western states, offering approved Quarter Horse racing. Purses totaled $776,410 with a pari-mutuel handle of $16,187,000. By 1955, total purses for Quarter Horse racing topped $1 million nationally, while thirteen years later, in 1968, purses reached $7,283,614 nationally while the on-track pari-mutuel wagering handle on Quarter Horses topped $82 million. Clearly, the sport was growing.

source:  http://www.kyqha.com/pages/sprint_racing/history.php

University of Louisville Equine Business Program – Frank Scoop Vessels acceptance speech of John Galbreath Award

This History of Bay Meadows Race Track provides a good overview of horse racing in California.