1960s Open Wheel Car Race "REX MAYS 300" - Original Vintage Poster
1960s Open Wheel Car Race "REX MAYS 300" - Original Vintage Poster
A great race poster promoting the Rex Mays 300 race at Riverside, California and features art of a Champ class open wheel racing car.
The race has its name from Rex Mays (1913-49) - a former AAA Championship Car race driver from Riverside. He was a two-time AAA champion and won 8 points-scoring races.
Mays is a perhaps the most notable driver in Indianapolis 500. Mays is the driver who won the pole position most times in the Indianapolis 500, but he never won the competition. He had his best seasons in 1940 and 1941, when he won the national championship two years in a row, and finished second in the Indianapolis 500 those two years.
The race was disrupted by WWII but in 1948 Mays came back and sat fastest qualification time in the Indy 500 but it was a victory which would do him for nothing.
Mays died in 1949 after a crash in a championship race at Del Mar Speedway in California. In this accident, Mays swerved to miss a car that had crashed in front of him. His car went out of control and flipped, throwing Mays to the track surface, where he was hit by a trailing car.
In his honor a race at the Milwaukee Mile was called the Rex Mays Classic from 1950 to 1987. In addition, the road racing course just outside his hometown of Riverside - a 300-mile Indianapolis-car event called the Rex Mays 300.
The Rex Mays 300 included 116 laps on a 2.600 mile road course (301.6 miles in total). The race was only completed three times (from 1967-69) which makes posters from this event super rare.
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Artist: Unable to read signature (sorry).
Print: Offset lithography (signed in print)
Dimensions: 17 x 22 in (43 x 56 cm)
Condition: Very good condition - One minor tear in the bottom and two tiny marks in the image
- please see pictures.
Country: USA
Thanks for watching and please let me know if you have any questions.
REF: L2602
Materials: Heavy Grade Paper,Original Vintage Poster
Only 1 available