Altamont Speedway
Altamont Speedway opened in 1966 and is the largest oval motor race track north of Los Angeles. It is most well-known as the site of the Altamont Free Concert, a countercultural rock festival held on December 6, 1969, and featuring such acts as Santana, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the Rolling Stones. Though initially touted as “Woodstock West,” the Free Concert rapidly descended into drug-induced anarchy and violence. Four concertgoers died – one by stabbing, one by LSD-induced drowning, and two as a result of hit-and-run drivers – and dozens more were seriously injured. Soon thereafter, “Altamont” would, along the the Tate-LaBianca murders, become synonymous with the end of the 1960s “peace and love” youth counterculture movement.
Fred Price overlooking the Altamont Speedway, July 1965.
© Tracy Press.
At the end of February 1973, Mitch and Roger discovered that Frank DiGiuseppe had somehow excavated a bus-sized pit at Altamont, presumably for purposes of burying the school bus of children he planned to abduct. Further investigation revealed a History-B artifact located beneath the excavation site. With the assistance of Archie and Jocasta, the artifact was unearthed by an archaeological team sent by Granite Peak, among them Charley. In the wake of their investigation, Roger set things in motion to establish an underground racing circuit at Altamont as a means of surreptitiously monitoring the site for ontological instability.
