![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the United States than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in Fresno, California. He attended high school in Fresno before moving onto the University of Berkeley where Les became an All-American Line Backer and later inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame.<\/p>\nAfter college, Les served in the Army, where he continued to be active with football by becoming a coach at the base he was serving at in Washington. Once his service was completed, Les continued with football on a professional level, playing for the Los Angeles Rams for nine years.<\/p>\n
Edwin Pauly, the Rams owner in 1959, asked Richter to take a look at a relatively new track that had been constructed in Southern California. Pauly was interested in buying the track known as Riverside Raceway. Les did as requested and reported favorably on what he found. Pauly and the group that requested Les take a look at the track wound up asking him to be the executive director once the deal was complete. This was followed in 1961 to a promotion of president and general manager of the historic track. Les held the top spot in the track\u2019s management team until 1983. During that time, Les turned Riverside Raceway into an internationally known and recognized facility. He was responsible for bringing all types of racing to the facility, from sports cars to Formula One; Riverside was the track to race at on the west coast.<\/p>\n
One of Les\u2019s biggest accomplishments was when he approached Bill France, Sr. in 1963 about bringing NASCAR to Riverside. France, Sr. agreed and NASCAR began building its empire on the West Coast at that point. The friendship between France, Sr. and Richter flourished, and in 1983 Richter was asked to come to work for NASCAR as a vice president. By 1986 Les was the vice president of competition, and in 1992 he became the senior vice president of operations. Les was still active in racing right up to the time of his passing as vice president of special projects for the International Speedway Corporation.<\/p>\n
Though Les never drove or worked on a race car, he played a paramount role in the creation of California\u2019s racing infrastructure that the State enjoys today. He also played a large part in the construction of the NASCAR Racing Empire that saw record growth during the time that Richter was involved with the company. Richter\u2019s passion and understanding of racing, and its participants, will truly be missed.<\/p>\n
[Source: Will Silk; photo: Wikipedia<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Story by Will Silk Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the United States than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in Fresno, California. He attended high school in Fresno before moving onto the University of Berkeley where Les became an All-American Line Backer and later inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame. After college, Les served in the Army, where he continued to be active with football by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":795664,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,18114,18330],"tags":[17152,18435,13751,18107,16791],"class_list":["post-368993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-car-culture","category-people","category-profiles-car-culture","tag-car-culture","tag-people","tag-les-richter","tag-people-profiles","tag-profiles"],"yoast_head":"\n
Les Richter (1930 - 2010)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the US than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in California.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Les Richter (1930 - 2010)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the US than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in California.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Supercars.net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-21T11:00:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-17T08:48:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"274\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"306\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Will Silk\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@supercars_net\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Will Silk\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Will Silk\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b\"},\"headline\":\"Les Richter (1930 – 2010)\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-21T11:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-17T08:48:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/Les-Richter-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Car Culture\",\"People\",\"People (Les Richter)\",\"People Profiles (All)\",\"Profiles (All)\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Car Culture\",\"People\",\"Profiles\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/\",\"name\":\"Les Richter (1930 - 2010)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/Les-Richter-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-21T11:00:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-17T08:48:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b\"},\"description\":\"Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the US than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in California.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/Les-Richter-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2010\\\/06\\\/Les-Richter-1.jpg\",\"width\":274,\"height\":306},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Les Richter (1930 – 2010)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Supercars.net\",\"description\":\"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b\",\"name\":\"Will Silk\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Will-Silk-293x293.png\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Will-Silk-293x293.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/10\\\/Will-Silk-293x293.png\",\"caption\":\"Will Silk\"},\"description\":\"Will Silk is a road racing enthusiast, both with cars and motorcycles. He has driven various sports cars at club level events in the Mid Atlantic region and has crewed for several club level race teams in both sports car racing and motorcycle road racing. An avid British car and bike buff, Will has spent nearly 14 years in the sports car and motorcycle retail industries. When he's not toying about in road racing, Will enjoys riding motorcycles, spending time at home with family, watching World Superbike and Formula 1, reading and writing, target shooting, and dining at his favorite local steak house.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.supercars.net\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/will-silk\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Les Richter (1930 - 2010)","description":"Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the US than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in California.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Les Richter (1930 - 2010)","og_description":"Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the US than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in California.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/","og_site_name":"Supercars.net","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Supercars.net\/","article_published_time":"2010-06-21T11:00:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-17T08:48:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":274,"height":306,"url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Will Silk","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@supercars_net","twitter_site":"@supercars_net","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Will Silk","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Will Silk","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b"},"headline":"Les Richter (1930 – 2010)","datePublished":"2010-06-21T11:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-17T08:48:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg","keywords":["Car Culture","People","People (Les Richter)","People Profiles (All)","Profiles (All)"],"articleSection":["Car Culture","People","Profiles"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/","name":"Les Richter (1930 - 2010)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg","datePublished":"2010-06-21T11:00:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-17T08:48:18+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b"},"description":"Perhaps no single man had more involvement in the development of West Coast racing in the US than Les Richter. Les was born October 26, 1930 in California.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/Les-Richter-1.jpg","width":274,"height":306},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/les-richter-1930-2010-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Les Richter (1930 – 2010)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/","name":"Supercars.net","description":"Exotic and Supercar news, information, pictures and videos","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/82de736767a1f81f8dc6170a0882466b","name":"Will Silk","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Will-Silk-293x293.png","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Will-Silk-293x293.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Will-Silk-293x293.png","caption":"Will Silk"},"description":"Will Silk is a road racing enthusiast, both with cars and motorcycles. He has driven various sports cars at club level events in the Mid Atlantic region and has crewed for several club level race teams in both sports car racing and motorcycle road racing. An avid British car and bike buff, Will has spent nearly 14 years in the sports car and motorcycle retail industries. When he's not toying about in road racing, Will enjoys riding motorcycles, spending time at home with family, watching World Superbike and Formula 1, reading and writing, target shooting, and dining at his favorite local steak house.","url":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/author\/will-silk\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/113"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/795664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.supercars.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}