Chris Agajanian

Christopher James Agajanian is an American motorsports promoter and racetrack owner/operator. He is the son of motorsports promoter J. C. Agajanian. He grew up in Baldwin Hills, CA moved to Beverly Hills 1970 moved to Rancho Palos Verdes 1985 moved to Lower South Shores in 2000.

Biography

Agajanian was born in Hollywood, California and grew up working for the family refuse removal and motorsports businesses. He went to California Military Academy from 1st to 9th grades, graduated from Lutheran High School and the University of Southern California where he attended pre-med and business classes. He was a member of Kappa Alpha fraternity.

At age 7 Chris began working at an auto racetrack, placing numbers on a scoreboard. He sold event programs at Ascot Park and continued working every position at that racing facility which led to his position as vice president and part owner. He had received Promoter of the Year honors, Hall of Fame awards, and operated as one of the most successful promoters of AMA Grand National Championship racing.

At an early age he took guitar lessons and by 14 he was lead guitarist in a surf music band called The Eliminators. They played local dance halls, rec centers, High School dances, Fraternity and Sorority parties. They won Battles of the Bands and opened for headliners like Booker T. & the MG’s, The Standells, The Box Tops, and Dick Dale. Later they changed their name to Glass and began playing British rock & pop music.

In 1964, Agajanian built his first car at age 15 converting a 1961, 6-cylinder, 3-speed, Ford Falcon Sedan Delivery into a 289ci, Carrol Shelby Cobra High Performance V-8. He collected and restored Mustangs, Corvettes, Indy cars, dirt racing cars and racing motorcycles. His museum houses rare automobiles, race cars and a video, film and print archive comprising over 100,000 original images. It contains one of the country’s largest private collections of Beatles memorabilia, and personal items from notables like, Stephen Stills, Jimi Hendrix, Sir Brett Livingstone Strong, Michael Jackson and Evel Knievel.

Agajanian worked at a gas station when he was 16, a vinyl record pressing plant in Inglewood and a Muntz Stereo shop where he installed 4-track tape player systems in cars. By age 18 he began organizing weekly motocross races at Ascot Park which led to a career as a promotor of motorsports events across the U.S. Agajanian assisted Evel Knievel on a number of events including his ABC’s Wide World of Sports debut jump.

In early 1976 he produced a film called “Motocross Racing and Safety” for libraries and schools. He renovated Ascot Park Raceway by installing state-of-the-art lighting, stronger catch fences, crash walls, restrooms, and concession stands. He added surrounding billboards, an electronic scoreboard, modernized sound system, upgraded city utilities and renewed bleachers. The project was completed in five months for the start of the 1977 season. As Vice President of Agajanian Enterprises, he dealt with race control, event schedules, security, food, advertising, track preparation and equipment upkeep. Ascot was open for 33 Years, it ran 5-nights a week, 8-months a year and produced 160 events per season. It entertained 35 to 40 thousand fans per month.