Randall Cannon oral history interview, 2024 July 01

Oral history interview with Randall Cannon conducted by Stefani Evans and Claytee D. White on July 1, 2024 for Game On! The Oral History of Las Vegas Sports project. In this interview, Randall Cannon describes growing up in Las Vegas, Nevada. His mother married Joe Cannon, and the family soon bought a house on Van Buren south of Owens, where they lived for fifteen years. Cannon remembers riding mini-cycles on various off-road or motocross tracks around the Valley on weekends. He remembers the early development of professional motorsports in Las Vegas through sanctioned drag races and the 1967-1969 construction of the Stardust International Raceway. Cannon discusses how he became involved in a project with Mike Gerry, and eventually collaborated with Gerry on his first book, “Stardust International Raceway: Motorsports Meets the Mob in Vegas, 1965-1971.” He also discusses Las Vegas's first Formula One race in the early 1980s, and its connection to Caesars Palace and how it was the subject of his second book. Digital audio and photographs available.