10-4 Magazine July 2024

76 10-4 Magazine / July 2024 would look at the project he was taking on and figure out what would be the best and safest way to knock it down. In the case of the Ice House, the salt on the inside of the building had helped to deteriorate the cement, so all he had to do was push the building in on itself. At other places, he would get there early in the morning, when there were not a lot of people around, and have the job done before it became more dangerous. Art loved racing and going fast and passed that passion on to his daughter Sheri, who is a very accomplished racer in her own right. In the early days he would race at places like the Stardust Raceway and the Las Vegas Drag Strip. The Stardust International Raceway closed in 1971 and plans were quickly made to build a new road course and drag strip in North Las Vegas by Craig Road Speedway owner Curly Price on city-owned land. Las Vegas Speedway held its inaugural season of racing in 1972 with off-road and drag racing. Today, Las Vegas Motor Speedway is a large complex of courses including not only the 1.5 mile tri-oval, but also multiple infield and outfield road courses, a short track oval called the Bullring, dirt courses, and a drag strip. Built on the site of the former Las Vegas Speedrome, which later became Las Vegas Speedway Park, there is still a small portion of the original road course that remains, but it is not currently being used for racing. Art loved this speedway, and the entire Goldstrom family has very strong connections to the facility. Sheri is also very active with Speedway Charities, the track’s charitable organization, and held the Vegas Large Car Invitational Truck Show in conjunction with the October 2023 NASCAR race weekend. Art got the bid to clean up some other famous Las Vegas locations when casinos like The Dunes, The Hacienda, and Castaways were imploded. The implosion of the Hacienda was part of the Fox TV special “Sinbad’s Dynamite New Year’s Eve” – the old casino came down at 9:00 pm local time to coincide with the ball drop in NewYork City. The fireworks before and after the detonation became a precursor to the massive Strip celebrations that happen today. After hauling the debris from the Hacienda away, Art got the bid to do all the dirt work for the large casino that was going to replace it – Mandalay Bay. When we got to see Art last October (2023), I remember him telling us that he was glad he bid that job by the hour, because there were water issues that had to be addressed. Las Vegas has several artesian wells that run underneath it. At one time, the valley was lush farmland, which is hard to imagine today. We had hoped to talk toArt himself for this article and hear the stories he had to tell personally, but that was not to be, as he passed away March 6, 2024. He and Shirley grew their business from trucking to being a big part of making changes to Las Vegas to the way we see it today. Over the years they also added renting and leasing properties, yard space in the city, and opened the museum we wrote about in March 2024. Sheri is instrumental in helping organize several charity car shows. The family has given back to the community they have called home all these years. Sheri said Shirley was like an early pawn shop – if someone needed money and they had things, she would buy them, which is where many of the cool items in their nostalgia museum originally came from. Every truck and every car in that museum had its own special meaning to Art, and it is a massive collection that speaks volumes about his love of cars and trucks. You should check it out! On Saturday,May 22, a Celebration of Life was held for Art in Las Vegas and we were told that over 500 people came to pay their respects. That is so awesome. I wish we could have been there. Art and Shirley’s legacy is in good hands with their daughter Sheri. When she started the museum, it was important to her to make sure her kids and grandkids never forgot where they came from. Even more so now, since her parents have been reunited in heaven, and she is now left to carry on the work this amazing family started. But this has always been a family that gives back, and we are sure that she and others will carry on this Goldstrom family tradition for many generations to come. Rest in Peace, Art. n