Official, track designer

Acknowledged as the "father" of the board tracks and “dean of officials,” Pillsbury joined with Jack Prince to design and construct most of the wooden speedways that operated throughout the 1920s. Among them, Beverly Hills Speedway, considered one of the finest ever built, Culver City Speedway and New York’s Roosevelt Raceway. Pillsbury helped guide the sport through the boom of the ‘20s and was instrumental in holding it together in the Depression years that followed. He served with distinction on the USAC and AAA Contest Boards for nearly five decades, where he conducted his duties “with a firm hand which often safeguarded the sport at critical times.” For years, he supervised all Land Speed Record activity in the US and continued to do so after the demise of the AAA Contest Board and the rise of USAC. He also oversaw the Mobil Economy Runs and presided over 1,000+ record attempts. Pillsbury was inducted into the IMS Hall of Fame in 1981 and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1992.