Irwindale Speedway, located just east of Los Angeles, is closing for good. Again.
Though I live on the other coast, my history with the 25-year-old facility dates back to its beginning. I was executive-producing Car and Driver TV then, a weekly television show airing on The Nashville Network. We’d gathered up some cars in Los Angeles to feature on the show, and we needed a home base. The relatively new NASCAR track in Fontana wasn’t interested, but the folks at Irwindale Speedway were, even though the track wasn’t quite open then.
Our crew spent the better part of a week there, and it looked like the future for the half-mile oval was bright: 6500 seats, with an elevator to the press box! Impressive. I heard a rumor that the track had already hosted one impromptu event—someone high up in the construction of the track may or may not have driven his (very expensive) sports car onto the track, to inaugurate it, and promptly crashed. He may or may not have had the car towed out to the nearby 605 freeway, dropped it by the side of the road, and reported it stolen. (I’d love to read that police report.) If such a thing were true, I hope the statute of limitations has passed, for my sake.
Irwindale Speedway was built next to a sand mine, over a pit that had been filled in with waste, including concrete buildings that were part of the original Los Angeles subway project. Since so many race tracks in Southern California have been bulldozed for the real estate they sit on, it seemed unlikely, even at the time, that anybody would want this narrow strip of crappy land. I was wrong. Outside interests began early and gelled quickly.
The following is from the first story I wrote about its closing:
“This past week, the rumor began circulating through the short-track racing community in Southern California that Irwindale Speedway, inarguably one of the best short tracks in the country, was closing. Sunday, an executive closely associated with the half-mile paved oval track confirmed it: ‘Sadly,’ he said, ‘it’s true.’”
That was from February 11, 2012.
A week later, I wrote that the track was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But track spokesman Doug Stokes, then and now one of the best PR people in motorsports, offered some promising words. He said the owners wanted to keep racing until the property was sold. “There is a sense that the ship will be righted and we’ll continue,” he said. “Watch this space. Better days are ahead.” Well, for a while, anyway. A developer bought the property in 2013, leaving competitors and fans wondering if the end was near.
Then, on March 25, 2015, I wrote another story: “Today, Irwindale city officials are meeting to discuss plans for razing Irwindale, replacing it with a 700,000-square-foot outlet mall.” The city council voted in favor of the mall. But the wrecking ball never came.
Somehow I missed writing about the next one, but the San Gabriel Valley Tribune didn’t. Dated August 30, 2017: “Once again, and probably for the final time, Irwindale Speedway has announced it is closing… Now, with the racetrack set to close in January, the question is what the new shopping area will be called.” It wasn’t called anything, because it never happened. The track remained open. The story contained a mention of how much the Formula Drift community would miss the track, since Irwindale was known as “the birthplace of American drifting.”
Then, on October 3, 2022, I wrote this for Hagerty: “Enter, new property owner IDS Real Estate, and a proposal for a five-unit industrial park called Speedway Commerce Center. Could this finally be the end of Irwindale?” Nope, wasn’t.
But now, it appears they mean it.
On October 29, 2024, this was posted on the track’s website: “Irwindale Speedway and Dragstrip will close following the 2024 season, ending a quarter-century as a beloved motorsports hub in Southern California.” According to TV station KTLA, “After years of narrowly escaping closure, the Speedway is now going to be bulldozed for an industrial park. The city has started reviewing plans for a mix of warehouses and commercial spaces to replace the track. The city council is set to discuss environmental impacts and more details next year.”
That was apparently enough for Tim Huddleston, president of Irwindale Speedway & Event Center. “Irwindale has been more than just a track—it’s been a home and gathering place for racing enthusiasts worldwide. On behalf of my wife Lisa and our partners Bob and Maureen Bruncati, we extend heartfelt thanks to our fans, racers, sponsors, and the city of Irwindale for their unwavering support over the past 25 years. We’re grateful for every moment and memory we’ve shared as a community.”
Say it ain’t so, Tim.
I might stop short of thanking the city of Irwindale for “unwavering support,” but I know what he means. The land-locked Pomona Dragstrip, properly the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, somehow survives, as does tiny Orange Show Speedway, but the list of defunct tracks in the Los Angeles area is both historic and downright tragic: Ascot, Saugus, Riverside, Ontario, Lions Drag Strip, even Auto Club Speedway, the Roger Penske-built, NASCAR-owned two-mile oval in Fontana, with an outrageously optimistic capacity of 122,000. It opened on June 20, 1997. The last NASCAR Cup race there was on February 26, 2023. Demolition began soon after; NASCAR sold most of the land and pledged to build a “next-gen” short track on the space left over. That isn’t happening, and NASCAR wishes you’d quit asking about it.
Throughout all this, Irwindale survived—never thrived, but survived. But now the promoters have scheduled the final shows at both the compact eighth-mile dragstrip and the half-mile paved oval, which contains a one-third-mile oval inside it.
December 21, it’s the “Farewell Extravaganza” on the oval tracks. “From ARCA Menards West cars and Super Late Models to the fan-favorite Trailer Races and Skid Plate competitions, there’s something for every racer eager to close this chapter of Irwindale Speedway’s story,” which is a kind of peculiar way to put it. Entrants will receive a Farewell Extravaganza gift bag containing “keepsakes.”
At the drag strip, Irwindale will “host its final events in December, starting with the last Thursday Night Thunder on December 5, giving fans one last chance to race down the dragstrip or enjoy the burnout box. Irwindale Dragstrip will then close out its history with the legendary Mooneyes Christmas Party on December 7, featuring drag racing, a classic car show, live entertainment, and more—a fitting farewell to the iconic drag racing venue.” Then on December 8, The Final Showdown. “Join us for the ultimate farewell to SoCal’s legendary 1/8-mile dragstrip!”
So that’s it, I guess. Barring a miracle, it sounds like they’ve finally killed the track that wouldn’t die. RIP, Irwindale. You fought the good fight.
