The final race at the 2 mile layout of the Auto Club Speedway has come and gone. With this occurrence there is an unsure feeling and complete doubt in the air over the future of the California track’s future. No clear plan seems to have been approved by all parties yet and almost all of the track’s land has been sold off. So it leaves us to ask the question, will NASCAR ever race at Auto Club Speedway again?
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42 comments
With the track’s uncertain future do you think we will ever see racing on any Auto Club configuration again?
I think at this point, we just need to do whatever we can to save any racetracks America has left. And quite frankly, it needs to be by any means necessary, because the big money will shut tracks down by any means necessary.
Probably not
I don’t think NASCAR will be racing in Southern California anytime soon, the clash might be a points race for the next two years to accommodate the absence of auto club speedway
Yes. As much as I’ll miss the original configuration, as a short track racing lover, I think it’ll produce great racingand ratings
No
Whether or not the track will get reconfigured into a short track, I still want to see racing in SoCal. Go to Irwindale if the Short track isn’t in the works for the next couple of years
“But but but the west coast viewers!!!11!!!”
3 dead SoCal tracks.
@crystaljon it was just a thought, ok
@GatoradeCupSeriesX94 Yes, they do exist. Seriously, that whole “People in the west don’t care” crap you keep pulling is getting real old. Are you saying all the fans that come to tracks like Vegas, Phoenix, Sonoma, or the LA Coliseum all came from the south?
Irwindale was sold , but their are endangered birds around their also their is toxic stuff under the track so that’s why it’s been sold so many times but nvr torn down
They can make a wildlife refuge for those endangered birds while still having a racetrack. They have done something like that in Huntington Beach in Orange County where there’s a campgrounds on one end of the street and a wildlife refuge on the opposite side, completely undisturbed (and frequently visited). They can do that with the Irwindale scenario
I think it’s 50/50. There’s a good chance plans don’t or can’t go through. But there’s a good chance that they could squeeze the space they have left into making a viable short track.
It’s not even a squeeze, if you just look at stands and the track a place like Martinsville is on less than 50 acres
If plans don’t go through, they should try livening up the space around the speedway so it isn’t just a parking lot
its a wrap in SOCAL They aren’t putting a race track in prime real estate develpment. Martinsville is in the middle of NO WHERE and has been there for DECADES. Now every Karen cries about race tracks then wonder why street racing goes up.
If past history says anything, Auto Club had their last race EVER. Ontario and Riverside shut down in the 80s in Southern California. I believe we will get the short track, but I wouldn’t be surpised of this was it. NASCAR might just sell all the land.
Riverside is still out there and was doing races for other series until the early 1990’s when it shut down. It is possible Top people in NASCAR force a Riverside race though for the carnage to make this no longer a sport but more like the original single season XFL.
@Casey smithRiverside isn’t there…
Riverside was made into a mall catering to the ultra rich. Don’t know what happened to Ontario. And seeing how real estate is in California, they’re trying to entice the rich folk and drive the poor and minorities out of the area. Basically, they’re selling the land so they can gentrify it
@Dan Krolikowski Okay, last I heard it was.
@Casey smith No, Riverside was closed in 1989 and the last of the track was torn down in 2003.
I went to this year’s and last year’s race and it would be quite the bummer if we don’t have this speedway. I’ve watched the sport since 2007 but last year was the first time I was at a cup series race for the first time. I’ve been to Sonoma before but it wasn’t for a cup race. The crowd was great in both years and I made a lot of memories. Hopefully we manage to have at least one oval race in California moving forwards. While Sonoma is great, it didn’t really evoke the same feeling that I get from a speedway like this! I still hope we have a track like this in California in the future because the interest is definitely there from fans.
If the voters run out those that complain about everything, we might see a Fontana reincarnation somewhere in the future
I wanted a Richmond or Iowa on that space. A half mile super speedway is problematic. As to announcing this as a surprise this weekend, we’ve known a change was color 2 years. Maybe it took that long to sell the land but. This was scheduled to happen much more quickly than it has happened
Well, when it comes to Auto Club Speedway, it looks like the future of the track is uncertain, but right now, the best thing we can do is let time take its course and see what happens for Auto Club. Until then, goodbye!
I think the problem is reconfiguring the track will mean the track no longer could get a licensing to be classified as a historic monument like what we in Maryland did for Maryland International Raceway and Budds Creek Motocross track. California historically is one of the hardest states to operate a race track at with laguna Seca curfew and race cars needing to be muffled so I do hope project is a success I don’t know
I mean, they could just build one of those sound barriers they have on the freeways all around the track if that’s the problem
This is my home track, so I sure hope racing isn’t done at Auto Club Speedway. I’ve been keeping up with the news on this redevelopment project, and this video is really the first time I’m hearing doubts about this playing out. Yes, I am aware that plans fall apart all the time, but I’m choosing to stay positive here. And I’m one of the crowd who doesn’t want to see the track reconfigured into a short track. The facility itself still holds up best that I can tell.
I drove out to this final race at the 2-mile oval this past weekend, and there was a lot of paused construction going on along the entry streets already. There are a few companies which have long been a part of the Auto Club Speedway “neighborhood” if you will, mostly steelworks, recycling plants, and a tiny bail bonds lonely on the corner. They’ve been there for years, so they’re probably fine with the noise.
Sort of unrelated, but the view from the grandstands at this race was breathtaking with the rare snow on Mount Baldy in the background. It was kind of surreal to see and hear the cars in the foreground and then see the majestic mountains in the background, the tops of which being covered by the ominous cloud cover. If this was to be the last race that I ever attend, at least it was a picturesque one.
Same. The scene of the SB mountains is unbelievable. We actually got treated to a hardcore sunset in the Xfinity race, unlike any other. If all goes well, the track is kept and they liven up the place, while not forgetting the roots of the track (maybe call it the Kaiser Mill Speedway or give it a warehouse type of feel in the fan zone)
Oh yeah. It was a good send off for the 2 mile oval. I brought my girl to see it for the first time and she loved the view of the mountains and the snow on top of them. She asked if it was always like that and I said it’s rare. She also enjoyed the racing there as well, even though she doesn’t care about sports, let alone NASCAR. She actually cried a little when I told her it’s the last time we’re going to be at the speedway but with luck, it will be back and we can probably see the snowy mountains, the intense gray of the storm along with cars racing each other at a smaller oval.
This track is the reason that me and my wife (including) babies are lifetime Nascar fans. My 6 and 3 year olds are big fans now. So I love this track!
Not much much of a West Coast swing without that date. 2 races. So I believe the goal is to get a track.
I do not fear for Auto Club. With how hard Nascar has been trying to hammer that and the Colosseum, they are doing all they can to not lose that populous market.
Worst case scenerio I see is Cup trying to shove it’s way into the Long beach street circuit situation.
Indycar and F1 cars struggle on street courses. Cup cars exponentially moreso. I don’t think Chicago will go well, and the drive to get back to a proper track of some flavor in that area will prevail.
The fact of the matter is we only know that it’s going to be a short track. That’s a sure thing. We’ll just have to wait and see on further details as the project moves along.
Best case scenario: The configuration is kept, they modify the oval to include a short track to compete with Charlotte in configurations, actually modify the surroundings to mix everything into one big superblock: townhomes (not apartments or luxo-gentrifying condos), a transit hub that can boast quick, painless loads of people going to and fro the speedway and its surrounding environment, a retail shop of sorts, warehouses that are NOT Amazon or any of those big corporate bullies, and multi-use the speedway for stuff that can be completely unrelated to racing (a drive-in, perhaps, or a park in the infield during off-season), the options are endless, and can provide NASCAR with much needed revenue to pay off its “debt”. As long as they’re aren’t NIMBYs, maybe cater to the NASCAR fanbase first, have ALL OTHERS sign a waiver saying they can’t sue NASCAR, the speedway, the city, the county, and the state because they were required to read and offered the choice to sign or walk away when purchasing a home nearby.
Worst case scenario: We’re already in it. Limbo.
I remember the first race at Auto Club back in 1997. It was the same week as the ESPYs, IIRC. NASCAR and Hollywood merging in an unholy union. Brought to you by Brian France. And who could forget the Jeremy Mayfield win there in 2000 on fuel mileage…only to have NASCAR tarnish it was a BS penalty a few days later
Nascar will begin tearing down the track as soon as possible and leveling everything but the grand stands. That will take at least 6 months to a year. They have until then to make a plan
This is my home track but I think people forget, this track needs a repave. So if they keep it a 2 mile you’ll get the same sorry racing we got from 97 to 2010. 2/3 mile short track is the way to go.
A part of me wants to believe they announced the sale to build excitement or generate hype for the new short track and the fan experience (whatever that may entail). I’m not saying it worked but maybe that was the idea.
According to multiple passages in the 2023 race program, specifically stated by the track president, the plan is to build a “state of the art short track” or in another instance, a “motorsports complex.” So, if they don’t do this, it will have been a bold faced lie to the fans and public. The details of course may vary, aswell as the time frame, but it has been promised in written language for sure. It’s in their hands going forward to keep their word…
This came very close to happening at Charlotte, the area was zoned for “motorsports” Bruton breaks ground on the Z-max and then the city has an emergency hearing and almost cost us Charlotte