The Auto Club Speedway is currently under demolition and is supposedly going to be reconfigured into a short track in the near future. With this plan in place though there is serious worry about the future of NASCAR racing there at all. So today we are going to look at what has been going on in Fontana and ask will the Auto Club short track ever happen?
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40 comments
Do you think the Auto Club short track will be built?
no, probably NASCARs biggest mistake in a while
Yeah but it would prolly take until 2025-2026
To be honest I don’t think so but I’m not going to rule out a future nascar track in the future in the state of California
I think that is it is on super expensive land where it is not going to go do.
@@nascarnation3forever627 The thing is, we have a NASCAR race in California still. It’s in Sonoma. My worry is that NASCAR will see that and the clash and think that’s enough.
I went to the track from 2015 all the way to this year, with the exception of 2021. I always supported this track and I put a lot of money into it all the years I went. I never wanted the short track at all. I’m pissed over this.
I’m local and I grew up going to this track in the late 90’s. I’ll never forget the wail of the Dr Gas X-pipe bouncing off the walls or the way the cars shook the mile long stands as they thundered by. I ended up skipping out on nearly two decades worth of in-person races for a number of reasons and I really wish I went a few more times, but I managed to convince my dad to go back to the final race this past Feb just like we did 20 years ago. That was despite the fact that I had to fly back from Vegas at 6am to make the race lol. It was well worth it.
I’m not confident they’re going to replace it, nor am I happy with the rumors that it’s going to be a Bristol clone if it does come to fruition. I mean, sure, I’ll be happy we get a race again, but as a long time fan, Bristol isn’t what it used to be and I’d rather see us get a Darlington or Martinsville style track instead. This the now the 3rd NASCAR track to be demolished in San Bernardino County since the 80’s.
It’s supposed to be a Martinsville Bristol HYBRID from my understanding. Single groove like Martinsville but high banking like Bristol. Think of Motor Speedway of the South from the movie cars.
I’d also prefer something of a Darlington/Dover hybrid. It seems like NASCAR was once cookie-cutting D-ovals and now is cookie-cutting short tracks. Maybe they should have stopped and thought for a bit before making such drastic changes.
Its crazy how fans went from being on board with the idea of a short track for Auto Club Speedway, to now being against it because of how the Next-gen races on Intermediates
the next gens ran awesome there that is why.
I never like the short track idea since the begining.
I was against it from the beginning, I loved auto club in literally every nascar game
@@sharkk127 Well, what are you gonna do about it?
Against the idea from the start.
I hope so, I mean, they are selling out the rest of the land around it, but the track itself still has a place for the small configuration. I hope it’s just a matter of time before everything else around. It is finally fully built then they can worry about the track. Or this could just be the beginning of the end, but I hope not
I miss Auto Club already, I remember watching the 2016 race on a Sunday and rooting against Jimmie so hard, sad to see it go
They SHOULD sell the land and invest in the Irwindale racetrack. It’s already a NASCAR short track and would be a lot closer to LA.
Cup cars wouldn’t fit in that small a track. Considering that the Coliseum race was a miracle in and of itself
@@S.K.R.E.Inc. There’s multiple configurations of that track. One being a half mile the other a third mile inside the half mile. Wikipedia is very useful…
As by far my closest racetrack, I sure hope so.
seeing the demolition pictures makes me sad. attended my first ever race here and the final race was bittersweet. hopefully they go through with the short track to have racing back down here
Saw my first ever nascar race here in 1997, truck series. saw IROC in 1998, then my first cup series race in 2002… went again in 16, 20, 22, and 23 for the last one! It’s my local track, and I’ll miss this 2 mile oval always, but I WILL be there WHEN the short track has its first race! I believe, despite all the doubts. The demo progress shows intent to rebuild in my view, ill be waiting.
As an Indycar fan in addition to NASCAR, seeing Auto Club being torn down makes me sad as it produced some of the most exciting races in Indycar history, though it was also the track where Greg Moore was killed back in 1999. At least Indycar still races at Long Beach as a way of still having a presence in Southern California. Speaking of Long Beach, I hope we get a NASCAR-IMSA-Indycar tripleheader on the streets of Long Beach someday which I think would do really well in terms of ticket sales especially if one ticket allows fans to attend all three races.
Long Beach is packed about as full as it can get. Each series has practice and qualifying, Indycar runs a race, IMSA I believe runs 2 different races, Trophy Trucks run a race. It’s pretty much non stop cars on the track at all times. They wouldn’t have any time to fit NASCAR in before they have to change it back to city streets.
I really hope that something is done with this track and that it’s back on the schedule because it deserves to be there.
Forget the 2 mile racetrack it already been demolished they wont re do it from scratch
@hailstorm1986 Dude, he just showed video of the track being torn down. They are going through with deconstruction. Hopefully, they will go through with reconfiguring the Auto Club Speedway. But, it sucks no matter how you slice it.
@@USAKing1776NASCAR I know when I commented on this originally that I didn’t see that part yet but hopefully it’s at least made into a short track because it still deserves to be on the schedule.
I never wanted the 2 mile track to be destroyed but I hope the Auto Club short track does happen instead of nothing.
Who knows at this point.
It’s one of those be careful what you wish for things.
I loved the 2 mile track especially how that asphalt aged to wear tire fall off was awesome.
You said advocate for more short tracks.
As for this who knows at this point.
Cleetus is having a similar issue at the Freedom Factory here in Florida. They’ve allowed residential properties to build so close to the track, it’s almost inevitable he will be forced to close it in the future, and he’s done so much for the community and Motorsports. It’s insane that the areas around race tracks are forcing the hands of the owners, even though the tracks have been there for generations.
The one thing that I like that both cleetus and Victor at BMP have said that is they are forced to sell, they are building bigger and better further out into the countryside
Oh I’ll forever love Auto Club even though it’s gone. This track introduced me to nascar, getting free tickets as a kid completing the lefty’s reading challenge in elementary school. Did it every year I was eligible and continued to go up until the last race this year. Even if there will never be racing in the IE again, those will forever be golden memories. If it wasn’t for this track i’d never be a fan of nascar so thank you Auto Club. You’ll be missed.
I’d think rather of a 1-mile track for this than a 0.5 mile track. Or something like Darlington in terms of length, I think that one was 1.35 miles or so. Also, Greg Moore’s crash on this track is still kinda printed into my brain, so I might be glad from the change. But I’d like to see if they’ll make it good for IndyCar too.
If they didn’t intend on building the short track, they would have sold all the land. I estimate the reconfiguration will take three years. The three year contract for The Clash is a clue. They had originally planned to start construction in 2020, maybe 2021. Covid derailed that for a couple years. Then The Clash was moved to LA for 2022. Seems like quite the coincidence to me. I believe the Clash in LA was meant to give fans in the area an event to attend to keep interest alive while also introducing people to short track racing in the region. I’ve heard rumors that NASCAR might move the Clash to the new short track once it’s completed, with two dates, one possibly being the championship race. The NASCAR champion used to be crowned in socal.
I think the Auto Club short track will still be built. Otherwise, they’d have sold all the land by now and just ran races at the LA Coliseum in stead. It certainly would be a huge shakeup in the format if they went the latter route if they replaced stage racing with heat racing.
They said years ago that Riverside was going to be replaced with a similar track, and it never happened. Sadly, with the way things are out in Cali, I have doubts about Auto Club becoming a short track.
I went to Auto Club since 2011 because i lived 3 miles away from the track. It is sad that the 2 Mile track is getting repaved to a half mile track. But i do hope it’s like a Bristol or Martinsville type track like they said. Its was always good to get intense racing at the two mile track. Im just hoping that Auto Club will be on the 2025 schedule.