Irwindale raceway in SoCal is shutting down.

[YellowThumper]

Not sure if it has been posted yet.
Last call in mid December.
Making way for more shopping...

[ec_co]

Another one bites the dust. Bandimere in Denver just closed too, developers closed in. They are supposed to open a new track, possibly east of Denver, but nothing concrete yet. No more Mile High Nationals for the foreseeable future

[Brads70]

I heard that..... that sucks! Lots of history gone. 

[1970Cuda]

Irwindale has been on the chopping block to be closed for a long time. I think it was a combo of noise complaints from neighbors and also the demand for real estate.

As for Bandimere closing, that was mostly because of noise complaints, as the neighborhoods started to encroach on the raceway. I grew up with that raceway right at my doorstep (in Morrison), and it was great. I have heard that the family is trying to find another location, so let's hope that they can.   

[dvs cycles]

Second closing for me. In the 70's we had a drag strip there that I went to the final race at. It made way for a Miller plant.
It closed and IR raceways was back.

[Gross Polluter]

It's an unfortunate but familiar story, especially in CA.  A combination of development pressure, property value, cultural changes, noise complaints, etc.

A dirt oval track near me in Petaluma is on life support.  There was a strong community show of support a few years ago when the City tried to close it down and fortunately they backed away, but there's no long term commitment to protect it.  For now, I'm taking my son to every sprint car race they run for as long as it lasts!  The grandstands are packed every time. 

[tparker]

Yup, we just lost our racetrack in Sacramento, Ca. Apparently Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) in Sonoma, Ca is going strong, but not focusing on local drags anymore. So it is effectively closed. I think there maybe one or two in the general area.

[70_440-6Cuda]

Wow, didn't know about Sacramento Raceway!  I used to run there with my '40 Ford at the high school drags back in the day

But if I were going to get $10M for the land, I would be tempted to sell also!

[dvs cycles]

In the 70's we spent a lot of time at Riverside Raceway watching Richard Petty race. It is now all houses.

[Gross Polluter]

Yup, we just lost our racetrack in Sacramento, Ca. Apparently Infineon Raceway (Sears Point) in Sonoma, Ca is going strong, but not focusing on local drags anymore. So it is effectively closed. I think there maybe one or two in the general area.

I don't know much about drag strips aside from Infineon, but there are several dirt tracks in the wider region: Concord, Antioch, Petaluma, Stockton, Placerville, Marysville.