Best Road Trips for Race Fans: Northern California and the Pacific Northwest

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Sure, summer is unofficially over, but that doesn't mean that road trip season has ended. What better time of year to travel by car than late summer and early fall when leaves are turning, kids are in school, and the highway is yours to revel in. And what better road trip than an exploration of bucket list race tracks?
Come along with RacingJunk as we plan your getaway in this next installment of our series of enthusiast dream destinations. We swing all the way up to Northern California and the Pacific Northwest this time around. Amid the evergreens and towering mountains (and dormant volcanoes), there are plenty of spots where the thunder of horsepower echoes.

Our first four spots are all on the itinerary of the Redwood Rally, which makes a lap to and from Redding, California, hitting up drag strips in Eureka, California, Coos Bay, Oregon and Medford, Oregon along the way. The rally begins September 25th at Redding Motorsports Park.

Established in 1948 on the abandoned runways of Redding Municipal Airport as a place for local hot rodders to safely race their rides, the drag strip sought and was granted official sanctioning by the National Hot Rod Association in the 1950s, cementing Redding Motorsports Park as the oldest continuously operating NHRA drag racing facility in the United States. Redding hosts several large events throughout the year, including the week-long kool April Nites car show held in late April.

Along the Pacific coast in Eureka, California is Samoa Drag Strip on its namesake peninsula. The quarter-mile venue is also an NHRA-sanctioned facility, and is one of the oldest drag strips in Northern California, in operation since 1955. Samoa was the NHRA Pacific Division’s “Most Improved Track” for 2007.
Photo: Courtesy of Samoa Drag Strip Facebook

Head up Pacific Coast Highway 101 to Coos Bay Speedway between Coos Bay and Bandon, Oregon. The facility hosts everything from the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series on its 3/8-mile banked dirt oval to the NHRA King of the Track on its eighth-mile drag strip between April and October (a.k.a., the driest and sunniest times in the Pacific Northwest). Speaking of NASCAR, the ARCA Menards Series West visited Coos Bay Speedway in the Seventies (as the NASCAR Winston West Series).

The last stop on the Redwood Rally (before turning back to Redding) is Medford Dragstrip north of Medford, Oregon. Part of the Jackson County Sports Park, the quarter-mile dragstrip has been active since 1979, and is also sanctioned by the NHRA. The dragstrip is operated by the Medford Dragstrip Inc. non-profit organization, whose mission is to promote safe racing in the community by encouraging racers of all ages to take to the quarter-mile.
Credit : KOBI-TV

After the Redwood Rally ends, head back up all the way to Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon. Built on the former Vanport wartime public housing development (destroyed in a flood on Memorial Day of 1948, was never rebuilt), the road course is known for hosting IndyCar, Formula E, ARCA Menards Series West, IMSA, Trans-Am and NASCAR Xfinity Series. In 1986, IndyCar legends Mario and Michael Andretti crossed the finish line in what was then the closest finish of any in IndyCar’s history, Mario beating Michael by 0.070 seconds.

Credit: Wikimedia Commons - United States Geological Survey

Hop back onto I-5 North to the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington, then head over to Pacific Raceways. Though better known today for its presence on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule with its Northwest Nationals, the quarter-mile is surrounded by a 2.25-mile road course originally built in 1960, then rebuilt to its current configuration in 2002. The road course hosted the likes of the NASCAR Winston West Series (with legend Dale Earnhardt winning the 1985 event), Trans-Am, Formula 5000, and IndyCar under the United States Auto Club’s jurisdiction.

Credit: Pacific Raceways Facebook

Continue north to Monroe, Washington for the next stop on the tour, Evergreen Speedway. Dubbed “The Superspeedway of the West” by NASCAR legend David Pearson, the 5/8-mile paved oval is the only NASCAR-sanctioned oval in the state of Washington. It’s also a nesting doll, as within the big oval is a 3/8-mile paved oval, a 1/5-mile paved oval, an 1/8-mile dragstrip and the No. 2-ranked figure-eight track in the U.S. NASCAR’s Whelen All American Series runs there on a weekly basis, Formula Drift stops there every year, and the Granite Super Sprint Car Series has the short track on its calendar.

Finally, end your trip by heading east to Eagle, Idaho, the home of Firebird Raceway. Opened in 1968, not only is Firebird a long-standing NHRA member track, but it is also on the National Register of Historic Places, taking its place on the register in 2018 as the first drag strip to be included. The action remains as hot as its namesake today, from grudge matches to import drags and everything in between.

Credit: Firebird Raceway Facebook