Best Road Trips for Race Fans: Sunny Southern California
Cameron Aubernon
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As summer approaches (faster in some places than others), we get ready to hit the road again in our series on Road Trips for People Who Love Racing, this time to Sunny Southern California which is home to some of the most famous tracks in the country -- from drag to dirt to circle track, if you love racing, So Cal is THE place to visit.
And if you've been to any of these tracks, which is YOUR favorite?
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Located on its namesake road in Kern County, California, Famoso was originally Poso Auxiliary Field, a training base for the U.S. Army Air Corps (the predecessor to today’s U.S. Air Force) during World War II. Following the Army’s abandonment of the base, a group of Bakersfield drag racers repurposed the western part of the base to create the quarter-mile that also established the legitimacy of the National Hot Rod Association in 1959. Nostalgia drags, including the NHRA Museum’s California Hot Rod Reunion, dominate this legendary venue today.
The flagship road course of the SCCA’s California Sports Car Club, this young track first opened to the public in 1995. Buttonwillow currently boasts three separate configurations: the 1.86-mile West Loop, the 1.06-mile East Loop, and the combined 3.1-mile circuit. A second, 2.92-mile road course is nearing completion as of this writing, and is expected to open later in 2024.
Kern County’s own Kevin Harvick received the highest honor in his native Bakersfield last year when, as a retirement-from-racing gift, the track formerly known as Kern County Raceway Park was renamed Kevin Harvick’s Kern County. Built in 2013 as the replacement for Mesa Marin Raceway, there are two ovals, one a paved half-mile, the other a third-mile clay oval. Each oval, in turn, features smaller ovals for lower-power cars like Legends and bandoleros.
The oldest permanent road course in the United States, the 2.5-mile road course first opened in 1953. NASCAR visited this California road course a handful of times between 1955 and 1986, including two NASCAR Cup and one NASCAR Southwest Series events. The road course is better known as the star of several films, including The Love Bug and Ford v Ferrari, as well as appearances in music videos, photoshoots, and more than a few video game titles, most recently “iRacing” in 2023.
There aren’t too many dirt ovals placed next to a beach, but Ventura Raceway in Ventura is the ultimate venue for fans of dirt and sand. Located at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, the fifth-mile clay oval hosts the third-oldest major racing event in the United States, the annual Turkey Night Grand Prix dirt midget car event, where NASCAR stars Christopher Bell and Kyle Larson have each garnered wins over the past few years.
A temporary track in the Los Angeles area is the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The multi-purpose open-air arena hosts a handful of motorized happenings on the calendar, most recently NASCAR’s Clash at the Coliseum, the pre-season opener for the organization’s premier NASCAR Cup Series. Most of the time, though, this is the place for concerts and University of Southern California Trojans football games.
Another temporary course in the Los Angeles area, the Long Beach Street Circuit is the longest-running street circuit in North America, first established in 1975 for a Formula 5000 event. Formula One took over from 1976 to 1983 before IndyCar arrived in 1984, bringing with it the likes of IMSA, Trans-Am, Stadium Super Trucks, and the famous Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race along for support over the decades since. The current configuration is nearly two miles in distance with 11 turns, including the tight hairpin turn just before the start/finish line.
Nearly a half-hour north of downtown Los Angeles is Irwindale Speedway, a half-mile banked oval with also a third-mile banked oval and a figure-eight configuration and an eighth-mile drag strip. “The House of Drift” hosts Formula Drift and D1 Grand Prix, as well as the ARCA Menards Series West, the CARS Tour West, and the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. Car shows, concerts, monster trucks, and the wildest figure-eight races – including cars pulling boats with the intent of destroying everyone else’s boats – fill-out the rest of Irwindale’s schedule.
Once a gravel parking lot, Pomona would go on to become one of NHRA’s legendary venues for its top drag racing series. The quarter-mile hosted its first NHRA Winternationals in 1961, and has hosted the NHRA Finals in addition since 1984, with 2020 being the only exception. Legends like John Force, Don Garlits, Shirley Muldowney, Kenny Bernstein and more have all made their mark in Pomona.
If you ever wanted to see history being made, this is the place for you. Modeled off of Michigan International Speedway, Auto Club Speedway was a two-mile oval that hosted NASCAR and IndyCar events from the day it opened in 1990 to the spring of 2023. As of this writing, the track is undergoing a major transformation, shrinking down from two miles to a half-mile paperclip oval in the vein of Martinsville Speedway with high-banked turns like those at Bristol Motor Speedway. The project is scheduled to be ready for racing in 2025.
Known as “The PAS,” Perris Auto Speedway first opened for business on March 30, 1996, where future NASCAR Cup star J.J. Yeley won an SCRA Sprint Car main event on the half-mile clay oval. USAC/CRA is a frequent visitor to the track, along with senior sprints, factory stocks, and the occasional “night of destruction” demo derbies, demo crosses and figure-eight races.
