Irwindale Speedway is like the mythical phoenix – it keeps rising from the dead. The track, which includes a 1/3-mile oval, 1/2-mile oval and 1/8-mile dragstrip on the grounds, was scheduled to shutter on January 31, 2018, but those plans are no longer in play and it should have at least two more seasons of operation.
A new lease was signed Dec. 28 between the property owners and a new management group that includes Agoura Hills racer Tim Huddleston and his Justice Brothers distributorship, using the name Group of Motorsports Enthusiasts. The track had been scheduled for demolition and was to be turned into an outlet mall. With the current retail atmosphere, that ideology is taking a pause.
Team 211 Entertainment, the operators of the 63-acre motorsports and entertainment facility, were told in July of 2017 that their lease wouldn’t be renewed and that all activities would cease as of Jan. 31, 2018. Three months after that announcement, the owners’ plans for the property changed and the group was offered a new one-year contract extension.
It was at that time that 211’s president and CEO Jim Cohan realized he needed to act quickly even though 211 had other new business plans in place for the coming year. “Being presented with the right of first refusal, we quickly reached out to Huddleston’s group, helping to negotiate a deal that would assure both a smooth transition and continued operations of the track. It was just the right thing to do,” Cohan explained.
Team 211 Entertainment rescued this Southern California track when its initial operators closed the facility following a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing in February of 2012; Irwindale opened in 1999. The track has been used for NASCAR-sanctioned stock car races and Thursday night drag racing as well as NHRA-sanctioned events. Irwindale Event Center has operated the L.A. Racing Experience and the track is busy providing a venue for automobile commercials.
Mostly Irwindale Speedway has been known as the House of Drift, having been the first US entity to hold a points-paying drift competition. Formula Drift has held its season finale at Irwindale since its inception, drawing sellout crowds every year. The track also hosted X Games RallyCross several years ago.
Team 211’s tenure at Irwindale will close with a “Night of Destruction” on January 31, the original “closing date.” Cohan said the planned event will go on with “the biggest fireworks show in Irwindale Speedway history.”
Further details for Group of Motorsports Enthusiasts’ plans for the circuit will be announced when available.
I don’t remember the year but I’m sure it was in the late 70’s or early 80’s that I was at Irwindale to see the last 1/4 mile drag races before they closed the strip! I got to see two jet cars run three races that day, the Vick’s Formula 44 car and the Green Mamba jet car. They toyed with each other during the day letting each other win one race each, then the last race of the night the Green Mamba lit the afterburners and won with something like, if I remember right, a 5 second run at 305 mph!!
I don,t want to see ANY race track close! I remember when Souflk Raceway closed in southern Virginia, I hade to drive all the way to Richmond and Maryland just to find a dragstrip to race at! From 30 min. of driving to 4 hr. of driving…one way!
Glad to see one of the finest short tracks in America open back up.
I raced a ’62 Olds Cutlass and my ’67 Camaro at Irwindale on the old 1/4 mile track in ’68-69 when Lions shut down. Brings back memories.
Glad see this track got a new lease on life to too many tracks have been getting demolished for town houses and shopping malls and the worst of all are the one that just get shutdown because some bunch of NIMBY’s don’t like them because they are loud despite the fact they have been their for scores of years. The same is also true of shooting ranges. My home Drag Strip and Skeet & Trap club went silent and now are rotting away because of NIMBY’s and Anal Opening that posed as Eco-Warriors who in reality just did not like Drag-Racing or Gun
Used to go out and watch the speedway bikes on Saturday Night. Sat down close with So Cal MC Club. Great fun