Construction of the track, on the site of the former Kaiser Steel Mill, began in 1995 and was completed in late 1996. The speedway's main grandstand had a capacity of 68,000, additionally it featured 28 skyboxes and had a grand total capacity of 122,000. In 2006, a fanzone was added behind the main grandstand. Lights were added to the speedway in 2004 with the addition of a second annual NASCAR weekend. From 2011 to 2023, the track hosted only one NASCAR weekend each year.
In 2023, the track was closed for reconstruction as part of the Next Gen California project and demolition started in October 2023.
Track history
Early history and construction
On April 20, 1994, Roger Penske and Kaiser Steel announced the construction of a racetrack on the site of the abandoned Kaiser Steel Mill in Fontana, California. A day after the announcement, Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) announced it would hold an annual race at the speedway. Three months later NASCAR president Bill France Jr. agreed to sanction NASCAR Cup Series races at the speedway upon completion, marking the first time NASCAR made a commitment to run a race at a track that had yet to be built.[4] Community meetings were held to discuss issues related to the construction of the track and the local effects of events held. The local community largely supported construction of the speedway citing potentially increased land values and rejuvenation of the community. In April 1995, after having toured the sister track Michigan International Speedway, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the project.[5] The California Environmental Protection Agency gave Penske permission to begin construction after Kaiser agreed to pay US$6 million to remove hazardous waste from the site. Construction on the site began on November 22, 1995, with the demolition of the Kaiser Steel Mill.[4] The 100-foot (30 m) water tower, a landmark of the Kaiser property, was preserved in the center of the track to be used as a scoreboard. 3,000 cubic yards (2,300 m3) of contaminated dirt was removed and transported to a toxic waste landfill. To prevent remaining impurities from rising to the surface, a cap of non-porous polyethylene was put down and covered with 2 feet (0.61 m) of clean soil.[5] Construction of the track was completed in late 1996.[4]
On January 10, 1997, Marlboro Team Penske's driver Paul Tracy became the first driver to test on the new speedway. NASCAR held its first open test session on at the track from May 5–7. The official opening and ribbon cutting ceremony was held on June 20, 1997, with the first race, a NASCAR West Series race, being held the next day.[4]
Auto Club Speedway
The track was named the California Speedway from the time it was built through February 21, 2008, when the Automobile Club of Southern California purchased the naming rights in a 10-year deal; thus the track became Auto Club Speedway and has remained as of 2023, as the deal was renewed. The sponsorship was discontinued after March of 2023.
Expansion and additions
With early success following the opening of the track, the speedway began to expand reserved grandstand seating along the front stretch with an additional 15,777 seats. In May 1999, an additional 28 skyboxes were added to the top of the main grandstand. In 2001 the Auto Club Dragway, a 0.250 mi (0.402 km) dragstrip, was built outside of the backstretch of the main speedway. That same year, the infield of the speedway was reconfigured to hold a multipurpose road course. On April 24, 2003, The San Bernardino County Planning Commission approved the changing of the speedway's conditional use permit to allow the installation of lights around the track. Later that year NASCAR announced a second annual NASCAR Cup Series race at the track for the 2004 season, with the second race being run "under the lights".[6] NASCAR ran two weekends of racing annually until the 2011 season, when the track returned to a single annual race weekend.[7]
In 2006, the speedway's midway, located behind the main grandstand, was overhauled. The new midway, called the "Discover IE FanZone", included the addition of Apex (a Wolfgang Puck restaurant), additional shade and lounge areas, a retail store and an entertainment stage.[8]
In March 2014, the Las Vegas-based company Exotics Racing expanded to California by opening a new 1.2 mile road course at the Auto Club Speedway.
Configurations
Speedway oval
Sports car course
Motorcycle course
Interior test circuit
Overview of facility looking south
Attendance problems
Auto Club Speedway view from grandstand center
Upon the addition of a second NASCAR weekend at the track in 2004, attendance at the races dropped off dramatically, by as much as 20,000. With such a large attendance swing, drivers and media began to doubt if the track deserved two dates, even if the track was near Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest media market.[9] Weather also became a concern with either extremely hot days or with rain threatening the races. All of this factored into NASCAR's decision to remove a second race from the track with the realignment of the 2011 NASCAR schedule. Former track owner Roger Penske said the track may be located in a one-race market. Track president Gillian Zucker cited bad weather windows and fans having other entertainment options as reasons for the attendance decline.[10]
Effective in the 2014 racing season, the grandstand capacity was reduced from 92,000 to 68,000. This was accomplished by removing approximately 12,000 seats near turn 1 and installing a hospitality area and a digital display showing speeds along the straightaway.[11] In addition, seats were further reduced as a result of modifying average seat width from 18 inches to 23 inches. The capacity quoted does not include luxury boxes and infield seating, which when added up reaches a capacity of approximately 100,000.[12]
Name change
On February 21, 2008, the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC) became the title sponsor of the raceway, making Auto Club Speedway the track's official name. The naming rights deal was for ten years and is worth an estimated $50 to $75 million. In addition to naming rights, the ACSC was to have use of the facility for road tests for Westways magazine and other consumer tests. The money was used for capital improvements to the track.[3]
Main grandstand from pit road at Auto Club Speedway
During the 1999 Marlboro 500 CART race, Canadian driver Greg Moore died in a crash along the backstretch of the track. It was determined that after sliding along the infield grass, Moore's car hit the edge of oncoming pavement, which caused the car to flip into a concrete retaining wall. The incident prompted the track owners, ISC, to pave the backstretch of both Auto Club Speedway and its sister track Michigan International Speedway in an attempt to prevent a similar accident. Shortly after the crash, CART mandated the use of a head-and-neck restraint system on all ovals. The rule eventually became mandatory on all tracks.[16][17]
On April 5, 2002, Ricky Lundgren was killed in a qualifying session for a motorcycle race.[18]
On August 7, 2004, a police officer from San Diego, John Barr, died during an open track event after coming off his motorcycle.[19]
On June 2, 2005, two men died while participating in an event sponsored by the San Diego Chapter of the Ferrari Club of America.[20]
On October 15, 2010, a 24-year-old woman died while participating in a driving school at the track. The woman was driving a replica Indycar as part of the Mario Andretti Racing Experience when she lost control and hit the inside wall of the track.[21]
Planned reconstruction
On September 8, 2020, it was revealed that documents for the reconstruction of the facility as a half-mile high banked oval had been filed with San Bernardino County. As first reported by The Insider, the new short track layout would feature long straightaways like Martinsville Speedway and high banked turns like those featured at Bristol Motor Speedway. According to the published preliminary site plan, the new layout would fit inside the footprint of the current layout's trioval, and utilize much of the existing infrastructure such as the garages (which would be outside the new track), main grandstand and pit road suites (which would overlook the relocated backstretch). The work was scheduled to start after the 2021 Auto Club 400, and to be completed in time for the 2022 season.[22]
In December 2020, it was announced that the 2021 race weekend had been cancelled due to complications surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.[23] On February 27, 2022, Auto Club Speedway president Dave Allen announced on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio that plans to convert the speedway had been put on hold.[24] With the Busch Light Clash now being held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum beginning in 2022, there was now no official commitment from NASCAR to follow through with plans to convert the speedway. In early 2023, following the Busch Light Clash at The Coliseum, NASCAR chief operating officer Steve O'Donnell made mention that NASCAR was, "evaluating the market as a whole and what's the best place for us to race within the totality of 2024 and beyond."[25]
In 2023, the track was closed for reconstruction as part of the Next Gen California racing project. Demolition began in October 2023.[26]
Transportation
The Auto Club speedway was served by a special Metrolink station, opened only on race days.[27]
Cardenas Festival — The annual Cardenas Festival is held in the parking lot. This is a festival where all the companies that sell food at the Cardenas supermarket chain give out free samples of new or upcoming food. There are also performances from many artists.
Hard (music festival) was held in 2016, 2018, and 2019 in the midway and parking lot of the speedway.
Track length of paved oval
The original track length was disputed by CART and NASCAR that ran at Auto Club Speedway. The NASCAR timing and scoring previously used a length of exactly 2.000 miles (3.219 km).[28] The IRL timing and scoring also used a length of exactly 2.000 mi (3.219 km).[29] CART measured the track as 2.029 mi (3.265 km) and used this length for timing and scoring between 1997 and 2002.[30]
Track records
The closed-course practice and qualifying lap records Arie Luyendyk had set in the run-up to the 1996 Indy 500 at 239.260 mph (385.052 km/h) and 237.498 mph (382.216 km/h) respectively were improved by Maurício Gugelmin at the 1997 Marlboro 500. He was clocked at 242.333 mph (389.997 km/h) and 240.942 mph (387.759 km/h) respectively, based on a CART-recognized track length of 2.029 mi (3.265 km).[31]
After Juan Pablo Montoya had narrowly missed Gugelmin's practice record,[32]Gil de Ferran set a new one-lap qualifying record of 241.428 mph (388.541 km/h) at the 2000 Marlboro 500, a CART event.[33] As of August 2023, this is the fastest qualifying lap speed ever recorded at an official race meeting.[34]
The 2003 Toyota Indy 400 was the fastest circuit race ever in motorsport history, with an average speed of 207.151 mph (333.377 km/h) over 400 mi (640 km), based on an IndyCar-recognized track length of 2.000 mi (3.219 km),[35] topping the previous record average of 197.995 mph (318.642 km/h) over 507.25 miles (816.34 km) the 2002 CART race had produced.[36]
Race lap records
The fastest official race lap records at Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway) are listed as:
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