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The Pomona Raceway (known as In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip for commercial reasons, previously Auto Club Raceway at Pomona), is a racing facility located in
Pomona, California Pomona is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Pomona is located in the Pomona Valley, between the Inland Empire and the San Gabriel Valley. At the 2020 census, the city's population was 151,713. The main campus of California State Polyt ...
that features a quarter-mile
dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...
. Since its opening in 1961, the dragstrip has hosted the NHRA's Winternationals event – the traditional season opener – and since 1984, the season's last race, the NHRA Finals. These two events have contributed to its becoming perhaps one of the most famous dragstrips in North America. The facility has a seating capacity of 40,000 spectators, and it is one of the few dragstrips in the USA that is operated directly by the NHRA. This dragstrip has also gone by the nickname of The Fairplex, in reference to its location at the
Fairplex Fairplex has been the home of the L.A. County Fair since 1922. Known prior to 1984 as the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds, it is located in the city of Pomona, California. The L.A. County Fair is held during the month of May since 2022, but the fa ...
, formerly called the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds.


History


Drag Racing

In 1952, a car club known as the "Choppers of Pomona" aided by a young police officer, Sergeant Bud Coons, advocated that a safe place should be provided for local area drag racers. Coons, along with fellow
hot rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimised for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and made ...
enthusiast, Pomona Police Chief Ralph Parker, and the city government of Pomona asked to lease the parking lot of the LA County Fairgrounds. Coons and Parker were instrumental in convincing the county to allow the use of the fairgrounds for the race by citing statistics that indicated deaths among kids declined sharply when given a supervised place to race. The county finally agreed, as long as the hot rodders would provide their own insurance, which they were able to do with gate receipts. At the time the county made the agreement, the parking lot was nothing but a gravel lot. The coalition of hot rodders, police and community leaders raised funds through donations and paved the lot. This was the birth of the dragstrip in Pomona. Though it was not considered a national event by today's standards, the very first NHRA event, the Southern California Championships, was held at this dragstrip on an April weekend in 1953. On Saturday, attendance was at two or three thousand and attendance was reported to be at 15,000 on Sunday. Compared to the 3.9 second numbers (at the pros are putting on the board presently, the best ET of that day was a respectable 10.93. In 1961, NHRA held its first ever Winternationals at the Pomona Raceway. It became NHRA's second national event. The first NHRA national event was the U.S. Nationals, which was nicknamed the "Big-Go". Thus, the Winternationals got nicknamed the "Big-Go West". It has remained at this location ever since. For many years, this event was sponsored by Chief Auto Parts and later its successor
AutoZone AutoZone, Inc. is an American retailer of aftermarket automotive parts and accessories, the largest in the United States. Founded in 1979, AutoZone has over 6,400 stores across the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Brazil and the US Virgin Is ...
, but later was sponsored by CSK Automotive, and now its current successor,
O'Reilly Auto Parts O’Reilly Automotive, Inc. is an American auto parts retailer that provides automotive aftermarket parts, tools, supplies, equipment, and accessories to professional service providers and do-it-yourself customers. Founded in 1957 by the O’Reil ...
. 2008 saw
Top fuel Top Fuel is a type of drag racing whose dragsters are the quickest accelerating racing cars in the world and the fastest sanctioned category of drag racing, with the fastest competitors reaching speeds of and finishing the runs in 3.62 seconds ...
&
funny car Funny Car is a type of drag racing vehicle and a specific racing class in organized drag racing. Funny cars are characterized by having tilt-up fiberglass or carbon fiber automotive bodies over a custom-fabricated chassis, giving them an appea ...
races be reduced to the present 1000 feet. The season closer, the NHRA Finals, was brought to the facility in 1984 from the now defunct
Orange County International Raceway Orange County International Raceway was a combined -mile US dragstrip and 2-mile road course, plus a motocross track, located in Irvine, California adjacent to the Interstate 5 ( I-5) Santa Ana Freeway. Under a lease agreement with the Irvine Co ...
. When the event was first brought to Pomona, the event was sponsored by Winston (after NHRA's main title sponsor at the time, RJ Reynolds' "Winston" cigarette brand). From 2010-19, and again from 2021-22, the event was sponsored by the
Automobile Club of Southern California The Automobile Club of Southern California is the Southern California affiliate of the American Automobile Association (AAA) federation of motor clubs. The Auto Club was founded on December 13, 1900, in Los Angeles as one of the nation's first mot ...
, which is affiliated with AAA. The 2020 event was sponsored by
Stellantis Stellantis N.V. is a multinational automotive manufacturing corporation formed in 2021 on the basis of a 50–50 cross-border merger between the Italian-American conglomerate Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) and the French PSA Group. The comp ...
and
Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...
when it was held at
Las Vegas Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located in Clark County, Nevada in Las Vegas, Nevada about 15 miles northeast of the Las Vegas Strip, is a complex of multiple tracks for motorsports racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is ...
because Clark County, Nevada allowed spectators when California still banned mass gatherings because of the global pandemic. Beginning in 2023,
In-N-Out Burger In-N-Out Burger is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and the Southwest. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry (1913–1976) and Esther Snyder (1920–2006). The ...
will become naming rights sponsor for both the circuit and the NHRA Finals.


Other Racing

From 1934 to 1937 a mile dirt oval was located at the facility. The dirt oval was once again opened in the 1950s but closed in 1959. Pomona was also home to a 1.7 mile paved road course which operated in 1998 and 1999. From 1956 to 1961, a 2-mile temporary road course was located in the parking lot.


Winners


NHRA Winternationals

Note: In 2021 The race was postponed due to COVID-19 unit July 30th - Ang 1st 2021.


NHRA Finals

NOTE: The Finals has been held in the Southwest area from 1965-73, the Los Angeles metropolitan area from 1974-2019, and again since 2021, and Las Vegas in 2020.


References


External links

*
NHRA's Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auto Club Raceway At Pomona NHRA Division 7 drag racing venues Motorsport venues in California Sports venues in Los Angeles County, California Buildings and structures in Pomona, California Sports in Pomona, California