The Irwindale Speedway & Event Center (a.k.a. ''Irwindale Speedway'', ''Irwindale Dragstrip'', or "The House of Drift") is a motorsports facility located in

Irwindale, California Irwindale is a city in the San Gabriel Valley, in Los Angeles County, California. The population was 1,422 at the 2010 census, down from 1,446 at the 2000 census. The ZIP Codes serving the area are 91010, which is shared with Duarte, 91702, w ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It opened on March 27, 1999 under the official name Irwindale Speedway.

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

purchased the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

to the facility in 2008, and from that time until 2011 it was also known as the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale. The speedway features banked, paved 1/2- and 1/3-mile oval tracks and a 1/8-mile drag strip. The property is primarily used for

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...

races such as

ARCA Menards Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racin ...

and

Whelen All-American Series The NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (formerly the Whelen All-American Series, Winston Racing Series and the Dodge Weekly Series) is a points championship for NASCAR sanctioned local short track motor racing around the United States and Ca ...

events. In late 2011, NASCAR announced it was dropping Toyota Speedway from its schedule. The company that managed the track, Irwindale Speedway LLC, filed

Chapter 7 bankruptcy Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...

on February 13, 2012. In January 2013, it was announced that the track would be re-opening as the Irwindale Event Center, and would operate as a

venue for the 2013 season. For the past decade, the

Formula D Formula Drift (also known as Formula D) is a United States-based motorsport drifting series. Formula Drift, Inc. was co-founded by Jim Liaw and Ryan Sage in 2003 as a sister company to Slipstream Global Marketing, the same partnership that int ...

Championship Series had featured sold out events at the venue. In 2015, plans were made to demolish Irwindale Speedway and build an

outlet mall An outlet store, factory outlet or factory shop is a brick and mortar or online store in which manufacturers sell their stock directly to the public. Traditionally, a factory outlet was a store attached to a factory or warehouse, sometimes allowin ...

on the site of the track. On August 9, 2017 it was officially announced that Jim Cohan, CEO of Team 211 Entertainment, who operated the track under the name of Irwindale Event Center, would cease operation. On December 29, 2017 it was announced that the track would not close in January 2018 as former Irwindale Late Model driver and track champion Tim Huddleston, along with K&N West team owner Bob Bruncatti, took over management of the speedway to have it remain open.

History

1999–2012

Construction began in March 1998 on Irwindale's 6,500 seat grandstand and 1/2 and 1/3 mile ovals. Irwindale Speedway hoped to fill the void left in the Los Angeles Basin left by the closures of the famed

Riverside International Raceway Riverside International Raceway (sometimes known as Riverside, RIR, or Riverside Raceway) was a motorsports race track and road course established in the Edgemont area of Riverside County, California, just east of the city limits of Rivers ...

, Ontario Motor Speedway and

Saugus Speedway Saugus Speedway is a 1/3 mile racetrack in Saugus, Santa Clarita, California on a site. The track hosted one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event in 1995, which was won by Ken Schrader. Schrader became the first NASCAR driver to win in a race i ...

. The $7-million project was completed March 1999 and held its inaugural races on March 27, 1999. This Race did not get off to a celebratory start. During practice shortly after 2pm an up and coming Oregon driver named Casey Diemert died of head and kneck injuries after hitting the wall and flipping his car from turn 3 to turn 4. Sadly, many didn't know of the death until reading the newspaper the next day as it wasn't even mentioned during the race. From 2003 to 2010, the main 1/2-mile oval hosted the NASCAR

Toyota All-Star Showdown The Sunrise Ford All-Star Showdown is a Super Late Model championship event at Irwindale Speedway, originally held from 2006-10 seasons as a non-championship NASCAR event for lower-level series, and since the 2020 motorsport season, revived by t ...

. In this event, the top 30 drivers in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the top 40 drivers in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series come from their respective regional tours to compete in a "best-of-the-best" race. The races were televised live on the

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as aut ...

. It was also the home of the

Turkey Night Grand Prix The Automotive Racing Products Turkey Night Grand Prix is an annual race of midget cars. It is the third oldest race in the United States behind the Indianapolis 500 and the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. It has been held on Thanksgiving nig ...

race, a

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden ...

midget car racing Midget cars, also speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small with a very high power-to-weight ratio and typically use four cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on mos ...

tradition in

southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

since 1934, when the race debuted at

Gilmore Stadium Gilmore Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Los Angeles, California. It was opened in May 1934 and demolished in 1952, when the land was used to build CBS Television City. The stadium held 18,000. It was located next to Gilmore Field. The st ...

. Among the 2005 participants were

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is ...

Jason Leffler Jason Charles Leffler (September 16, 1975 – June 12, 2013) was an American professional open-wheel and stock car racing driver. Leffler began racing in the open-wheel ranks, competing in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 before moving to primaril ...

, and

J. J. Yeley Christopher Beltram Hernandez "J. J." Yeley (born October 5, 1976) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 13 and 66 cars for MBM Motorsports and part-time in ...

. It was also seen in an episode of ''

Malcolm in the Middle ''Malcolm in the Middle'' is an American family television sitcom created by Linwood Boomer for Fox. The series premiered on January 9, 2000, and ended on May 14, 2006, after seven seasons and 151 episodes. The series follows a dysfunctional ...

'', titled "Stock Car Races", also used in the opening scene of the pilot episode of '' Fastlane'' and in Episode 25 of '' Fear Factor'' Season 3. In 2012, Irwindale Speedway LLC, the management group that ran the track, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on the same day track management canceled the 2012 racing season. In the paperwork filed at the United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District, it shows that Irwindale Speedway LLC owed creditors $331,773.11. The largest amount is $150,000 owed on a personal-injury claim. Irwindale Speedway LLC owed Nu-Way Industries Inc., the company that owns the property where the track and offices are built, $55,000 in rent. Irwindale Speedway LLC has two more outstanding personal injury claims with unknown values. There is also a debt of $8,093.51 owed to the city of Irwindale Police Department, $16,379.58 owed to the Golden State Water Company and $1,437.50 owed to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune for advertising.

2013–2017

In late 2012, Jim Cohan, who ran the LA Driving Experience at the track was able to secure funding to re-open the speedway under his management. In September 2013, the property housing the Irwindale Event Center was purchased by Irwindale Outlet Partners, LLC for $22 million. The lease for the Irwindale Event Center continued on a year-by-year basis. In March 2015, plans were made to demolish Irwindale Speedway and replace it with Irwindale Outlet Center, an

, but the closure has been delayed. The track is currently running the 2017 season. On August 9th, 2017, Cohan made an announcement in an e-mailed statement saying that the track was closing down officially in January 2018.

2018–present

On December 29, 2017, it was announced that the track would not close in January 2018 as former Irwindale Late Model racer and track champion Tim Huddleston took over management of the speedway to have it remain open. In February 2020 Irwindale's famous All-Star Showdown returned to the track following a ten-year hiatus. The track remained open without spectators during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

founding its own streaming servic
IrwindaleSpeedway.tv
operated by Low Budget TV. In June 2021 fans returned to the track.

Drag strip

The 1/8-mile

drag racing Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, most c ...

strip opened on September 29, 2001. In 2003, in cooperation with local law enforcement, Irwindale Speedway opened its own dragstrip and hosts legal drag races for street-legal cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The dragstrip is proud to extinguish the "nowhere else to go" excuse used by illegal street racers, and local police often hand out flyers to offenders for free entry into drag races at the dragstrip to promote safe racing and has re-opened.

The House of Drift

The venue is also known for drifting events; when it hosted D1 Grand Prix's first overseas event in , with a sell-out crowd attendance of 10,000, it had surpassed all other events Irwindale hosted in the past, the previous being 8,700. Since then, it has become the series regular opening round in February and a non championship event in December and has also hosted a round of the domestic series,

. The venue has been expanded to accommodate 15,000 spectators. The circuit is regarded as one of the most popular courses for crowds and drivers despite the unforgiving concrete wall which drivers usually brush through with their rear bumpers. Because of its popularity, the circuit is nicknamed the ''House of Drift''.

Record

The 2003 '' Guinness Book of World Records'' lists the fastest-ever top speed of a

radio-controlled car 'Radio-controlled cars'' (or RC cars for short) are miniature model cars, vans, buses, trucks or buggies that can be controlled from a distance using a specialized transmitter or remote. The term "RC" has been used to mean both "remote controll ...

as 111 mph (178.63 km/h) set by

Cliff Lett Clifton Bradley Lett (born September 18, 1957) is an American retired radio-controlled racer and former president of Associated Electrics, where he began his R/C career in 1985. A former motorcross mechanic for Yamaha (particularly for Ricky Jo ...

Associated Electrics Associated Electrics, Incorporated of Lake Forest, California is one of the world's leading manufacturers of radio controlled cars, trucks and accessories. Associated Electrics is now owned by Thunder Tiger Corporation from Taiwan. The company is ...

. Lett, a Team Associated professional driver and one of the designers and developers of the aforementioned RC10, set the record with a heavily modified Associated RC10L3

touring car Touring car and tourer are both terms for open cars (i.e. cars without a fixed roof). "Touring car" is a style of open car built in the United States which seats four or more people. The style was popular from the early 1900s to the 1930s. Th ...

at Irwindale Speedway on January 13, 2001.

References

External links

* {{NASCAR Elite Division Southwest racetracks Motorsport venues in California NASCAR tracks Sports venues in Los Angeles County, California Irwindale, California NHRA Division 7 drag racing venues Sports venues completed in 1999 1999 establishments in California