Fans, race drivers, bid a final farewell to ‘epic’ Irwindale Speedway

Southern California’s motor racing family bid a fond and bittersweet farewell to Irwindale Speedway on Saturday, Dec. 21, for the absolute final time.

The facility ended 25 years of racing with its Farewell Extravaganza program, featuring 14 divisions, racing on its half-mile and third-mile ovals. It finished with a massive fireworks show.

The facility is scheduled to be razed with the property becoming an industrial park.

From racers to fans, Saturday truly was a family reunion.

Trevor Huddleston of Agoura Hills, a multi-track champion and the track’s winningest driver, drove his father, track president Tim, around the speedway with a pair of hot laps one last time.

They finished with a burnout that burned out the clutch. Friends who only know each other from attending the Saturday night events at Irwindale met one last time. Parents brought their children for one final night of racing.

“I’ve spent 25 years; more than half of my life here,” said Trevor Huddleston, who came to the track for the first time when he was 3 years old. “This place is epic; no doubt about it. It’s crazy. I learned from everybody here. Everybody helped me piece by piece and no one here is selfish.”

Fans Marty Hagbery of Charter Oak and Lynn Carson of Pasadena did not know each other until 1999. They began attending the weekly racing shows, their families first meeting at a gathering at a small plaza they dubbed “Gilligan’s Island” on the property. They then watched from the same place high in the 6,500-seat grandstand.

“We’re all just good friends,” Hagbery said. “It was nice because it’s so close, but it’s sad. It is hard.”

Racer Andrew Porter first came to Irwindale when he was 6 to watch his grandfather, Kenny Smith, race. His father, Scott Porter, began racing and Andrew, now 34, started running in the kid’s division when he was 13. He eventually won the track’s divisional title.

“What is really sad is that it is going away,” Andrew Porter of Hesperia said. “It’s sad that I won’t be able to have my two kids race here with me.”

The longest line Saturday was for souvenirs. It took people more than a half hour to buy swag.

“We began coming here when my kids were little and now they drive here on their own,” said Tomas Duran of Whittier, who was buying hoodies and T-shirts for his kids. “We’re a car family. We came here several times a year. This is terrible.”

The one-eighth-mile Irwindale Dragstrip, which opened in 2001, closed on Dec. 5 with more than 5,000 in attendance.

Ray Wilkings, who had been the general manager at the then recently closed Saugus Speedway, thought the former landfill near the 210 and 605 freeways would be a good place for a race track.

Jim Williams, who worked hand-in-hand with Roger Penske in building IndyCars, 1985 Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan and a group of other investors spent roughly $10 million in the late 1990s building the twin ovals on the 63.5-acre property.

The track quickly stepped into the big leagues of motor racing, drawing raves from promotors, drivers and fans alike.

Unlike many short tracks at the time, it was considered pristine with a fully paved pit area, numerous clean bathrooms and suites that could be rented for an event or for the entire season.

“This track is 25 years old and it still looks brand new,” Trevor Huddleston said.

Many in the industry quickly called it the best short track in America. The graduated bankings of up to 12% on the half-mile oval have led to numerous passing lanes with exciting finishes.

“That’s what makes this place epic.” Trevor Huddleston said. “It’s the only place you can race five-wide.”

There was no racing in 2012 when Irwindale Speedway LLC went bankrupt and the property owners planned to turn it into an outlet mall. When that plan fizzled, Jim Cohan kept the racing going for five years and Tim Huddleston took over in 2018 after the track was scheduled to close again.

Some of America’s top race-car drivers have taken part in races. Before they became household NASCAR names, current Cup series champion Joey Logano, fellow Cup series champions Kurt and Kyle Busch and Cup series veteran Kasey Kahne all raced in regular-season events.

The Busch brothers first raced in 1999 in Legends cars with Kyle sneaking into the pits and into one of the cars before he turned 18 — at the time, youngsters were prohibited from entering the pit area.

Tony Stewart, who won three NASCAR Cup series championships, won the prestigious Turkey Night Grand Prix in 2000, saying “I came back because it gets me in a couple of real race cars for a change, and to be with real race fans, not the wannabe fans.”

Cole Custer, who won the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity series title, cut his teeth in Irwindale’s Late Model series when he was 15 in 2013. David Gilliland turned several Super Late Model seasons into an eventual Cup ride.

“I have so many memories here,” said Custer, who raced Saturday and will be racing in the Cup series next season. “I have more laps here than I can count.”

The Turkey Night Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious racing events for USAC midget cars, ran from 1999 until 2011. NASCAR held its All-Star Showdown for three years. The event matched the top drivers from the West and East series; the top short track touring series in NASACAR.

The sport of drifting made its American debut at Irwindale in 2003, drawing more than 10,000 for an exhibition event featuring Japanese drivers. That sprouted the American Formula Drift series, which has held had its final event of the season for the last 19 years at what is billed as the “House of Drift.”

The X Games made an appearance at the track with rally cars and motocross-style events. Motorcycle road racing and karts also have held sanctioned events.

“‘The House of Drift’ made our sport popular across America and the globe,” Formula Drift founder Jim Liaw said.

At first, some critics called the race track too dangerous and too fast. Three drivers died in the first three years, including a practice lap crash on the first night of racing on March 27, 1999. No one has died in a racing-related crash since 2001.

Perhaps the track’s biggest big-league appearance might be on the small screen between all those television shows: Commercials. Countless film companies have used the facility for advertising, thanks to its proximity to Hollywood and the friendly palm tree and San Gabriel Mountain views in the background.

Jay Leno, in his show “Jay Leno’s Garage” famously rolled a car while filming on the track in 2016.

Southern California always has been a hotbed for motor sports. More than 100 tracks have operated around the region for more than 100 years, nearly all closing; Orange Show in San Bernardino, Perris Auto Speedway in Perris and Ventura Raceway in Ventura have survived. Industry and Costa Mesa still have speedway cycle events.

It is no surprise that Irwindale Speedway is the fifth race track in the city of Irwindale — the second oval — to close its doors. Three of those tracks all were within a mile of Irwindale Speedway, beginning in 1958.

The half-mile oval, Speedway 605, was the last to close, in 1977, 22 years before racing returned to the city.