One of Southern California's premier racing facilities is shutting down, leaving the LA area without a short-oval racetrack – and taking with it all its adjoining facilities.
Irwindale Speedway opened in 1999 in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, and has since hosted various NASCAR, NHRA, Formula Drift, and other events. But it's been mired by financial difficulty throughout its history.
With naming-rights sponsorship from a major automaker, the facility – including a half-mile banked oval and a 1/8-mile drag strip – was known as the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale from 2008 through 2011. But once that money ran dry, Irwindale Speedway LLC declared bankruptcy in 2012. It reopened in 2013 as the Irwindale Event Center, but two years later, it was set to be demolished and turned into an outlet mall. A decline in the retail market put those plans on hold, but now it seems that its doors will be shut nonetheless.
“We were notified this week that January 31, 2018 will be our final day on the Irwindale property,” said Jim Cohan, CEO of Team 211 Entertainment that operates the facility. “Everyone should know that we’ll continue to operate Irwindale Event Center right up to our finals weeks, as we’ve been doing for the past five years: providing great family motorsports and related entertainment in the most professional way possible.”
“Our full 2017 schedule of NASCAR, Drag Strip, LA Racing Experience events, and special events will run as published,” said Cohan in the statement conveyed by Motorsport.com. “In fact, we’re planning on adding a couple of extra events to the calendar to honor all of the competitors who raced and wrenched here at Irwindale since it opened in 1999.”
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