Irwindale, Kern County tracks coming back

Two paved circle tracks in Southern California should be up and racing by spring, good lord willing and the creek don't rise. The two facilities plan to cooperate in order to maximize the chances of success.

Irwindale Speedway, now officially to be referred to as The Irwindale Event Center, had no races on its oval tracks in 2012 after the former track operators filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in February. New operators 211 Entertainment Company were granted a full operational lease on Dec. 14 by property owners Nu-Way Industries. Irwindale, already one of the shiniest circle tracks of its size in the country, is all set, physically, to hold races again. Grandstands, garages, parking lots, lights and everything you need to race on the track's half- and third-mile circuits is still in place from the last time cars roared around the ovals in November 2011. Other things like fans, sponsors and racers are being lined up by the staff now.

Exactly which classes will run is one of the things being sorted out, but expect Late and Super Late model stock cars in addition to other classes "to be determined." The Late Models and Super Late Models will not run every Saturday night, as they had in the past. But there will be some kind of racing or entertainment at Irwindale every Saturday, including events at the facility's 1/8-mile drag strip, which never stopped featuring racing.

Irwindale stock cars will likely alternate Saturday nights with the other soon-to-be-opened half-mile paved oval in Southern California, Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield. Work originally got underway on the all-new Kern County Raceway Park's half-mile D-shaped paved oval in 2006, but the project foundered amid the housing bust. The unfinished track sat dormant for three years from 2007 to 2010 until a new set of investors took over. Now work is nearly finished on the 500-acre facility. The track is paved, and some cars have done test laps on it and the four-story hospitality tower will be done soon.

The two facilities had the good sense to realize they were competing for the same racers, fans and sponsors and so they met to see what they could work out. That's where the alternate Saturdays idea came from.

“Our talks also included ideas for co-promotion and cross-promotions of special attractions and events, publishing a unified set of competition rules and classes, as well as considering the idea of establishing a highly trained stock car racing tech inspection team that would serve both tracks,” said Jim Cohan, president and CEO of Irwindale's Team 211 Entertainment. “…with the sort of teams that we have in place, and the sort of support we've been offered from our fans, sponsors, racers, suppliers, and even the sanctioning bodies, we know that we're teamed up and embarking on an exciting new era in motorsports entertainment. We want to invite everyone to come and join us."

While specifics are still to be announced, look for an early April or even late March opening date. Watch this space.

By Mark Vaughn