Auto Club Speedway

Early history and construction

On April 20, 1994, Roger Penske and Kaiser announced the construction of a racetrack on the site of the abandoned Kaiser Steel mill in Fontana, CA. A day after the announcement CART announced it would hold an annual race at the speedway. Three months later NASCAR President Bill France, Jr. agreed to sanction Winston Cup Series races at the speedway upon completion, marking the first time NASCAR has made a commitment to run a race at a track that had yet to be built. Community meetings were held to discuss issues related to the construction of the track and the local effects of events held. The local community largely supported construction of the speedway citing potentially increased land values and rejuvenation of the community. In April 1995, after having toured the sister track Michigan International Speedway, the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the project. The California Environmental Protection Agency gave Penske permission to begin construction after Kaiser agreed to pay $6 million to remove hazardous waste from the site. Construction on the site began on November 22, 1995 with the demolition of the Kaiser Steel Mill. The 100-foot water tower, a landmark of the Kaiser property, was preserved in the center of the track to be used as a scoreboard. 3,000 cubic yards (2,300 m³) of contaminated dirt was removed and transported to a toxic waste landfill. To prevent remaining impurities from rising to the surface, a cap of non-porous polyethylene was put down and covered with 2 feet (0.61 m) of clean soil. Construction of the track was completed in late 1996.

On January 10, 1997 Marlboro Team Penske’s driver Paul Tracy became the first driver to test on the new speedway. NASCAR held its first open test session on at the track from May 5–7. The official opening and ribbon cutting ceremony was held on June 20, 1997 with the first race, a NASCAR West Series race, being held the next day.

California Speedway

The track was named the California Speedway from the time it was built through February 21, 2008 when the Southern California Automobile Club (Auto Club) purchased the naming rights in a 10-year deal. Thus creating Auto Club Speedway.

Expansion and additions

With early success following the opening of the track, the speedway began to expand reserved grandstand seating along the front stretch with an additional 15,777 seats. In May 1999, an additional 28 skyboxes were added to the top of the main grandstand. In 2001 the Auto Club Dragway, a 1/4 mile dragstrip, was built outside of the backstretch of the main speedway. That same year, the infield of the speedway was reconfigured to hold a multipurpose road course. On April 24, 2003 The San Bernardino County Planning Commission approved the changing of the speedway’s conditional use permit to allow the installation of lights around the track. Later that year NASCAR announced a second annual NASCAR Cup Series race at the track for the 2004 season, with the second race being run "under the lights". NASCAR ran two weekends of racing annually until the 2011 season, when the track returned to a single annual race weekend.

In 2006, the speedway's midway, located behind the main grandstand, was overhauled. The new midway, called Discover IE FanZone, includes the addition of Apex (a Wolfgang Puck restaurant), additional shade and lounge areas, a new retail store and an entertainment stage.

In March 2014, Las Vegas based company Exotics Racing expanded to California by opening a new 1.2 mile road course at the Auto Club Speedway.

Attendance problems

Upon the addition of a second NASCAR weekend at the track in 2004, attendance at the races dropped off dramatically, by as much as 20,000. With such a large attendance swing, drivers and media began to doubt if the track deserved two dates, even if the track was near Los Angeles, the nation's second-largest media market. Weather also became a concern with either extremely hot days or with rain threatening the races. All of this factored into NASCAR's decision to remove a second race from the track with the realignment of the 2011 NASCAR schedule. Former track owner Roger Penske said the track may be located in a one-race market. Track president Gillian Zucker cited bad weather windows and fans having other entertainment options as reasons for the attendance decline.

Effective in the 2014 racing season, the grandstand capacity was reduced from 92,000 to 68,000. This was accomplished by removing approximately 12,000 seats near Turn 1 and installing a hospitality area and a digital display showing speeds along the straightaway. In addition, seats were further reduced as a result of modifying average seat width from 18 inches to 23 inches. The capacity quoted does not include luxury boxes and infield seating, which when added up reaches a capacity of approximately 100,000.

Name change

On February 21, 2008, the Automobile Club of Southern California (ACSC) became the title sponsor of the raceway, making Auto Club Speedway the track's official name. The naming rights deal will last for ten years and is worth an estimated $50 to $75 million. In addition to naming rights, the ACSC will have use of the facility for road tests for Westways Magazine and other consumer tests. The money will be used for capital improvements to the track.

In pop culture

The facility is often used for filming television shows, commercials and films. In 2000, portions of Charlie's Angels were filmed at the speedway, and in 2005, portions of Herbie: Fully Loaded were filmed there. In 2007, The Bucket List saw Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman drive a vintage Shelby Mustang and Dodge Challenger around the 2-mile (3.2 km) speedway.

A parody of the track was used in the 2006 Pixar film Cars. It is the venue for the Piston Cup tiebreaker race between the movie's main character Lightning McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson), retiring veteran Strip "The King" Weathers (voiced by Richard Petty) and perennial runner-up Chick Hicks (voiced by Michael Keaton). The race is held at the Los Angeles International Speedway, which is a conglomeration of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Arroyo Seco in Pasadena where the Rose Bowl is located, as well as the Auto Club Speedway.

Fatalities

During the 1999 Marlboro 500 CART race, Canadian driver Greg Moore died in a crash along the backstretch of the track. It was determined that after sliding along the infield grass, Moore's car hit the edge of oncoming pavement, which caused the car to flip into a concrete retaining wall. The incident prompted the track owners, ISC, to pave the backstretch of both Auto Club Speedway and its sister track Michigan International Speedway in an attempt to prevent a similar accident. Shortly after the crash, CART mandated the use of a head-and-neck restraint system on all ovals. The rule eventually became mandatory on all tracks.

On April 5, 2002, Ricky Lundgren was killed in a qualifying session for a motorcycle race.

On August 7, 2004, a police officer from San Diego, John Barr, died during an open track event after coming off his motorcycle.

On June 2, 2005, two men died while participating in an event sponsored by the San Diego Chapter of the Ferrari Owners' Club.

On October 15, 2010, a 24-year-old woman died while participating in a driving school at the track. The woman was driving a replica Indycar as part of the Mario Andretti Racing Experience when she lost control and hit the inside wall of the track.

Current races

Former races

Other events

Track length of paved oval

The track length is disputed by CART and NASCAR that run at Auto Club Speedway. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of exactly 2.000 miles (3.219 km). The IRL timing and scoring use also a length of exactly 2 miles since their first race in 2002. CART measured the track as 2.029 miles (3.265 km) and used this length for timing and scoring between 1997 and 2002.

Track records

The closed-course practice and qualifying one-lap records Arie Luyendyk had set in the run-up to the 1996 Indy 500 at 239.260 mph (385.052 km/h) and 237.498 mph (382.216 km/h) respectively were improved by Maurício Gugelmin on September 27, 1997. He was clocked at 238.869 mph (384.422 km/h) and 237.498 mph (382.216 km/h) respectively.

After Juan Pablo Montoya had missed Gugelmin's unofficial record in practice, Gil de Ferran set a new official one-lap record at 237.977 mph (382.987 km/h) during CART qualifying on October 28, 2000. There is a discrepancy in average speed recognised because CART did use a slightly larger track length. Under CART measurements, the speed was listed as 241.428 miles per hour (388.541 km/h). As of March 2012, this is the fastest lap speed ever recorded at an official race meeting and the fastest ever lap on a closed racing circuit. The 2003 Indycar race was the fastest circuit race ever in motorsport history, with an average speed of 207.151 mph (333.377 km/h) over 400 miles (640 km), topping the previous record average of 195.165 mph (314.088 km/h) over 500 miles (800 km), which was set by the final CART race held in Fontana the preceding year (again, the time was adjusted to reflect the discrepancy between the CART's measured distance and the recognised distance).

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series stats

(As of 3/20/16)

* from minimum 5 starts.

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race winners

* – Race extended due to green-white-checker finish. ** – Race shortened due to rain.