Irwindale Speedway was set to close and the speedway was going to be torn down
Not today!
The Los Angeles 1/2 mile race track has been saved once more. This time, it’s been saved by racers.
The Irwindale Event Center was originally scheduled to shut down on January 31, 2017. The property owners planned not to put the property up for another lease. Instead, they were going to demolish the race track and repurpose the property.
Instead, the property has been leased. It will remain a race track. The lease has been set at two years.
Tim Huddleston and his Justice Brothers distributorship have signed the lease. Formerly, Jim Cohan held the papers to the lease, he elected not to renew.
Tim Huddleston is a 3-time Irwindale Speedway track champion in the late model division. He’s a local racer who’s last championship at the speedway came in 2008.
Now, there’s a new generation of Huddleston circling the speedway. His son, Trevor Huddleston, has won the last 3 consecutive track championships at Irwindale Speedway.
“Good news is, suddenly, the track will not close on the 31st,” Doug Stokes, Irwindale Speedway VP to AutoWeek. “This is what we were hoping for. What happened, I can’t exactly say yet, but we don’t have to pick up and leave. We have a new leaseholder and the current landowners are not going to implement the plans they had for the property.”
Irwindale Speedway is a new-ish gem to the racing community. The track was constructed in 1999. It features a 1/2 mile progressive banked oval. In addition, the infield of the track features a 1/3 mile track.
The track features a multi-purpose configuration. Figure 8 racing and drifting competitions are often held at the California facility.
A 2018 schedule from Irwindale Speedway and an official PR announcement of the new lease is pending.
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Related: Irwindale Speedway announces closure for 2018 (August 2017)
Related: Irwindale Speedway redevelopment project (2012)
