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February 12, 2012 at
11:29:34 AM by ljennings
Irwindale Speedway appears to be closing track
By Keith Lair Staff Writer - LA Daily News
Irwindale Speedway, considered by many to host the finest short track racing in the nation, appears to be history.
On Saturday, workers appeared to be closing down the facility, which has had the biggest NASCAR short track races on the West Coast for more than a decade.
Workers were dismantling the pit grandstand, which is adjacent to the first turn. They were also taking apart storage areas. The large billboard bordering the San Gabriel Valley River Freeway was not lit up for the first time in its history, barring power outages, and the track's web site was taken off the Internet.
"They went out of business," said a prominent Irwindale racer who did not want to be identified.
Vice president and general manager Bob DeFazio and some staff members were in the locked administration building Saturday morning, a moving truck backed up to the office's side entrance and a moving box stacked outside. DeFazio, through track operations director Bob Klein, refused to comment. Klein would only say an announcement would be made Monday.
Efforts to reach DeFazio were unsuccessful.
The track's eighth-mile facility remained intact on Saturday, but according to a source, workers were given a final paycheck after last Thursday's regular street legal session. The elimination of the pit grandstand is significant because teams usually put their crews in those seats so that if there is a problem on the track, they could quickly get to their pit stall and fix the car and get it racing again.
L.A. Racing, a school not owned by Irwindale Speedway LLC, the consortium of owners led by Jim Williams, has 12 schools planned within the next month.
"They have not said a word," L.A. Racing's Ozzie Blackwell said. "We have no idea. We're assuming it's a go. We've been told it's a go."
The regular season, featuring the track's point-scoring divisions, has typically started the last weekend in March, although it has started as early as March 11.
DeFazio indicated two weeks ago that a schedule would be released shortly.
"A month before the season and no schedule, there is no way cars get ready at this point," three-time track champion Nick Joanides said.
"It's devastating that such a nice facility over there won't be used. It amazes me."
If only the racing operation is closed, the track could still be used for filming commercials, movies and television shows, an endeavor that has been very successful. Many racing commercials, with the likes of 1969 Indianapolis 500 champion and 1978 Formula One champion Mario Andretti and three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Tony Stewart, have been shot at the facility. Recently a Hyundai commercial viewed during the Super Bowl was shot. That shoot took three nights.
But for as much success as the track has enjoyed in film and on the drag strip, its claim to fame has been its racing.
Opened in 1999 amid much fanfare, it featured a state-of-the-art track surface which cost several million dollars. Track CEO Williams, a former owner of Golden States Foods which supplies food to McDonald's and a pal and car builder for Roger Penske-driven IndyCars, said at the time that he wanted to rival the draw of the Dodgers.
NASCAR Hall of Famer Darrell Waltrip, in a visit to the track, called the facility the finest short track in America.
It gained national attention when Stewart won the 2000 Turkey Night Grand Prix and then even more praise when NASCAR bestowed its tour racing Grand National series all-star event, the Toyota All-Star Showdown to the track.
But it all came unraveling last season. Car counts were down significantly, nearly every division having the fewest racers since the track opened. More important, attendance was down. There were roughly only 900 people in the stands for a May 14 Saturday race.
Attendance over the past two seasons has gradually dwindled since the heydays of the early 2000 s. The track does not release attendance numbers, but an average of about 2,700 people attended 28 races last year.
The track averaged more than 5,000 attendees in a 6,500-seat stadium for four consecutive seasons, starting in 2001.
But there were other issues, too.
"They need a different vision for the place," Joanides said. "Racers have not been happy for last several years."
There was squabbling early in the 2011 season about Super Stock rules and their enforcement, which led to several racers calling it quits as track officials seemed to change the rules every other week.
NASCAR, which had found the Showdown wildly successful, yanked the event off its schedule when it could not reach an extension agreement with Toyota. The track then canceled its two final racing events of the season, drawing more wrath, and then let competition director Lester Boyer go.
The Southern California Toyota Dealers Association, which took on the track's naming rights in 2008, chose to not renew its multi-million dollar contract. The final dagger was when the track canceled its annual lavish postseason champion's banquet.
Rumors have swirled for months about new ownership. Lucas Oil Products and Stewart, who owns tracks including famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, were rumored to be interested in buying the facility.
The Orange Show Speedway had previously announced it was closing, leaving the closest pavement racing in Las Vegas. Perris Auto Speedway and Ventura Speedway are still planning on operating schedules.
The USAC Turkey Night Grand Prix, the NASCAR K&N Pro West series and Lucas Oil Modifieds had recently posted their schedules indicating racing would be at Irwindale this season.
The speedway signed a long-term lease when it began building on the property.
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