PIT STOP

Irwindale has been the butt of jokes since the San Gabriel Valley community dropped $20 million in hopes of getting Al Davis to move his Raiders to one of the city’s rock mining quarries a few years ago.

The city’s name became a synonym for futility.

“There will be no Irwindale here,” Los Angeles City Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas said when discussing his attempt to attract an NFL team to the Coliseum. “We won’t be taken. We’re too smart for that.”

An inference being, of course, that the folks in Irwindale weren’t too smart.

Attitudes may change with the opening Saturday of Irwindale Speedway, a $10-million motor racing facility that has been praised by the racing fraternity as the finest short-track facility in the country. And it didn’t cost taxpayers a penny.

Located on reclaimed quarry land where Live Oak Avenue meets the 605 Freeway--about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles--the speedway features a banked half-mile paved oval, with a third-mile oval inside the larger track.

“It’s fabulous, the best half-mile track I’ve ever seen, bar none,” said Parnelli Jones, 1963 Indianapolis 500 winner. “After we lost Ascot, and then Saugus, racing people in Southern California have been hoping for something like this.”

Jones will drive the pace car Saturday night.

More than 6,500 seats, including 12 corporate sky boxes reachable through twin elevators, present an imposing sight on the north side of the track. There are more than 3,000 lighted, paved parking spaces.

“Irwindale is the state of the art for tracks of that nature,” said Les Richter, the executive vice president for Penske Motorsports who oversaw construction of 85,000-seat California Speedway in Fontana. “Nobody else has ever built a track like that.”

Ray Wilkings, former Saugus Speedway promoter and now general manager of the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, is the driving force behind the Irwindale project. Construction started in March a year ago, but Wilkings, the chief operating officer, has been planning it since late 1994, even before the Saugus track was closed.

“Watching this place grow has given me a lot of personal satisfaction,” he said. “When the Saugus property owners unexpectedly told me to shut the speedway down in mid-season ‘95, it was a personal blow. We made the promise to be back with a regular weekly place for racers to compete in the L.A. area.

“I think we have more than kept our promise. Here’s that place. I’m sure it is the finest short track ever built.”

Opening night Saturday, which will spotlight USAC open-wheel midget and sprint cars and a new group, World of Super Modifieds, is sold out.

“We’re very excited to have the new speedway built in Irwindale,” City Manager Robert Griego said. “It is going to create a lot of opportunities to attract racing related businesses. We have a number of parcels that are appropriate for that kind of use.

“Irwindale Speedway followed the same scenario we had hoped for the Raiders--building a major league facility on a reclaimed quarry. The difference is that the speedway people did it.”

Irwindale occupies only 9 1/4 square miles and has a population of 1,060. Nearly 50% of the land is used for quarrying and 20% for the Santa Fe dam.

After opening night, there will be 35 weekends of Friday and Saturday night racing, starting April 2-3. Of the 35 racing weekends, at least 25 will be for NASCAR-sanctioned stock cars in six classes, three on Fridays, the other three on Saturdays.

The first Friday night program will include late models, super-stocks and mini-stocks. Saturday night’s program will showcase super-late models, Grand Am modifieds and street stocks, plus legends cars and MSRA Pro-4 modifieds.

“We expect a good number of dedicated stock car fans to be here over those two days to celebrate the return of the ‘door-slammers’ to the local racing scene,” Wilkings said. “We’re expecting more than 100 entries each night.”

Friday night races will start at 7:30, Saturday night’s at 7.

“We’re proud to have Irwindale join us as one of the tracks in our Winston Racing Series,” said Dennis Huth, NASCAR administrative vice president. “It has set a standard that will give other new tracks something to shoot for.”

Irwindale is one of nine tracks in NASCAR’s Pacific Coast Region. Others include Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield and Cajon Speedway in El Cajon.

Tickets for opening night were sold out two days after they were put on sale.

“After nearly five years of planning and designing, and almost a full year building this facility, it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to announce a sellout for our first racing event,” Wilkings said.

“The sellout is good news but there’s even better news. We’ve got 67 more nights of great racing for our inaugural season.”

Ticket prices are $15 for weekly shows, $5 for children 6-12 and free for kids 5 and under. Also scheduled are six concerts.

Most of the construction work was done by the same firms that built California Speedway for Penske Motorsports.

“We like to think of ourselves as a short-track superspeedway, said Jim Williams, a member of Irwindale’s board of directors and also a Penske Motorsports director.

“Irwindale Speedway will help the racing industry revive itself in Southern California because of the variety of cars that will race there in so many different events,” said Steve Lewis, publisher of Performance Racing Industry and one of the country’s prominent midget race car owners.

Lewis has entered one of his cars for Jason Leffler, two-time USAC midget champion from Long Beach.

“It is obviously a great thrill for USAC to be associated with a track like the new Irwindale Speedway,” said Tommy Hunt, USAC vice president for Western Operations. “This place is going to spoil a lot of drivers. And a lot of fans. They’ve raised the bar for short-track racing. And to have it in the L.A. market, that’s a big bonus.”

Wilkings, 46, has close to 30 years of racetrack experience. As a teenager, he helped his father, Marshall, run Saugus Speedway, where he became general manager in 1984 after graduating from Cal State Long Beach with a degree in industrial arts.

At Saugus, he was twice named West Coast promoter of the year, and in 1990 received the Racing Promoter Workshop’s Arpy award as national promoter of the year.

After Saugus closed in 1995, Wilkings joined Las Vegas Motor Speedway as vice president and general manager, overseeing construction of the 125,000-seat stadium and its first year of operation.

“I owe a great deal to [Las Vegas track operator] Richie Clyne for bringing me to Las Vegas, where I learned the business of building and running a major facility.” he said. “But I always said, my roots are in the short tracks, like Saugus, and now Irwindale.

“Irwindale gave us a unique opportunity. We got an outstanding location, super backers and a truly clean sheet of paper.”

The board of directors includes, besides Wilkings and Williams, Dennis Alieri, Victor Ciulla, William Close, Dennis Constanzo, Gene Olson, Robert Pernecky and former Indianapolis 500 winner Danny Sullivan.

Two driving schools will operate on the grounds.

Bobby Ore will teach how to drive stunt cars and cars involved in high-speed pursuit chases.

And the Evernham-Hawley Race Training Center for potential race drivers and crewmen will open April 29, with classes starting May 3. Ray Evernham is crew chief for Jeff Gordon’s Winston Cup championship car. Frank Hawley is a former National Hot Rod Assn. drag racing champion who also operates a drag racing school at the Pomona fairgrounds.

“Probably 95% of all oval track racing is conducted on tracks that are a half-mile or less,” Evernham said. “At Irwindale Speedway, we can deal with the kind of conditions most of our customers will encounter week in and week out.”

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Irwindale Speedway

KEY FACTS

* What: Irwindale Speedway, two paved and banked motor racing tracks, a half-mile and a third-mile.

* Where: Live Oak Avenue at 605 Freeway, just south of 210 Freeway, about 20 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

* When: Opening night Saturday, followed by 35 weeks of Friday night and Saturday night racing.

* Opening-night program: U.S. Auto Club MCI WorldCom Western midget car series, USAC Western sprint car series, and WSMRA World of Super Modifieds, all 30-lap main events.

* Time: Gates open 2 p.m.; opening ceremonies at 6; first race at 7. Note: Friday racing will start at 7:30.

* Seating: 6,500 grandstand seats, 12 corporate skybox suites.

* Ticket price: $15 for adults, $5 for kids 6-12; free for 5 and under. Opening night sold out.

* Parking: $5, with 3,000 paved and lighted spaces.

* Estimated cost: More than $10 million.

* Web site: www.irwindalespeedway.com