Irwindale Speedway’s First NASCAR Event Under New Owners
The 2018 racing season roars back to the Irwindale Speedway.
Seeing short oval racing at the local track has long been a foundation of the automotive American dream. However, lately in California, we’ve been losing our tracks. However, one motorsport arena that beat the odds when all looked bleak is Irwindale Speedway.
Back in August of 2017, Irwindale announced they had to shut down, with January 31, 2018 as their final day of operations. All seemed lost. There were hopes for some sort of reprieve but as the months went on there was still no news. It seemed that Irwindale was going for good this time.
Jim Cohan, CEO of Team 211 Entertainment, said, “In all honesty, we were here and in it for the long haul, in fact we were in the process of putting out our complete schedule for the 2018 season. All that made this news very difficult for me to hear, and very hard on our whole team.”
However, on December 28, 2017, 211 Enterprises confirmed that a deal had been struck just minutes prior to the announcement during Thursday Night Thunder. “Literally 30 minutes ago, a deal was made to keep Irwindale Dragstrip and Irwindale Speedway open,” 211 Enterprises announced. Not long after that, phones, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram lit up like it was Christmas all over again. It was a holiday miracle three days late, but you take what you can get when it comes to race tracks staying open.
In March, the official first night of the NASCAR Whelan All-American Series 2018 season was certainly a night for celebration, despite the rain that threatened to crash the party. This also marked the first night as new owners for former racer Tim Huddleston, and the Justice Brothers.
The night’s racing activities began with NASCAR LKQ Pick-Your-Part Late Models, the first race of two. They were followed by the Inex Legends, NASCAR Sharky’s Spec Late Models, Super Stocks, Junior Late Models, the second LKQ Pick-Your-Part Late Models race, and the closing event would be the Irwindale Race Trucks. The Irwindale Race Trucks were interesting as they were nearly all built as second-generation Chevrolet S10 pickup bodies.
It was certainly an enjoyable night of racing. The LKQ Late Models were won by Lawless Alan in the Auto Parkit Chevrolet SS. Race Two was won by Blaine Perkins in the Vision Wheels/Four Star Fruits Chevrolet. Ryan Partridge took the victory Sharky’s Spec Late Models race in the Empire Destructive Chevrolet SS. Ryan would also go on to win in Irwindale Race Trucks. Finally, Darren Amidon took the win in the Inex Legend Cars race with a late race pass for the lead, staying up front to the checkered.
Irwindale features weekly Thursday Night Thunder drags on the eighth-mile drag strip. On April 7 there will be the second race of the 2018 NASCAR Whelan All-American Series. To check out the full schedule go to the Irwindale Speedway website. Hope to see you there!
