California Speedway
 
The infield at the speedway.
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| Location | 9300 Cherry Avenue Fontana, California 92335 |
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| Time zone | UTC−8 / −7 (DST) |
| Capacity | 122,000 (total) |
| Owner | International Speedway Corporation |
| Operator | International Speedway Corporation |
| Broke ground | 1995 |
| Opened | 1997 |
| Construction cost | US$100 million |
| Architect | Paxton Waters Architecture Penske Motorsports, Inc. |
| Former names | California Speedway (1997–2007) |
| Major events |
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| D-shaped oval | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 2.0 mi (3.22 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Banking | Turns: 14° Frontstretch: 11° Backstretch: 3° |
| Lap record | 241.428 miles per hour (Gil de Ferran, Penske Racing, October 28, 2000, CART) |
| Interior Test Circuit | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1.45 mi (2.3 km) |
| Turns | 13 |
| Sports Car Course | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 2.8 mi (4.5 km) |
| Turns | 21 |
| Motorcycle Course | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 2.36 mi (3.79 km) |
| Turns | 21 |
| Drag strip | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1/4 mi (0.40 km) |
| Website | www |
Auto Club Speedway, formerly California Speedway, is a two-mile (3 km), low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California which has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It is also used for open wheel racing events. The racetrack is located near the former locations of Ontario Motor Speedway and Riverside International Raceway. The track is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation and is the only track owned by ISC to have naming rights sold. The speedway is served by the nearby Interstate 10 and Interstate 15 freeways as well as a Metrolink station located behind the backstretch.
Construction of the track, on the site of the former Kaiser Steel Mill, began in 1995 and was completed in late 1996. The speedway has a grandstand capacity of 68,000 and 28 skyboxes and a total capacity of 122,000. In 2006, a fanzone was added behind the main grandstand. Lights were added to the speedway in 2004 with the addition of a second annual NASCAR weekend. Since 2011, the track has hosted only one NASCAR weekend.
IndyCar returned to the track in 2012 with its season finale race (a 500-mile night race); the series previously ran a 400-mile race from 2002 to 2005.
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.
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