Ocean Speedway
Ocean Speedway, July 10, 2015
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| Location | Watsonville, California |
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| Coordinates | 36°57′07″N 121°44′01″W / 36.95201°N 121.73348°WCoordinates: 36°57′07″N 121°44′01″W / 36.95201°N 121.73348°W |
| Opened | 1960 |
| Former names | Watsonville Speedway |
| Major events | Johnny Key Classic, Howard Kaeding Classic |
| Surface | Clay |
| Length | .25 mi (.402 km) |
| Lap record | 10.949 (Mark Kinser, Kinser Brothers, September 9th, 2000, World of Outlaws) |
Ocean Speedway, formerly known as Watsonville Speedway, is a dirt oval located in Watsonville, California, United States at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds.
The track was the brainchild of retired driver Bert Moreland and a small group of others in the winter of 1959. They came up with a plan to put a 1/4 mile race track in the infield of the existing 1/2 mile horse track. The first race took place May 27, 1960 and was won by Art Eaton. Figure 8 racing was introduced to the area at the speedway in 1964 and was popular with fans and drivers.Ray Elder was one of the most notable drivers to compete at Watsonville Speedway in its early days. The track then turned to stock cars, with those such as future NASCAR driver and Daytona 500 winner Ernie Irvan competing there in the '70s. In the '80s, the NASCAR Late Model Stock Cars were the feature division and were a part of the Winston Racing Series, where drivers could compete for National and Regional points. Another NASCAR legend, Bobby Allison, raced at the track once in 1983 in the Late Models. The Grand American Modifieds made their debut in 1990. Ken Schrader, Kenny Wallace, Geoff Bodine, Ernie Irvan and his father, Vic, ran a "Race of Champions" against each other in the Modifieds in 1999 while they were in the area for the NASCAR race in Sonoma. A year later, Mike Skinner, Sterling Marlin, Jimmy Spencer, Vic Irvan, and track sponsor John Prentice competed in the second edition of the event. Super Modifieds made sporadic appearances at the speedway in the 60s and 70s. Sprint Cars also made appearances at the track on a staggered basis with local series, including the Northern Auto Racing Club (NARC) and the Golden State Challenge/King of California series. The annual Trophy Cup was held once at the speedway in 2000.
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