Mesa Marin Raceway was a paved oval

race track A race track (racetrack, racing track or racing circuit) is a facility built for racing of vehicles, athletes, or animals (e.g. horse racing or greyhound racing). A race track also may feature grandstands or concourses. Race tracks are also use ...

, located near the junction of CA 178 and CA 184 (Kern Canyon Road), east of

Bakersfield Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It opened in 1977 and was owned by Marion Collins throughout its existence. The Collins family helped start the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

(then-Craftsman SuperTruck Series) in 1995, and hosted nine races in that series at the track between 1995 and 2003. Mesa Marin also hosted 45 races for the Winston West Series and for NASCAR's Southwest Tour. The last race was held at Mesa Marin on October 16, 2005, as the track was sold for a housing development to be constructed on the site. Many of Mesa Marin's events were broadcast on television, including the 1995

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

race on ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' and the NCTS on

The Nashville Network The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, game shows, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows. On Septembe ...

and later

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. Local races were featured, as well as both the NASCAR West Series and Southwest Tour (sanction of that tour changed to SRL in 2007), on

Speed Channel Speed was an American sports-oriented cable and satellite television network that was owned by the Fox Sports Media Group division of 21st Century Fox. The network was dedicated to motorsports programming, including auto racing, as well as au ...

and

HDNet AXS TV is an American cable television channel. Majority-owned by Anthem Sports & Entertainment, it is devoted primarily to music-related programming (such as concert films, documentaries, and reality series involving musicians) and combat sport ...

. It ran NASCAR-sanctioned local racing, including the NASCAR Camping World Series West,

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapol ...

open-wheel racing, the NASCAR Southwest Tour, and other notable local racing. Nearly 4 million spectators attended Mesa Marin Raceway during the track's 28-year existence. Marion Collins announced on June 8, 2005 that he would sell Mesa Marin Raceway to a local developer when the city refused to renew the tracks conditional use permit, following noise complaints from people living around the racetrack in housing built after the racetrack was built. The developer was to build new houses on the site of the racetrack, similar to the fates of

Ontario Motor Speedway Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC (and now In ...

and Riverside International Raceway (now the city of

Moreno Valley Moreno Valley is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, and is part of the Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario metropolitan area. It is the second-largest city in Riverside County by population and one of the Inland Empire's p ...

). Collins stated that he and his family wanted to change routes after 28 years of owning the track. The last races were held at Mesa Marin on October 16, 2005, which included participation by NASCAR driver Kevin Harvick. The track was replaced by Kern County Raceway Park, located about 30 miles west of where Mesa Marin had stood. In 2011, the Bakersfield Park District opened Mesa Marin Sports Complex on the site where the raceway had stood. As of 2015 the complex includes four ASA/

USSSA The United States Specialty Sports Association (USSSA) is a volunteer, sports governing body and a nonprofit organization 3] based in Viera, Florida. Originally USSSA stood for United States Slowpitch Softball Association. However, in 1998, US ...

regulation

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

fields and is zoned for more facilities to be added at a later date.

Role in Craftsman Truck Series formation

Mesa Marin was critical to the formation of the

. The track was the site for design, construction and testing of the prototype NASCAR Craftsman Trucks. Gary Collins, son of track owner Marion Collins (and himself a former racer), led the team of designers and fabricators who built the first truck. The track hosted nine

events between 1995 and 2003, with

Dennis Setzer Dennis Setzer (born February 27, 1960) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He has driven in all three of NASCAR's top series, scoring eighteen wins in the Camping World Truck Series. Beginnings Setzer made his NASCAR debut in t ...

winning the final race at Mesa Marin, hosted on March 23, 2003.

References

External links

Kern County Raceway Park
NASCAR tracks Motorsport venues in California Defunct motorsport venues in the United States History of Bakersfield, California {{NASCAR-stub