California State Fairgrounds Race Track
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

California State Fairgrounds Race Track has been the name of two dirt oval racing tracks located in
Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
. The track was built in 1906 for
horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
on the site of the California Exposition. It was active for auto racing in 1907, 1912, and from 1946 until 1970. The Exposition moved to a new site north of Downtown Sacramento in 1968, and the old fairgrounds were closed and sold for development in 1970. The final day of the track was marred by tragedy when three drivers were killed in the 100-lap super-modified caged sprint car competition. From 1949 to 1970, the track hosted the Golden State 100, a round of the
AAA AAA, Triple A, or Triple-A is a three-letter initialism or abbreviation which may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming * AAA (video game industry) - a category of high budget video games *'' TripleA'', an open source wargame Mu ...
/ USAC
National Championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...
. The race was revived at the new Cal Expo site as a USAC Silver Crown race from 1989 until 2000. Motorcycle racing's Sacramento Mile continues to be held at the new California Exposition as part of the
AMA Grand National Championship American Flat Track is an American motorcycle racing series. The racing series, founded and sanctioned by the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) in 1954, originally encompassed five distinct forms of competitions including mile dirt track r ...
. A 2.1-mile (3.4-km) road course was laid out in the parking lots surrounding the oval, and used for
sports car racing Sports car racing is a form of motorsport road racing that uses sports cars with two seats and enclosed wheels. They may be either purpose-built Sports prototype, sports prototypes, which are the highest level in sports car racing; or grand to ...
between 1955 and 1969. It hosted a
SCCA National Sports Car Championship The SCCA National Sports Car Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Sports Car Club of America from 1951 until 1964. It was the first post-World War II sports car series organized in the United States. An amateur championship ...
round in 1955.


Golden State 100 winners

The race was revived in 1989 at the new Cal Expo mile track as a USAC Silver Crown event.


NASCAR races


NASCAR Cup Series

Several NASCAR Grand National Series (today's
NASCAR Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...
) races were held on the dirt oval.


NASCAR West Series

Several NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model Division/NASCAR Winston West Series (today's
ARCA Menards Series West The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series, NASCAR Winston Transcontinental Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series ow ...
) races were held on the dirt oval.


References

{{AAA tracks Motorsport venues in California Defunct motorsport venues in the United States Defunct horse racing venues in California