Chuckwalla Valley Raceway (often referred to simply as Chuckwalla) is a motorsports

road course Road racing is a North American term to describe motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held on a closed circuit—generally, a purpose-built racing facility—or on a street circuit that uses temporarily closed publi ...

located in Desert Center near

Joshua Tree National Park Joshua Tree National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, US National Park located in southeastern California, straddling north-central Riverside County, California, Riverside County and part of southern San Bernardino County, ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

that first opened in 2010. The track is a paved surface in length consisting of 17 turns. It is run in both clockwise and counter-clockwise configurations and the track contains numerous elevation changes.

History

The 1,000 acre dry-lakebed property was formerly part of a training ground for General

George Patton George Smith Patton Jr. (11 November 1885 – 21 December 1945) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Seventh Army in the Mediterranean Theater of World War II, then the Third Army in France and Germany after the Alli ...

's soldiers during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The track resides on the former main air supply depot. The transcontinental radio beacon tower still remains. After the war, the property was used as farmland and there were plans to convert the land into a waterskiing and wakeboarding facility with waterfront real estate however those plans were eliminated during the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of market decline in economies around the world that occurred from late 2007 to mid-2009.

. It was subsequently turned into a road course which opened in 2010.https://www.motortrend.com/news/chuckwalla-valley-raceway-history-about-info/

References

External links

* Sports venues in Riverside County, California Motorsport venues in California Road courses in the United States Sports Car Club of America 2010 establishments in California Sports venues completed in 2010 Desert Center, California {{Autoracing-venue-stub