Eagles Canyon Raceway is a

motor racing An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gene ...

track near

Decatur, Texas Decatur is the county seat of Wise County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,538 in 2020. History Wise County was established in 1856, and Taylorsville (in honor of Zachary Taylor) was made the county seat. Absalom Bishop, an early s ...

built to FIA specifications. The track is located northwest of

Fort Worth Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...

in eastern Wise County. The track was devised by David and Linda Cook, both with extensive backgrounds in motorsports, who set out to create a Formula 1-style race track in

North Texas North Texas is a term used primarily by residents of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex to refer to a geographic area of Texas, generally considered to include the area south of Oklahoma, east of Abilene, Texas, Abilene, west of Paris, Texas, Par ...

. They spent over two years locating the ideal land to recreate the feel of European countryside, eventually purchasing of prairie land near Decatur in January 2006. The rocky hills and valleys of the property give the track of total elevation change, as a bonus providing good viewing for spectators. Ground breaking on Eagles Canyon started in April 2006. In October 2006 a small plane crashed upon take off from the still under construction track. The track was designed by former racing driver

Rob Wilson Robert Owen Biggs Wilson (born 4 January 1965) is an English politician and political author. He was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for the Reading East parliamentary constituency in the 2005 general election, being re-elected in ...

and former Formula One team manager and commentator Peter Windsor, among others. Central Motorcycle Roadracing Association provided design input from a motorcyclist's perspective regarding curbs and the

pit lane Pitstop may refer to: * Pit stop Pitstop may refer to: * Pit stop, in motor racing, when the car stops in the pits for fuel and other consumables to be renewed or replenished * ''Pit Stop'' (1969 film), a movie directed by Jack Hill * ''Pit ...

. The original , 11-turn track opened in November 2007 after a $3.5 million investment. It is wide overall and on the front straight. The track has of elevation changes up and down, evoking the feel of

Sonoma Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway, Golden State International Raceway and Infineon Technologies, Infineon Raceway) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains of Sonoma County, Cal ...

and

Laguna Seca Laguna Seca Raceway (branded as WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, and previously Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for sponsorship reasons) is a paved Racing track#Motorsport, road racing track in central California used for both auto racing and Motorcyc ...

. The back straight and other straightaways terminate into hard braking zones ideal for passing. The track features sweepers, esses, switchbacks, carousels, and double apex turns. A shorter variant of only the east side of the track has 9 turns. Courses may be run either clockwise or counterclockwise. In June 2017 David Cook sold Eagles Canyon to Livio Galanti of Autodrome LLC, who quickly began renovating the track and facilities. Construction began in August 2018 to repave the bumpy track and update the layout of the main course. Four turns were added to the original track, renamed the "Italian Canyon", increasing its turn count to 15 and length to . The smaller track, "Canyon", retained the same shape. A proposed , 6-turn layout named "Little Italy" consisting of the track's west loop would be made possible by paving a new crossover; however, this remains incomplete. Eagles Canyon has an

off-road Off-roading is the act of driving or riding in a vehicle on unpaved surfaces such as sand, dirt, gravel, riverbeds, mud, snow, rocks, or other natural terrain. Off-roading ranges from casual drives with regular vehicles to competitive events w ...

course in the over of land next door. The facility also contains a clubhouse, classrooms, and garages for members. The track provides the local car and motorcycle community a safe place to drive or ride fast through its membership, performance driving days, and

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting Autocross, Rallycross, High Performance Driver Education, HPDE, Time trial, Time Trial, Road racing, Road Racing, Regularity rally, R ...

's Track Night in America. Racing series held here include

and

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

events,

24 Hours of Lemons The 24 Hours of Lemons, sometimes styled as "24 Hours of LeMons", "24 Hours of LeMONS", or "24 Hours of LEMONS", is a series of endurance races held on paved road race courses across the United States. The series holds the Guinness World Record ...

LATAM Challenge Series LATAM Challenge Series was an open-wheel racing series based in Latin America. LATAM was the replacement for Formula Renault 2000 de America. Venues In the 7 seasons, 20 venues were used, all road courses. The races were mostly held in Mexico u ...

, and CMRA series.

References

External links

* {{official website Buildings and structures in Wise County, Texas Motorsport venues in Texas