Sacramento Raceway Park (SRP), commonly shortened to Sacramento Raceway or Sac Raceway, was a

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

s track on near

Rancho Cordova, California Rancho Cordova is a city in Sacramento County, California, United States. Incorporated in 2003, it is part of the Sacramento Metropolitan Area. The population was 79,332 at the 2020 census. In 2010 and 2019, Rancho Cordova received the All-Ame ...

and the former

Mather Air Force Base Mather Air Force Base (Mather AFB) was a United States Air Force Base, which was closed in 1993 pursuant to a post-Cold War BRAC decision. It was located east of Sacramento, on the south side of U.S. Route 50 in Sacramento County, Californ ...

, known for holding weekly

drag race Drag racing is a type of motor racing in which automobiles or motorcycles compete, usually two at a time, to be first to cross a set finish line. The race follows a short, straight course from a standing start over a measured distance, mos ...

events and annual Governors Cup Championship. It was completed in 1964 and the last races were held in November 2023.

History

Vastine Smith built the first

dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...

at Sacramento Raceway Park in 1964, complete with a ''Christmas tree'' timing tower and two

grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

s holding approximately 500 people in total; the site was in unincorporated

Sacramento County Sacramento County () is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,585,055. Its county seat is Sacramento, which has been the state capital of California since 1854. Sacrament ...

east of

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

on Excelsior Road, just north of Jackson Highway and south of

. Betty Clark took over the management of the dragstrip in 1967 and renamed it Eldorado Raceway; later that year, Western Oil Development purchased the land and gave it its present name. Dave Smith leased SRP in early 1968 and operated weekly nighttime events after business hours: drag races on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and

motocross Motocross is a form of off-road motorcycle racing held on enclosed off-road circuits. The sport evolved from motorcycle trials competitions held in the United Kingdom. History Motocross first evolved in Britain from motorcycle trials competi ...

on Sundays. He acquired the site in 1971. By 2017, Dave Smith listed the site for sale at an asking price of $11 million, citing updated laws that would force operations to end by 2020. In September 2023, the owners of SRP announced they were in negotiations to sell the property to an undisclosed buyer, but would finish the 2023 racing season in November regardless of the sale status. The sale was completed on December 8.

References

External links

* {{coord, 38.5277, -121.2953, type:landmark_region:US-CA, display=title Motorsport venues in California Sacramento, California