I lived across the road just west of the track back in 78-79 when I was stationed at March AFB. So there were B-52’s and KC-135’s taking off overhead all week and race cars all weekend. This was the cheapest rent area in the entire state! I loved it. I had the pleasure to work on the fire crew at the track on my days off from my job as a firefighter on the Air Force base. Best days of my life!

I grew up going to races here as a kid. It sucks to drive by the old sight and see a damn shopping mall.

Still have NASCAR Riverside race programs from the 70s and 80s. Thanks for the memories.

I play this track in VR in Assetto Corsa. One of the most fun tracks for 70s era car racing.

Thank you , brings back a lot of good memories , Went to most of the races there from 1968 to 1988 , and still talk about those with other fans .

Thank you for an excellent walk down memory lane. Having spent some time on the track during the later years in a Formula Ford, seeing it again from a driver's perspective was a real treat. The track was demanding but the back straight offered a few seconds to relax before watching the turn 9 wall come into full view and hoping the brakes would perform as expected.

Thanks so much for this excellent historical video, including the vintage in-car footage! I grew up on this track, first as a passenger with my dad at Porsche Club time trial events in the early 70’s, then racing myself in SCCA/Cal Club and VARA events throughout the 80’s. You have the only footage I have come across of the final configuration of the track used in 1989. There were way more curves in that added section than I remembered! It brings back bittersweet memories not only because I participated in the Last Lap of Riverside races on the July 4 weekend that year, but also because a good friend Mark Verbofsky became the last fatality at the track on July 1 in a crash of his Formula Atlantic in Turn 1. Perhaps I will use your overlay map to find the spot and pay my respects next time I am in the LA area 😢. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane!

This is a fantastic video and well done my friend :)

I did my last novice A.R.R.A.(American Road Racing Association) race at Riverside after doing my first few races at Willow Springs. Big difference going from open run off into the desert to guard rails and concrete walls. I ran wide exiting 7B on last lap while right on the tail of 1st place and lost a lot of ground. I made it all up in turn 9 and finished a half bike behind first. I was lucky to not drop out of the top 5. At least from the looks of it Willow will last several more years before they get moved out by development. Hopefully that never happens.

thank you - good documentary with fantastic clips and pictures

Fab video again. Sad its all gone but your vid brings it back to life :)

Amasing footage of Ken Miles in the 289 Shelby, Thank you ourafilmes for that historical films!

Awesome, thanks for posting this.

Thanks for sharing. nice great upload.

Great job, thanks!!!

I raced there many times in IMSA and SCCA pro endurance series during the 80s. Great high-speed track. Lots of celebrities would go there because of its proximity to LA. Lots of movies and tv shows were filmed there. I have two pictures from two different years in turn five. One has bare desert in the background; the other has lots of condominiums. The building was fast and the famous track was gone. Rip Rolf Stommelen.

I lived in Riverside in the early 60's and attended the 1960 US Grand Prix. Most of the motels in the area were along 8th Street (University Ave) in Riverside and they catered to drivers and crews. In 1960, for days before the race, the drivers were allowed to drive all kinds of unlicensed race cars, pit bikes, whatever down 8th Street. I had a BMW Isetta at the time and street raced (ha ha) Phil HIll, Graham Hill and Stirling Moss at different times and in different cars over a couple of days. There were others, but I didn't know them by sight. Dan Gurney was a Riverside boy at the time. I was 18 years old then. When the track closed, the Ramada and Holiday Inn were sold to the university and are still in use by them. The rest of the smaller motels turned into hooker motels, and now most of them have been torn down. The racetrack was very important to the local economy and Riverside went all out for the drivers and crews. Sadly, the US Grand Prix was only held at Riverside that one year. I think it went back to Sebring after that. I forget and no longer follow GP.

amazing thx for sharing FrienD !!

Thanks for the great video. The first auto race I ever attended was the 1973 CanAm race at this track, and was utterly dominated by Mark Donohue in the Penske Porsche 917/30, One factual correction, though. The 1965 L.A. Times GP was not a CanAm race, it was part of the USRRC series. 1966 was the first year of the CanAm series, and that year's race was also called the L.A. Times GP. Both the USRRC and CanAm series used the relatively unrestricted Group 7 cars of that era.

Thankfully you can still walk or bike the 3.27-mile-long former Meadowdale International Raceway at Carpentersville, IL. It was in use from 1958 to 1969. Today it exists as "Raceway Woods" and is considered the largest "ghost racetrack" in the U.S.

Gone but not forgotten

Whenever I point out that my Grandfather races sports cars, I feel the need to point out that he raced in the Southern Sportscar series from the 1950s; a series that is long gone - very little traces of it. Only the most serious race fan is going to know about it.

I live 150ft away from turn 9

Most of the races shown I worked at for the Cal Club division of the SCCA.

Riverside also claimed the life of the great NASCAR star Joe Weatherly as well as USAC open wheel star Canadian Billy Foster.

Grew up not far from here in Riverside - shame how they can't even memorialize where Ken Miles had his fatal crash at the corner of Day and Cottonwood

Wondering if I can get in contact with anyone who race this track or lived around there back then

Wife dad owned Riverside raceway. He was a hall of fame in college & pro football. He later became a Senior VP of NASCAR. He also was in charge of building CA speedway which is now called Auto Club speedway. She has all the stories involving this track. Anyone know his name?

Thx yu...very real experience from on a couch!!! Do yu know of a way I can search Riverside RiR PACE CARS ? IM SPECIFICALLY TRYN TO FIND 6-70 PACERS.1 ELUDES ME AND FRUSTRATION HAS TIP THE THRESHHOLDS OF RESEARCHING...69 BIG BAD GREEN CALIFORNIA 500 SPECIAL WAS TO HV PACED A RACE AND CANT FIND THE TRUTH...

Was the champion spark plug bridge two lane ?

Beloved Riverside..God in Heaven I loved that place...I attacked with Lightweight Corvette..2280lbs. 540 HP....God what a ride.. I'll never ever forget it.. Pit straight.. turn two .the esses . Turn six..turn 7...7a. ..Turn 8... Then ..Then .that long and lovely Back straight..coming out in 2nd. Power shifting that Muncie at 6800rpm..with a big block of corse. Riverside thank God in my brief Career I got to run there..ime now 77years..I want to do it all again.. As president Biden says . Age means nothing .I couldn't agree More...can't wait till I got another car Together..another Corvette..ah but Knowing what I know now with my New car..I would be able to cut a 60 seconds lap at riverside.... Riverside was Heaven. Heaven.....