Tracks Visited Once but Sadly Never Again

My dad did his first SCCA driver’s school at TWS in 1969.  I didn’t get to do my first event there until 2015.  I went to a Texas Race of Champions event there in 1985, and Nat’l Council of Corvette Clubs event in 1986.

It was a great drivers track, but not enough hard braking zones to make a great ‘racing’ track. T1 and T7 really took commitment for a fast lap time, and the T8 and T9 section, most people never figured out.  I always seemed to make some time there compared to most others.

My last race there, in 2018, I lost the brakes going into T1 on the third lap, and was still in some traffic.  Luckily, the two cars in front of me were really dicing and I backed off a little early to not get caught up in anything if they touched.  The right front brake line had come loose and rubbed on the wheel.  Pumping the brakes did just enough to allow me to throw the car sideways and drift T1, but left me with nothing by the time I limped it around to the pits!

Everyone loved Second Creek but I thought it was garbage.  Other than being close to Denver it had nothing going for it.  Short, tight, unreasonably high consequences for an off on many parts of the track.  HPR is much, much better.

Tom1200 said:

In reply to L5wolvesf :

The Stardust Raceway was a completely separate facility located on the west edge of town in the vicinity of Buffalo Drive and Flamingo Blvd.

The Speedrome / LVIS / LVMS is 20 miles Northeast of the Stardust Raceway location.

I've been here for 43 years and driven or ridden all of the LVMS configurations.

Then I learned a couple things.

I was under the impression Stardust and Speedrome etc were the same.

Between 1980s and early 90s I raced a lot at LVIS - but only 1 config.

docwyte said:

Everyone loved Second Creek but I thought it was garbage.  Other than being close to Denver it had nothing going for it.  Short, tight, unreasonably high consequences for an off on many parts of the track.  HPR is much, much better.

I loved Second Creek, but back then I only had small cars. I did the drivers school with my Honda CRX and later drove it with my stripped down '64 MG Midget race car. 

docwyte said:

Everyone loved Second Creek but I thought it was garbage.  Other than being close to Denver it had nothing going for it.  Short, tight, unreasonably high consequences for an off on many parts of the track.  HPR is much, much better.

For an H-Production Fiat 850 it was great and even better in the rain

Any of you Colorado gang ever drive at the old Mountain View Motorsports Park? Not sure what it looks like now but it's still visible as a ghost track right at the intersection of I-25 and hwy 34 north of Denver. Showed up there with a Consulier many years ago and gave some guy $50 (I think he worked there or owned it or something) and we drove it around all afternoon. Pretty cool little track. It almost made my list but I ran out of room.

Looks like it only lasted a few years and closed in 2005. Same year we lost Second Creek and PPIR. Not a good year for Colorado racetracks.

Never drove it myself.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Yes, drove it a few times with the PCA.  It was a fun track, heading down the Dragon was good times as long as you made the turn at the bottom.  I was living in Loveland at the time and it was great because it was less than 30 minutes away.  Sadly it was where Miller Motorsports Park could've been built but the town and Larry couldn't come to an agreement.  Track has sat dormant ever since.  The gate is usually open and I've ridden my dirt bike around the track a few times, weeds/small trees as high as me growing mid track now.

Keith, I just don't think losing 2nd Creek and PPIR (at that time, it's reopened) were that much of a loss.  2nd Creek was falling apart, had no facilities and no run off.  PPIR has great facilities but is one of the most boring tracks to drive ever.  If you don't get around someone on the oval part you're not gonna pass them.  The infield is tight and slippery.  The track reminds of of being Chevy Chase and being stuck on a rotary.  Look kids, Big Ben...over and over again. Mtn View was fun but needed a large cash infusion to keep it going...

I've been to Road Atlanta once. It was a stroke of luck for a Champcar 14 hour event, I was in the area for work, two of my friends had their teams there, one of them stopped by my house to pick my gear up for me, and I crewed for them. One of the teams were shortmanned and exhausted in the late hours of the race and I got to take a car I've never driven out on a track I've never been on before at night and had an absolute blast doing so. 

I've never been able to get back to Road Atlanta again as a spectator or a driver. The track schedule seems to align with any major function I have going on during a weekend every single year. 

Keith Tanner said:

Looks like it only lasted a few years and closed in 2005. Same year we lost Second Creek and PPIR. Not a good year for Colorado racetracks.

Never drove it myself.

 

I never drove Second Creek but my wife and I did visit. It seemed like there was no real infield, as everything was situated outside the track. 

Someone more artistic than me can probably turn this into a country song 

Like Kenny Rogers singing "to all the girls I've loved before "

Did 6 laps at The 'Ring a decade ago...Im dying to go back and do more!

Rented a 320, 2009. Slow as heck, but so much fun!

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Ranfurly's circus in the Bahama's  The first year they ran Vintage speedweeks  the track ran around the traffic circle with the water fountain in the center.  
     No they couldn't shut off the fountain so it leaked on the race track. Nice tall curbs nearby to provide excitement if you slide on the water trickle. 

Tom1200 said:

I'll throw in mine.

Riverside, the NASCAR layout, I remember it most because I went 130mph on a 125CC GP bike there. The downhill mile long back straight made this possible.

Stardust International Raceway; the track was defunct and falling apart but we used to sneak out there and ride our motorcycles around it at night.  Turn two was partially washed out but there was still a 3ft wide section of good pavement, which was just enough for a bike.

 

I love/hate Riverside. My first race there with my National license.  We Jaguars (XK 120-150 ) had been put in DProduction which those years was the "hot" class.   Lotus Super 7.  Datsun 2000, Jenson Healey, Yenko Corvair,  etc  

 The factory teams were really aggressive.  I squeezed out one good lap in qualifying and was 4th on the grid. The starter had been laying down the law about jumping the start and wanted the pack really bunched up  ( very slow start)   
  The Torque of that big six gave me a great jump on everyone and I was lengths ahead by turn 6 .  I went for the brakes and it was like stepping on an over ripe plum  pump pump pump pump   And then something started working but by that time I was too deep too fast into the corner. The turn used 1 inch thick steel to hold back the dirt behind. I threw the Jag sideways and scrapped around the corner rubbing off paint and causing quite a spark show. Still in first place but with no brakes I knew I was done. So I let the pack by and coasted around to the pits.  

Marlboro raceway in Maryland in the late 60's before they closed it.

My Local track was Ascot , and I went to Riverside a couple times , 

and then OCIR for the BugIns......

californiamilleghia said:

My Local track was Ascot , and I went to Riverside a couple times , 

and then OCIR for the BugIns......

We must have been close - Ascot was a semi-regular place to spectate for me as was OCIR and Lion's a couple times. I raced at RIR a number of times.

In reply to JG Pasterjak :

Holtville.  It was a B17 training base east of San Diego. Long neglected and in rough shape. A track was laid out there, avoiding the worst of the pavement heaves. Still leaving plenty of rough joints between sections.   
    It's the track I found out about the strength of Jaguars. Hap Richardson had an updated Jaguar XK120 that could thunder right over those joints without getting upset or slowing down.  Not even the Corvettes could deal with  those frost heaves as well. 
Light sports racers would be tossed and bounce on the edge of control. Returning to the pits to repair damage or loosened  bolts etc. 

Reno-Fernley... Did a driving school many years ago and it was a neat track, little bit of all and lots elevation changes. Was quite a drive from Bay Area, and definitely closer to Fernley, NV than Reno. It's permanently closed now.

In reply to David S. Wallens :

I summered at my grandmother's beach house around the corner from Bridgehampton but I didn't know it existed. Nevertheless I eventually ran a few track days there in my street car and it felt like my home track. Then I built a race car and my first rookie race was at Bridgehampton in drying rain conditions. There were a few teething problems so I was really looking forward to my first real race at Bridgehampton. We lined up on the starting grid in the pit lane but got waved off for noise restrictions too late in the evening. They offered us extra laps at the next race at Pocono in compensation  (gee, thanx). That was the last season last race at Bridgehampton.

I WANT MY LAST BRIDGEHAMPTON RACE BACK!

The Bridgehampton sim racing on youtube almost makes me want to build a sim rig even though it looks like they have WAY too much traction through the sand off the edges of the track.

By the way, twenty some odd years later the back gate is open to turn three (flag station 4 is still there) and the old track all the way back to the beginning of the main straight is kinda sorta not quite closed to the public if you were to accidentally make a wrong turn...

In reply to TheRX7Project :

Old thread, but...  The Midwestern Council is doing a HPDE/HSAX on the Milwaukee Mile roadcourse this weekend Fri/Sat/Sun.  I'm not a huge fan of the track since there's enough concrete around you to be unforgiving, but the Friday evening HSAX (standing start time trial) should be fun.

I was very surprised when i read this in the mag, few people outside of sweden knows about Gotland ring, except for the ones being there at the rare car launches. 

Now its actually completed after many years of wait, 7.3km of a very special track, the new part a bit more biased to the gt3 crowd with faster bits, though including a pretty sketchy jump. I really need to get there with my car, being on an island it do makes the logistics more challenging. 

Heres the full track in a 964RS

https://youtu.be/43jB7ePdbT0

Heres another one with the full track map

https://youtu.be/I_OsxK_CDvQ

I went to Brands Hatch one day while in London.  I sort of hung around, and had a few conversations, including one with a fellow who was organizing an HPDE that evening.  He offered to get me in a car as a passenger -- but I ended up worried about getting back to London, using the public transit that had got me there.

I regret I didn't stay . . . I'm sure someone would have helped me get back.  It looks like a cool track.

I got to do a few laps at Watkins Glen  about 20 years ago. Would sure like to try again.

The 3 tracks that I'm going to mention that I've only been to once are all still open.

mosport now known as Canadian tire motorsports park was there in 2001 alms race.

knoxville raceway in Iowa the most well known sprint car track and home of the Knoxville nationals. This was just a weekly show back in 2002 but that meant 30 410 sprints and another 30 360 sprints plus 20 or so dirt trucks. This was my first time seeing 410s in person.

Lake Erie speedway this was actually the Friday before we were at Knoxville. We were on a family road trip down east and making good time when we noticed we were close enough to make Knoxville. This was the first year the track was open.