(Words by Darr Hawthorne and Chad Reynolds, Photos by Darr Hawthorne) It’s not often that we can report of the resurrection of a drag strip, especially in Southern California where track after track has been turned into a housing development or industrial complex.  After years of legal wrangling, political crap and significant expense, Auto Club Dragway in Fontana is back and on Saturday February 15th, racers got a first hand look at a much improved, and hopefully quieter, place to race. We got their early so we could get our photos snapped without a jillion people in the way, and it’s a good thing we did because later in the day there were hundreds of Southern California racers at the track, checking out the new digs.

According to Speedway VP and General Manager Ray Wilkings, “We’ll be constantly monitoring the racecars here at the dragway, as a good neighbor, that’s an important part of our effort here with the new wall.” This is because even with the new wall the Auto Club Dragway management will want to keep a close ear on noise levels during different types of races, different weather conditions, etc, in order to make sure that they can keep the politicians and civic leaders happy.

The return of the only weekly Los Angeles area championship quarter mile drag strip is due, in large part, to Thomas McKernan, Chairman of the board of the Automobile Club of Southern California. McKernan supplied the funding to build a twenty-four foot high 1,800 foot long sound attenuation wall to meet court mandates and noise complaints, and we hope this will lead to a full drag racing program for years to come. If the current schedule of events is any indication, there won’t be any trouble keeping the famed 1320 at Fontana running full time.  Lucas Oil, K&N Filters, SEMA and the NHRA also contributed to saving the track, according to Auto Club Speedway President Gillian Zucker who played host to the welcoming party. Without their support, there is no doubt we would still be wishing for the return of racing here in Fontana.

Zucker said of the re-launch, “The Dragway is a hugely important part of our facility here at Auto Club Speedway, but our facility would never be whole without NHRA Drag Racing here.  This is a big part of what Southern California is about.”

She added, “We are hugely committed to the NHRA Street Legal program, that’s the reason we are opening with that program.  We saw that when the dragstrip closed down, in a very short period of time there were a number of widely publicized fatalities that occurred during street racing.  We know this place makes a difference.”

Other NHRA drag racing celebrities there with Zucker were nitro legend Art Chrisman, Steve Gibbs, Graham Light and two time NHRA Champion “Fast” Jack Beckman who has many trips down this Fontana quarter mile in various racecars.

Someone that will probably bring a smile to the face of many SoCal drag racers and fans was the appearance of the founder of the 5B Club, freehand embroidery master Big Black Broke Bill Bailey.  Bailey worked out of his famed school bus at local tracks like OCIR, Irwindale and LA County Raceway.

Recently drag racing veteran racer and businessman Tracy Fischle was named Track Manager for Auto Club Dragway and will be responsible for overseeing all activities at the track with a lot of past dragway employees who’ll be back as well. We spoke with Tracy at the Grand Reopening and are looking forward to working more closely with the track in 2014. Look for BangShift’s Chad Reynolds to be on the mic, in his perch broadcasting, racing, and throwing pit parties at an Auto Club Dragway event this year.

Showing off their racing series scheduled for 2014 at Fontana were the PSCA, NMCA, SCEDA, SoCal Pro Gas and the Antique Nationals. PSCA’s Mel Roth said ” Returning to Fontana is such good news for the PSCA, and all of Southern California’s drag racing scene. Auto Club Dragway has been instrumental in the success of the PSCA, and many racers still consider it our “home”. We are looking forward to a great PSCA Racing Season that will include multiple dates at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, thanks to everyone that made this happen.”

There was no racing at the grand reopening, but Division 7 Tech officials performed NHRA Chassis Certification, guys brought their race cars down to show them off, muscle cars and hot rods showed up all day, and everyone just hung out bench racing about the old days and NEW days to come at Fontana.

Next weekend, February 22 & 23, there’s a Test and Tune and NHRA Street Legal Drags.  PSCA returns on March 1 & 2 and NMCA West is back at the dragway on March 28 – 30.

Stay tuned, as BangShift.com will be working very closely with the track on race coverage, special events, and other fun stuff you just aren’t going to want to miss.

Auto Club Dragway is located at 9300 Cherry Avenue, Fontana, California 92335.

You can download the 2014 Dragway Schedule here:  http://www.autoclubspeedway.com/~/media/5D83A18F26F14BB68E96EB3FE8B51D04.ashx