One of drag racing’s most grim ironies is that the ancestral home of the sport, Southern California is virtually devoid of drag strips. According to various sources in the area, one of the last remaining quarter mile tracks outside of Bakersfield, Auto Club Dragway at Fontana is having their ability to operate challenged by neighbors complaining about the noise generated by the facility.
Initial reports seemed to indicate that the track was to be closed down by court order and it may be done for good, it now seems as though a forthcoming announcement from the track will indicate that classes and competitors will be restricted to street legal or muffled cars only.
The track has been around since 2001 in the parking lot of what was then known as California Speedway. It plays host to events ranging from test-n-tune days to NHRA Divisionals and PSCA races. The track has been dealing with noise issues for years and apparently had entered into an agreement with locals regarding how much noise, in dB the facility could emit. That agreement was breached recently and because of that, the problems began.
Once an announcement is made, we will follow up with what the futur has in story for Fontana. We hope that the future includes an open drag strip, even if it is restricted to muffled vehicles. A quiet strip beats the snot out of no strip at all.
From living with in three or so miles of there from the time it was built to 2005, I can say that the NASCAR/Indy car noise can be heard clearly miles away. Never bother me though. I don’t recall in that time ever hearing drag races. That may of come later, at least the unmuffled stuff. I know there are old houses across the street and a block down (1/2 mile? 1/4 mile?). iirc, they’ve cut way back on their test n’ tune’s for street cars, perhaps a return of that? I’ve only been to a couple there and they were always packed.
Perhaps the local residents will prefer fast cars racing up and down their streets late at night.
I wonder if this is the same story you hear at a lot of tracks and airports. Facility is built in the middle of nowhere, people move in next door, idiots complain about noise.
Irritates the heck outta me.
Definately not the same story, the houses and buisness’ were definately there before the track was built.
Most the houses in the area were built in the 1970’s and 1980’s, if not older. The track was built in the late 1990’s. The site was a closed down Kaiser steel mill prior to being a track.
Spintech has a history of being a good muffler for this sort of track. I believe they’ve even developed mufflers for this sort of complaint.
Ventura Raceway worked with an engineer to come up with a compromise solution with their sprint cars. He was some old guy who raced sprints in their senior division – but it kept the track going. I think he did real noise surveys.