Auto Club Raceway at Pomona

Auto Club Raceway at Pomona

"Pomona Raceway"
Auto Club Raceway, 2008
Location	Pomona, California
Time zone	UMT -0800
Coordinates	34°05′42.32″N 117°46′11.15″W / 34.0950889°N 117.7697639°WCoordinates: 34°05′42.32″N 117°46′11.15″W / 34.0950889°N 117.7697639°W
Capacity	40,000
Owner	NHRA
Operator	NHRA
Opened	1951 [1]
Former names	Pomona Raceway The Fairplex Ascot at Pomona Los Angeles Dragstrip
Major events	Automobile Club of Southern California NHRA Finals Circle K NHRA Winternationals
Drag Strip
Surface	Concrete
Length	0.25 mi (0.402 km)

Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, also known as Pomona Raceway, is a racing facility located in Pomona, California that features a quarter-mile dragstrip. Since its opening in 1961, the dragstrip has hosted the NHRA's Winternationals event - the traditional season opener - as well as the season's last race, the NHRA Finals. These two events have contributed to its becoming perhaps one of the most famous dragstrips in North America. The facility has a seating capacity of 40,000 spectators, and it is one of the few dragstrips in the USA that is operated directly by the NHRA. This dragstrip has also gone by the nickname of The Fairplex.

History

Drag Racing

In 1952 a car club known as the "Choppers of Pomona" aided by a young police officer, Sergeant Bud Coons, advocated that a safe place should be provided for local area drag racers. Coons, along with fellow hot rod enthusiast, Pomona Police Chief Ralph Parker, and the city government of Pomona asked to lease the parking lot of the LA County Fairgrounds. Coons and Parker were instrumental in convincing the county to allow the use of the fairgrounds for the race by citing statistics that indicated deaths among kids declined sharply when given a place to race that was supervised. The county finally agreed, as long as the hot rodders would provide their own insurance, which they were able to do with gate receipts.^[2]

At the time the county made the agreement, the parking lot was nothing but a gravel lot. The coalition of hot rodders, police and community leaders raised funds through donations and paved the lot. This was the birth of the dragstrip in Pomona.

Though it was not considered a national event by today's standards, the very first NHRA event, the Southern California Championships, was held at this drag strip on an April weekend in 1953. On Saturday attendance was at two or three thousand and attendance was reported to be at 15,000 on Sunday. Compared to the 4.5 second numbers the pros are putting on the board presently, the best ET of that day was a respectable 10.93.^[3]

In 1961, NHRA held its first ever Winternationals at the Pomona Raceway. It became NHRA's second national event. The first NHRA national event was the U.S. Nationals, which was nicknamed the "Big-Go". Thus, the Winternationals got nicknamed the "Big-Go West". It has remained at this location ever since. For many years, this event was sponsored by Chief Auto Parts and later its successor AutoZone, but later was sponsored by CSK Automotive, and now its current successor, O'Reilly Auto Parts.

The season closer, the NHRA Finals, was brought to the facility in 1984 from the now defunct Orange County International Raceway. When the event was first brought to Pomona, the event was sponsored by Winston (after NHRA's main title sponsor at the time, RJ Reynolds' "Winston" cigarette brand). As of 2010, the event is sponsored by the Automobile Club of Southern California, which is affiliated with AAA.

Other Racing

From 1934 to 1937 a 1/2 mile dirt oval was located at the facility.^[4] The dirt over was once again opened in the 1950s but closed in 1959. Ponoma was also home to a 1.7 mile Paved road course which operated in 1998 and 1999. From 1956 to 1961 2 mile temporary road course was located in the parking lot.^[5]

Winners

NHRA Winternationals

Year	Top Fuel	Funny Car	Pro Stock
1982	Dick LaHaie	Al Segrini	Frank Iaconio
1983	Shirley Muldowney	Frank Hawley	Frank Iaconio
1984	Gary Ormsby	Al Segrini	Lee Shepherd
1985	Joe Amato	Al Segrini	Bob Glidden
1986	Darrell Gwynn	Tim Grose	Frank Iaconio
1987	Don Garlits	Kenny Bernstein	Warren Johnson
1988	Dick LaHaie	Dale Pulde	Butch Leal
1989	Gary Ormsby	Bruce Larson	Bob Glidden
1990	Lori Johns	K.C. Spurlock	Jerry Eckman
1991	Frank Bradley	John Force	Darrell Alderman
1992	Kenny Bernstein	Jim Epler	Jerry Eckman
1993	Joe Amato	John Force	Warren Johnson
1994	Shelly Anderson	K.C. Spurlock	Warren Johnson
1995	Eddie Hill	Cruz Pedregon	Darrell Alderman
1996	Blaine Johnson	Al Hofmann	Jim Yates
1997	Gary Scelzi	John Force	Warren Johnson
1998	Larry Dixon	Ronn Capps	Jim Yates
1999	Mike Dunn	Tony Pedregon	Jeg Coughlin
2000	Gary Scelzi	Jerry Toliver	Jeg Coughlin Jr.
2001	Darrell Russell	Bruce Sarver	Kurt Johnson
2002	Larry Dixon	John Force	George Marnell
2003	Larry Dixon	Tony Pedregon	Warren Johnson
2004	Tony Schumacher	Jerry Toliver	Greg Anderson
2005	Scott Kalitta	Tommy Johnson Jr.	Dave Connolly
2006	Melanie Troxel	Robert Hight	Greg Anderson
2007	J.R. Todd	Gary Scelzi	Greg Anderson
2008	Tony Schumacher	Robert Hight	Greg Anderson
2009	Doug Kalitta	Ron Capps	Jason Line
2010	Larry Dixon	John Force	Mike Edwards
2011	Morgan Lucas	Robert Hight	Jason Line
2012	Spencer Massey	John Force	Greg Anderson
2013	Shawn Langdon	Courtney Force	Vincent Nobile
2014	Khalid alBalooshi	John Force	Jason Line
2015	Shawn Langdon	Matt Hagan	Jason Line
2016	Steve Torrence	Ron Capps	Greg Anderson

NHRA Finals

Year	Top Fuel	Funny Car	Pro Stock
1984	Don Garlits	Sherm Gunn	Bob Glidden
1985	Gary Beck	Kenny Bernstein	Joe Lepone
1986	Darrell Gwynn	Kenny Bernstein	Bob Glidden
1987	Darrell Gwynn	Billy Meyer	Bob Glidden
1988	Darrell Gwynn	John Force	Warren Johnson
1989	Gary Ormsby	Bruce Larson	Bob Glidden
1990	Joe Amato	Ed McCulloch	Bob Glidden
1991	Pat Austin	Al Hofmann	Darrell Alderman
1992	Cory McClenathan	Chuck Etchells	Warren Johnson
1993	Rance McDaniel	Jim Epler	Warren Johnson
1994	Kenny Bernstein	John Force	Darrell Alderman
1995	Blaine Johnson	Al Hofmann	Warren Johnson
1996	Joe Amato	John Force	Mike Edwards
1997	Joe Amato	Tony Pedregon	Kurt Johnson
1998	Kenny Bernstein	Chuck Etchells	Richie Stevens
1999	Mike Dunn	Jerry Toliver	Jeg Coughlin
2000	Gary Scelzi	John Force	Kurt Johnson
2001	Kenny Bernstein	Del Worsham	Bruce Allen
2002	Cory McClenathan	John Force	Kurt Johnson
2003	Kenny Bernstein	Del Worsham	Greg Anderson
2004	Tony Schumacher	John Force	Greg Anderson
2005	Tony Schumacher	Tony Pedregon	Jeg Coughlin
2006	Tony Schumacher	John Force	Greg Anderson
2007	Tony Schumacher	Robert Hight	Jeg Coughlin
2008	Larry Dixon	Cruz Pedregon	Greg Anderson
2009	Antron Brown	Mike Neff	Greg Anderson
2010	Antron Brown	John Force	Shane Gray
2011	Del Worsham	Matt Hagan	Greg Stanfield
2012	Brandon Bernstein	Cruz Pedregon	Allen Johnson
2013	Shawn Langdon	Matt Hagan	Rickie Jones
2014	Morgan Lucas	Matt Hagan	Erica Enders-Stevens
2015	Shawn Langdon	Del Worsham	Allen Johnson

References

1. "Na-Motorsports Track Entry". NA Motorsports. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
2. "Need for a safe place to speed: Pomona's hot rod history began with police". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
3. • Post, Robert C. (1996). High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing 1950-1990. Baltimore Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4654-4.
4. "Na-Motorsports Track Entry". NA Motorsports. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
5. "Na-Motorsports Track Entry". NA Motorsports. Retrieved 5 May 2010.

External links

• Official website
• NHRA's Official Site