ONTARIO MOTOR SPEEDWAY - ONTARIO CA
Ontario Motor Speedway was a motorsport venue located in Ontario, California. It was the first and only automobile racing facility built to accommodate major races sanctioned by all of the four dominant racing sanctioning bodies: USAC; NASCAR; NHRA and Formula1. Constructed in less than two years, the track opened in August 1970 and was considered state of the art at the time. It was considered "The Indianapolis of the West". The track was a 2 1/2 mile paved oval, that also had a 4.19 mile road course. This track was a clone of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. NASCAR also had three wide starts here. Indianapolis Motor speedway's owner, Tony Hulman, was friends with
owner David Lockton and helped in planning and making sure the track got a 500 mile race. To symbolize Hulman's gesture of friendship with Lockton and support for the "Indy of the West", he provided a special gift from Indy: a circle of the original bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were laid in the OMS's victory lane. Track management planned to make OMS as a replica of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with many important enhancements. The racing surface was one lane wider and, unlike the Indy speedway, the short chutes (the two shorter straight-aways, at either end of the track) were banked, which made the OMS slightly faster. NASCAR raced here nine times between 1971 and 1980. AJ Foyt won the initial NASCAR race as he out dueled Buddy Baker and Richard Petty; besting Baker by eight seconds. Foyt also won the following race as he outran Bobby Allison by four seconds. Foyt also won one of the
Indy car races. No Cup race was held in 1973; but in 1974 Bobby Allison would improve on his runner up finish as he beat David Pearson and Cale Yarborough. Buddy Baker would relegate David Pearson to another second place finish in 1975; beating him by 30 seconds. Pearson would finally break through and get that win here in 1976 as he bested the field by more than a lap; while Lennie Pond finished second. 1977 saw a real battle as four cars finished on the lead lap. The race saw Neil Bonnett beat Richard Petty to the finish line by two car lengths. Cale Yarborough and Buddy Baker was third and fourth. Bobby Allison would break through and get his second win here in 1978. He just edged out Cale Yarborough by 1 1/2 seconds, with Donnie Allison third. In 1979 Benny Parson would get the win here; just holding off Allison by four
tenths of a second and keeping him from a third win. Benny Parson would repeat the following year when NASCAR made their final Cup start there. Neil Bonnett was second, followed by Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison and Dale Earnhardt. In the eleven Indy Car series races held; Bobby Unser won four times. The only other multiple race winner was Al Unser who won twice. The track was purchased for real estate development by Chevron Land Company in late 1980 and demolished at a cost of $3 million in 1981. The company acquired the bonds that had been issued to build the track and effectively foreclosed on the real estate. For
approximately $10 million, Chevron acquired land which had a commercial real estate development value of $120 million. The property remained vacant for several years until the mid-1980s when a Hilton hotel was built on turn 4 of the old speedway site. In 2007, much of the remainder of the property became Piemonte, a mixed-use development with condominiums, business offices, and some retail stores. In the fall of 2008, the centerpiece of Piemonte opened: the Citizens Business Bank Arena (now Toyota Arena), an 11,000-seat sports and entertainment venue. The Ontario Mills shopping mall is located to the east, across the street from the former site of the Speedway. In 1997, the Auto Club Speedway opened in Fontana, less than two miles from the former site of the Ontario Motor Speedway.
Joe Leonard crash 1974
All Photos copyright and are property of their respective owners