WILLOW SPRINGS SPEEDWAY - LANCASTER PA
Willow Springs International Motor sports Park is a 600-acre complex of eight racetracks embracing nearly every conceivable motor sports discipline. The park is located about an hour north of Los Angeles, California near Lancaster. Willow Springs International Raceway is a super-fast 2.5-mile / nine-turn road racing circuit, patterned after the great courses and road racing traditions of Europe, and is unchanged from its original 1953 configuration. Construction of the track began in 1953, with the inaugural event held on November 23, 1953. The fact that it has been running continuously since then has caused the state of California to recognize Willow Springs International Raceway as an Official
California Point of Historical Interest. This world-famous track hosted the first two NASCAR events west of the Mississippi. With its substantial elevation changes and high average speeds, Willow Springs is one of the fastest and most challenging tracks in the country. Also known as the Fastest Road in the West, this track is one of the safest road courses in the world, despite its high velocities. With its long and short straight-aways, tight corners, and long sweeping turns, there aren’t many road courses in the world with spectator viewing like Willow Springs. Guests can see almost the entire racecourse
from just aboutanywhere, including the many trackside camping areas. NASCAR made two trips to the track; with the first coming in 1956. Chuck Stevenson and Marvin Panch put on a show as they swapped the lead back and forth over the 80 lap event. Stevenson would forge ahead for the final time with 19 laps to go and hang on to win by just 500 feet. Johnny Mantz was third followed by Jim Reed and Allen Adkins. NASCAR returned for the final time in 1957. This time the race was cut to 60 laps. Panch would come away with the trophy by beating Fireball Roberts by 11 seconds. George Seeger was third, also on the lead lap. The track also hosted five NASCAR Winston West Series events, the first two in 1955 and 1956 and the other three between 1984 and 1986. Willow Springs also hosted one NASCAR Southwest Series race in 1986. There are a total of seven tracks at Willow Springs. The largest and most well known track is Willow
Springs International Raceway (commonly referred to as Big Willow). There are other racing facilities such as The Streets of Willow (1.8 mile road course), The Horse Thief Mile (road course), The Speedway at Willow Springs (1/4 mile paved oval), Willow Springs Kart Track (a .625-mile, 9-turn paved sprint track), The Playpen (a 1/4-mile paved training track), and the Walt James Stadium (Clay Oval and Paved Oval).
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