In some ways, racetracks often feel like utopias, where the anecdotes pour like water and the only big limits are set by marshals and physics. Unchained from the nine-to-five, you can find nirvana as the tach sweeps past five while the cosmos seems to vibrate at your feet. However, stories aren’t infinite. Chapters need to close, heroic eras need to end, and leaps into the great unknown need to be taken. For the first time since 1962, Willow Springs International Motorsports Park in Rosamond, Calif. is up for sale, and however this arc ends, it’ll change motorsports in America forever.
While Willow Springs was purchased by the Huth family back in 1962, it all started with Big Willow a decade prior. Ken Miles helped plan the layout of this track, which quickly earned the name of “the fastest road in the West.” It was featured in “The Love Bug,” and “Ford v Ferrari,” and “Furious 7,” along with more commercials than you can count. However, it’s more than just a filming location with famous roots — it’s a part of motorsports history.
The Can-Am Challenge Cup raced here, the Trans-Am series raced here, the Atlantic Championship Series raced here. To beat Mario Andretti’s overall lap record, you’d need to average 136.26 mph around the entire 2.5-mile Big Willow course. Talk about a heroic number. The track’s a California Point of Historical Interest, and yet despite all the fanfare and reverence for the track, it’s been grassroots as fuck for a long time.
Part of the joy of Willow Springs is its relative affordability. An 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. test-and-tune session at Big Willow costs $225 once you pay a $300 annual membership that includes the fee for your first event, and that’s a damn good price for a full day of lapping if you own a racecar. If you don’t own a fully prepared racecar, several organizations hold reasonably priced trackdays at Willow Springs, such as Open Track Racing’s Big Willow events, which have a $215 entry fee. Not only is that cheaper than a super speeder ticket, trackdays are great places to make new friends.
At the same time, there’s so much more to Willow Springs than Big Willow. From the winding Streets of Willow club circuit to the elevation-intensive Horse Thief Mile to the karting track to the skidpad to a choice of paved or dirt ovals, the complex offers something for fans of just about every discipline. Willow was even one of the first tracks in America to host drifting, with Option throwing an event there in the VHS days.
However, as racing complexes change hands, business plans change. Keeping a racetrack open is expensive, and other track operators across the country have adopted a variety of strategies. Some use country club models like we’ve seen at M1 Concourse, the Thermal Club, and Atlanta Motorsports Park, where the entry point to membership might not be affordable for the bulk of trackday enthusiasts. Some tracks have raised pricing significantly on events, catering to a higher-end crowd while making it harder for people on a budget to get on track. Some tracks have simply closed down.
As of now, it’s not known who will buy Willow Springs or what direction they might take the track in, but don’t be surprised if accessibility changes in the future. It’s expensive to keep a racetrack going, especially a motorsports complex of this size. On the bright side, it seems like the Huth family is looking for a buyer who will actually keep the track going. Having to scrape up some extra cash to hit the track would be a bummer, but it’s still better than not having any track at all.
(Photo credits: Willow Springs International Motorsports Park/Team Scarborough)
Support our mission of championing car culture by becoming an Official Autopian Member.
-
There’s An Entire Race Track For Sale, Here’s What We’d Do With It Given Unlimited Funds
-
NASCAR’s Oldest Paved Oval Was Built Around A Minnow Pond
-
I Am Begging You To Care About Portland International Raceway And The Race This Weekend
-
Driver From New Zealand Wins NASCAR Race, Kicks Rugby Ball, Drifts Entire Track
-
Why Losing Control At The Monster Mile Is Like Getting Cut Loose From A Rope
Got a hot tip? Send it to us here. Or check out the stories on our homepage.
Finally, we’ve been given a chance to put our 2020 Connect on a race track. For as little as $100.00 for a 10min drive around the track with a speed limit of 60mph. You can follow along with this adventure here: https://www.fiestastforum.com/threads/new-event-in-the-works-for-next-year.32440/
The autopian shold buy it.
Obviously.
How many MB Tex memberships would it take?
The Whale Foreskin memberships could include RV hookups and discount burritos!
Sounds like Beau and Galpin need to step in.
I can already see signs with “The Autopian Circuit, by Galpin”
Tag Beau
Time to play Powerball.
The “big” track at Willow Springs is the scariest track I’ve ever driven on, It’s an absolute test of your nerve more than anything. When we moved from Michigan to California, it was the first place we did a track day on. Our previous experience was at Waterford Hills, so the contrast in speed was huge. I actually enjoy Streets more as it’s more technical and there’s less places to really have a bad off. But the big track is the only place where I, somehow, got the Evo into a textbook 4 wheel drift through turn 9 on one glorious lap, so I’ll always think of it fondly.
Have you driven Laguna Seca? That was my local track but I haven’t done much track driving.
I desperately want to drive Laguna Seca. It’s on my shortlist of tracks to get to, hopefully in the Evo providing it’s in shape to do it. Or not. If it goes out in a blaze of glory at that track, it would be it’s Viking funeral.
No better way to go out than on a legendary circuit. I feel like that’s Evo Valhalla.
Autopian test track? Autopian test track!
How many members would it take??
I’d say a lot more than we currently have. But hey if we can convince some people to sell a spare kidney we might be in business. Maybe call it the BMW tier or something
Unfortunately the Autopian readership has less spare kidneys than you might expect, due to selling them to buy multiple Holy Grails.
Damn. Well we never said whose spare kidney they needed to sell… So lets all pretend that everything is on the up and up and get this project started.
YES ha ha YES
About a decade ago my home track Road America started thinking outside the box on revenue streams they could derive out of the 500-acre facility. Today they have biking trails, Frisbee golf, offer sledding on their hills in the winter, host motorcycle training schools, they do drive-in movies in the summer, run/walk events, Halloween hayrides and at one point they even had a zipline there. More than just revenue streams, these things have let Road America be more than just a race track to the neighbors.
The key is to get the locals involved, in particular the non-enthusiast ones, and let them see the place as an asset to their area. Now, Elkhart Lake certainly isn’t the most suburbanized place on earth, but if you asked around I’ll bet there are WAY more people happy that the track is there as opposed to not.
Central Wisconsin is a unique place but I feel like these efforts could help stave off NIMBY almost anywhere.
Are the food stands still run by local church groups? They had some of the best track food I’ve ever experienced. I haven’t raced there since 2003, but I had run in the June Sprints, Neon Challenge, and other events when I lived in Minnesota.
They are run by various local groups, rotaries and whatnot. Which is kind of awesome, because each stand has a different menu and everything tastes amazing!
Let’s all chip in and create Autopia 🙂
I’d so much rather this than the gaudy baseballer’s house. As it is, I’m trying to figure out what to get rid of before we all move into DT’s Aztek.
I can’t wait for the Changli racing series
Can we do a Yugo vs Changli? Wait let’s do all the slowest most unreliable cars we can think of. Who ever doesn’t break down wins….wait that means no winners. Kind of like a 24hrs lemons but no weird spending limit just unreliable hoopties as close to stock as they could be.
A coworker of mine years ago proposed a time attack class that was basically an old Lincoln Town Car or similar land barges with three bowling balls in the trunk as moving ballast. There might need to be some fortification done to keep them in the car, but it sounded hilarious.
Road&Track once proposed a racing series with VW type 2 busses with a driver and four passengers. The passengers would be free to move about and lean one way or the other in corners. Sort of a cross between sailboat racing and sidecar racing..
Changli Race Series: Let’s Go! Rulebook
We could pool resources with other Automotive websites and reviewers…create an automotive co-op.
Introducing Willow Springs by Autopian, R&T, The Drive, Throttle House, SavageGeese, Doug DeMuro, Etc.
I love Savagegeese so much. I think Mark and Jack are the pinnacle of what car YouTube has to offer.
OK, Beau, hear me out.
“Galpin’s Willow Springs Motorsports Park”
Sounds amazing, doesn’t it!
Offer track days/HPDC for buyers of Porsches, Mustangs, and any other high performance cars you sell. Autopian Rich Corinthian Leather members get invited, too.
Bonus, when the inevitable US Civil War, Part II, happens, declare independence from CA and the US and form the free state of Autopia!
Beau’s Dad could have done it. Beau not so much…
Guess I need to drive this track sometime soon. It’s the only major track in Southern California that I haven’t actually driven, I’ve only ridden shotgun.
Some developer will buy it and turn it into track homes (no pun intended). The track already is fighting the locals that want it shutdown. They forced sound ordinances on the track. Who knew buying a house close to a race track would be loud?
Wait, you’re saying locals in Rosamond oppose the track? Who actually lives close enough to it to complain?
https://maps.app.goo.gl/bcr9zWjjqitQ4Ncb9
Haven’t been there for a few years but I used to regularly ride my motorcycle out there and walk around on random days. But track homes are constantly creeping closer and closer.
But absolutely go if you have a chance. It’s straight out of the 1970’s in the best possible way. Just a dreamland for anyone into grassroots style motorsports.
Its been years for me too but I didn’t think Rosamond was a hotbed of development.
Last time I went out there there was a ton of new construction all over the AV. Used to take all the back roads through Antelope Acres
There may be a lot of us here, but enthusiasts are an endangered species. The average American (there’s a lot of ’em) just doesn’t like cars very much.
A lot of them are writing for Japlonik
burn.gif
Did you mean tract home?
I did my teen driving course there. It was the only time I’ve ever gotten my 91 Audi 90 Quattro 20V sideways.
How much? Autopian group buy?
track days as an Autopian member benefit
At the “pavement” level
I am in. Put me in for 100 bucks and what ever value I can get for parts I have pulled off vehicles because of upgrades over the years. Maybe I can sell some Legos or guns haha
Yeah if it’s for sale, what’s the price? Like seriously, if no price then it’s not for sale. Do people just purposely leave out half the details on an article or just lazy pump out as many articles as we can and who cares about the specifics.
They don’t have a listing price! So it’s not lazy writing.
However, if you think you have enough money, feel free to make an offer
https://willowsprings.teamscarborough.com/offering-memorandum/
They don’t list the price because you actually can’t make an offer. It’s some of the most valuable real estate in the country whether or not there’s a racetrack on it, AND it’s with or without the corresponding business(es.) Also there’s some very very very serious Hazmat and EPA concerns – including asbestos – which a buyer could be on the hook to clean up.
So it’s only open to industry professionals acting on behalf of a buyer, and who agree to mutual confidentiality before they will even show you the exact acreage on offer, much less the buildings and businesses.
It’s for sale. You just have to register as a buyer and sign the NDAs before moving forward in the process.
No, you really can’t. I actually read the form and the terms. The only people they’ll provide details to are licensed real estate professionals (principal or broker,) the bank (lender,) or an attorney or assessor type (service provider.)
They very much don’t want to deal with every lottery winner and delusional on the Internet, and I don’t blame them.
600+ acres in Kern County, California with senior water rights deeded and existing proven wells? That’s easily $10M+ before any improvements. Add in the improvements, business, zoning, history (reputation,) California Point of Historical Interest (insulation from NIMBYs,) etc. and I could easily see them asking $50M+.
Oh, I bet they’re wanting more than $50mil. However, the form does list Principle, so that could be anyone with the right amount of money.
Yes, it’s a long shot for a single individual to buy it, but it is possible.
Oh, and welcome back, I haven’t seen your posts in awhile
Nice to see you, hope all is well
“most valuable real estate in the country”. no it’s not
If you have to ask….
Do people just lazily comment without thinking? It’s like they just pump out as many comments as possible without caring about specifics.
Seriously, many sales like this don’t list a price. They probably have a lawyer handling it; who communicates privately with interested parties.
If there is no price available, then say that. Still lazy writing.