The long drought in Southern California quarter-mile drag racing may be over.
The situation looked grim last year when the Auto Club Dragway in Fontana, California closed due to a lawsuit brought against it by the town's few residents who live in the area, which is primarily populated by heavy industry. Fontana is largely given over to manufacturing and warehousing, and the Auto Club motorsports campus (which includes the two-mile banked NASCAR track) resides on the grounds of the old Kaiser steel plant, far away from homes. Nevertheless, environmental complaints accumulated, legal action was taken by an aggressive group of homeowners lead by a zealous legal team, and the only remaining quarter-mile track in the greater Los Angeles area was forced to close.
Today, however, the Auto Club Dragway released a statement saying they had agreed to terms that would address the environmental concerns of Fontana residents--the most significant being the construction of a sound barrier. Once those conditions are met, the track may resume operations. At the moment, there is no scheduled date for the reopening of the track, but we will keep you posted.