Sacramento Raceway Park
The Sacramento Raceway Dragstrip was originally built in 1964 by Vastine Smith who laid the original asphalt and timing tower for the current Dragstrip and two sets of grandstands which held approximately 500 Spectators. Vastine Smith ran the racetrack until 1968 when he was forced into bankruptcy.
In May of 1970 Dave and Nancy Smith took over a lease/purchase with the original 13 landowners and spent $50,000 upgrading the raceway with grandstand seating, nite lighting, and new fencing.
Dave Smith conducted Street Legal drag racing every Wednesday night and Motocross every Sunday with a great draw and support from local businesses and racing fans. The facility signed with NHRA as an official Sanctioner of Drag Racing and currently uses all NHRA rules and regulations for every event.
Many improvements have been made when Dave and Nancy Smith took over Sacramento Raceway. Safety upgrades to the one mile Motocross, concrete K-rails and safety fences for the dragstrip, along with adding full facility restrooms, Food and Souvenir Concessions.
In 2015, NHRA presented Sacramento Raceway with the Most Improved Track Award which was contributed by the improvements of a new CompuLink timing system and scoreboards which improved timing and scoring for all events.
Because of County restrictions concerning noise, curfews and traffic congestion, The current schedule of events only allows the racetrack to hold Wednesday night muffled Street Legal Drags with a 9:30 pm curfew, bimonthly Friday Night Motocross and 10 pm curfew for the Saturday occasional highlight drag races events featuring Top Fuel Dragsters, Funny cars, Jets, Wheelstanders etc.
Northern California Automotive related businesses that rely on Sacramento Raceway for their income include; high performance engine shops, custom paint businesses, carburetor tune up shops, race car fabricators, and many others with a total economic impact of $25,000,000 a year.
Sacramento Raceway contributes over $50,000 each year to local schools, sports organizations, churches and fundraisers.
Below are links to older videos from Youtube. At about the 17 minute mark of the movie Funny Car Summer is a 1972 NHRA Divisional Event filmed at Sacramento Raceway.
