Los Angeles County Raceway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Los Angeles County Raceway (or "LACR") is a motorsport facility in Southern California. LACR's main feature is its 1/4 mile dragstrip, which was first opened in 1964.

Los Angeles County Raceway

Facility statistics
Track Name:	Los Angeles County Raceway
Nickname(s):	LACR, the "Ice Rink", Palmdale Dragstrip
Location:	6850 East Avenue T, Palmdale, CA 93550
Opened:	Oct. 1964. Formerly King’s Antelope Valley Raceway and Palmdale International Raceway.
Closed:	Open till the end of the 2007 Season.
Owned by:	Privately owned since 1985.
Sanctioning body:	NHRA
Radio Station:	91.9 FM
Main Sponsors:	Coors Light, NAPA Auto Parts
Dimensions
Track Type:	Dragstrip
Track Elevation:	2710 ft.
Track Length:	1/4 Mile (1320 ft.), Plus a 1/2 mile shutoff area
Track Width:	60 ft.
Pavement Type:	Asphalt
Seating Capacity:	+6,500
Timing System:	Chrondek
Total Land Area:	+60 Acres
Parking Lot Area:	250,000 sq.ft.
Pit Area/Staging Area:	600,000 sq.ft.

1 General Information
2 Reputation and Criticism
3 LACR in Popular Culture
4 See Also
5 References
6 External Links

[edit] General Information

Los Angeles County Raceway (or "LACR") is an NHRA sanctioned permanent Championship 1/4 mile dragstrip located near Palmdale, CA. There is also a motocross track adjacent to the dragstrip. LACR is one of the few surviving 1/4 mile tracks in Southern California that is still open year round to non-professional drivers and street cars. It is located approximately 60 minutes from Downtown Los Angeles. LACR also holds ANRA, DHRA, SCEDA, and National Motorcycle Racing Association (NMRA) events. LACR hosts open "Test & Tune" Sessions every Wednesday and Friday Night. The Test & Tune Sessions are open to all types of cars from dragsters to street cars.

[edit] Reputation and Criticism

LACR has a reputation among amateur drag racers as a slow track. It is sometimes referred to as the "ice rink". It is widely known for the slow times that street cars achieve. The slow times comes from three different sources. First, LACR's extremely high elevation lowers 1/4 mile times and trap speeds (although the altitude is only 2,710 ft the normal altitude density is around 4,000 ft ^[1]). LACR tries to remedy this by posting "altitude corrections". Second, it is rumored that LACR's staff do minimal preparation to the track except for major events. Third, LACR is in the middle of the high-desert, which frequently has very strong winds. Track officials work very hard to try to keep sand off the track, but they are not always successful. The wind/sand is by far the biggest concern of LACR officials. The track has a schedule through April 2007, but the tracks survival beyond that date is in question ^[2]. As it stands right now, LACR will close its gates at the end of the 2007 Season.

[edit] LACR in Popular Culture

Los Angeles County Raceway has been seen in numerous movies and television shows. Recent Hollywood movies featuring LACR include The Fast and the Furious and Ocean's Eleven.
The Mariah Carey music video "Loverboy" was filmed at LACR.
Mass media corporation, Primedia, has many of its automotive magazines based out of their Los Angeles branch. Because of LACR's closeness to Los Angeles, many of these publications use Los Angeles County Raceway to perform comparison tests and to record performance data. Some of the Magazines that frequent LACR include: Hot Rod Magazine; Four Wheeler, Sport Truck, Turbo, Car Craft Magazine; Chevy High Performance; 5.0 Mustang Magazine; Motorcyclist Magazine (ALL of their 1/4 mile data recorded at LACR). Although separate from Primedia, Car and Driver magazine also stages many of its comparison tests at Los Angeles County Raceway (acceleration data) as well as neighboring Willow Springs Raceway (handling data).
LACR's list of films, videos, television shows, and magazines that use Los Angeles County Raceway.