Riverside International Raceway

Riverside International Raceway (Sometimes known as RIR or Riverside Raceway) was a racing track or road course in Riverside, California. A driver died during the first weekend after the opening and several more drivers perished while the track was in operation from 1957 to 1989.

Closure and RIR's transformation into a shopping mall

After former Los Angeles Rams player Les Richter sold the property to Fritz Duda (an attorney from Riverside who later moved to Texas) 1988 would be the final year of active racing for Riverside International Raceway. On June 12, 1988, NASCAR held its final race at RIR - a race won by Rusty Wallace (a Caution flag was out for Ruben Garcia when he came off Turn 9 and lost control of his car and hit a wall, missing the grandstands). In 1989, after the Score Off Road Series held its last race, the track finally closed its gates after 32 years of racing after a Cal-Club racer died and the track ended the way it started: racer dead. Fritz Duda turned the "House that Dan Gurney built" into a shopping mall which opened in 1992. The Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate is on the northern end of the former Raceway Property and houses now occupy the southern end of the old racetrack (where Tim Richmond and Dale Earnhardt raced). In a 1994 topographical map, the remains of Riverside's Turn 9 and a wall were still visible. However, nowdays nothing is left of the Riverside International Raceway except for memorabilia from the racetrack. The old Administration Building remained until 2005, when it was torn down to make way for a complex of townhomes.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles - Les Richter - Fritz Duda - June 12 - 1988 - Rusty Wallace - Ruben Garcia - Score Off Road Series - Cal-Club - Dan Gurney - Shopping mall - 1992 - Moreno Valley Mall at Towngate - Tim Richmond - Dale Earnhardt - Memorabilia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When Riverside closed in 1988, it followed in the footsteps of Ontario Motor Speedway (in nearby Ontario) which closed in 1980. It was not until 1997, when California Speedway (in Fontana) opened, that a permanent motorsports facility would be again located in southern California.

Related Topics:
1988 - Ontario Motor Speedway - Ontario - 1980 - 1997 - California Speedway - Fontana

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Back in 2003, the remainder of the old Riverside International Raceway was torn up, the sign that was at California 60 and Day Street was removed to make way for a Lowe's Home Improvement Warehouse. The old Turn 9 of the old track is now home to houses and the legendary site of the old Riverside International Raceway where you could have heard the roar of engines is now a shopper's heaven and houses.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ironically, in 2003, plans were announced in northern California, near Merced, to build a 3-mile road course with a similar design to the famed Riverside layout, with a major difference in a chicane and Turn 9.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~