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.

Random facts

Footage exists of classic races like the 1986 Los Angeles Times Grand Prix in which the Chevy Corvette of Doc Bundy hit the Ford Probe of Lyn St. James and the Jaguar of Chip Robinson at Turn 1. St. James' car caught fire, and Chip Robinson nearly cartwheeled into the crowd, but fortunately she survived the flames and he escaped uninjured within the track bounds.

Related Topics:
Los Angeles Times Grand Prix - Chevy Corvette - Doc Bundy - Ford Probe - Lyn St. James - Jaguar - Chip Robinson

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sadly, Riverside was the site of the only fatality in IMSA GTP history, when in the 1983 running of the Times Grand Prix, Rolf Stommelen's Joest-constructed Porsche 935 lost its rear wing at the Dogleg, went down an old section of track, and hit two freeway-type barriers sending it into a horrific roll at Turn 9.

Related Topics:
IMSA - Rolf Stommelen - Porsche 935

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

When the racetrack was proposed in the mid 1950s, Riverside International Motor Raceway (as it was called at the time) was planned to ultimately be 5.0 miles long, but the club extension was never constructed and the track's final length (after Turn 9 was adjusted in 1969 to a 10 degree banked sweeper) was 3.3 miles.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Of all the road course races run at RIR, there was at least one that was run in a counter-clockwise direction sometime in the 1960s.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

ESPN taped the June 12, 1988, Budweiser 400 race at RIR and caught racer Ruben Garcia crashing hard off turn 9.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

NASCAR lost racer Joe Weatherly at the track in January 1964. For a final tribute, he has the old version of Riverside Raceway etched on his headstone as a final joke since Joe was a joker.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After 14 years of NASCAR as a driver and later a car owner, Richard Childress won his first NASCAR race in 1983, when Ricky Rudd drove his #3 Piedmont Airlines Chevrolet to victory in the 1983 Budweiser 400k.

Related Topics:
Richard Childress - Ricky Rudd

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

From 1981 until 1987, NASCAR's championship race was at Riverside.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~