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This past week, the rumor began circulating through the short-track racing community in Southern California that Irwindale Speedway, inarguably one of the best short tracks in the country, was closing.

Sunday, an executive closely associated with the half-mile paved oval track confirmed it: “Sadly,” he said, “it’s true.”

The track, built in an industrial east of Los Angeles, hosted major events like the Turkey Night Grand Prix for USAC midgets, and the Toyota Showdown for NASCAR late model drivers. The 6,500-seat track, built next to an already-existing eighth-mile drag strip, was state of the art, with top-quality lighting that not only was expected to attract fans and major racing events, but movie and television work, and indeed, Irwindale saw its share of show business, especially TV commercials.

It opened in 1999, then hosted now NASCAR champ Tony Stewart the next year in the Turkey Night, which Stewart won. Plenty of top NASCAR drivers, including Joey Logano, have raced and won there.

While rumors have included the possibility that the track could be sold, at present, it appears Irwindale will join other storied Los Angles-area tracks such as Ascot, Saugus and the Orange Show as an entry in the motorsports history books.

A formal announcement could be made Monday.

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Mid-day yesterday rumors began to swirl that Irwindale Speedway (Err, Toyota Speedway at Irwindale) had shut down shop. They turned off the lights, backed a moving truck up to the office, took off and locked the gates. It was a look into old school race promoter mentality 101.

Formula D, one of the most frequent users of the short-track speedway, was optimistic. "This situation is still very fluid and there is nothing definitive on the future of the facility of Formula DRIFT's event there..." President and Co-Founder Jim Liaw wrote in a statement yesterday.

Today, Irwindale released a statement saying that the 2012 racing season has been cancelled. An official explanation for the closure has yet to be announced.

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“There has been recent news regarding the status of Irwindale Speedway. This situation is still very fluid and there is nothing definitive on the future of the facility or Formula DRIFT’s event there. There are rumors ranging from full closure to “business as usual” with changes only to staff and their in-house NASCAR and drag racing events, again nothing is definitive. The current issue from what we understand is between the facility operators and the property owners. Formula DRIFT will be monitoring the situation at Irwindale and will provide updates via our website and social media channels. As we have proven in the past, no matter what happens, Formula DRIFT will be prepared.”

- Jim Liaw, President and Co-founder of Formula DRIFT

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A stock-car driving school remains in session, and grandstands remain in place at the speedway.

Owners of Irwindale Speedway want to keep the track open for racing, despite an earlier annoucement that the track was suspending all race operations for 2012.

Grassroots racing fans were saddened by the news on Feb. 13 that Irwindale Speedway, the half-mile paved short-track just east of Los Angeles, was closing, and that the operators were filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. But all is not lost, says Doug Stokes, who has been a spokesman for the track since before it opened in 1999.

Owners of the property and the track, Stokes said, want to continue racing, “And there is a sense that the ship will be righted and we'll continue,” he said. That includes the annual Turkey Night Grand Prix, the historic Thanksgiving weekend races that have migrated from one California track to another over the decades, which seemed to have found a home at Irwindale.

The track is built next to a sand mine, over a pit that has been filled in with waste, including concrete buildings that were part of the original Los Angeles subway project. Early reports that the owners thought the land was more valuable for residential or mining are untrue; it was a simple issue that the track was costing more to run than it made. Stokes said, however, that he and track owners have heard from plenty of supporters, “including some names you have heard of,” he said, who have offered to do what they can to keep Irwindale Speedway open.

A stock-car driving school remains in session, and grandstands remain in place. Some small, likely rented bleachers in the pits were dismantled, leading to rumors that the main grandstands were being demolished.

“Watch this space,” Stokes told Autoweek. “Better days are ahead.”

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