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In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip

"Pomona Raceway"
Auto Club Raceway, 2008
Location	2780 Fairplex Drive, Pomona, California
Time zone	UMT -0800
Coordinates	34°05′42.32″N 117°46′11.15″W / 34.0950889°N 117.7697639°W / 34.0950889; -117.7697639
Capacity	40,000
Operator	NHRA
Opened	1951
Former names	Pomona Raceway The Fairplex Ascot at Pomona Los Angeles Dragstrip Auto Club Raceway at Pomona
Major events	NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals
Website	http://www.autoclubracewaypomona.com
Drag Strip
Surface	Concrete
Length	0.25 miles (0.402 km)

The Pomona Raceway (currently named the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, previously named the Auto Club Raceway at Pomona), is a racing facility located in Pomona, California that features a quarter-mile dragstrip. Since its opening in 1961, the dragstrip has hosted the NHRA's Winternationals event – the traditional season opener – and since 2021, the season's last race, the NHRA Finals. These two events have contributed to its becoming perhaps one of the most famous dragstrips in North America. The facility has a seating capacity of 40,000 spectators, and it is one of the few dragstrips in the USA that is operated directly by the NHRA. This dragstrip has also gone by the nickname of The Fairplex, in reference to its location at the Fairplex, formerly called the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds.

History

Drag Racing

In 1952, a car club known as the "Choppers of Pomona" aided by a young police officer, Sergeant Bud Coons, advocated that a safe place should be provided for local area drag racers. Coons, along with fellow hot rod enthusiast, Pomona Police Chief Ralph Parker, and the city government of Pomona asked to lease the parking lot of the LA County Fairgrounds. Coons and Parker were instrumental in convincing the county to allow the use of the fairgrounds for the race by citing statistics that indicated deaths among kids declined sharply when given a supervised place to race. The county finally agreed, as long as the hot rodders would provide their own insurance, which they were able to do with gate receipts.

At the time the county made the agreement, the parking lot was nothing but a gravel lot. The coalition of hot rodders, police and community leaders raised funds through donations and paved the lot. This was the birth of the dragstrip in Pomona.

Though it was not considered a national event by today's standards, the very first NHRA event, the Southern California Championships, was held at this dragstrip on an April weekend in 1953. On Saturday, attendance was at two or three thousand and attendance was reported to be at 15,000 on Sunday. Compared to the 3.9 second numbers (at 333 yd 1 ft (304.80 m) the pros are putting on the board presently, the best ET of that day was a respectable 10.93.

In 1961, NHRA held its first ever Winternationals at the Pomona Raceway. It became NHRA's second national event. The first NHRA national event was the U.S. Nationals, which was nicknamed the "Big-Go". Thus, the Winternationals got nicknamed the "Big-Go West". It has remained at this location ever since. For many years, this event was sponsored by Chief Auto Parts and later its successor AutoZone, but later was sponsored by CSK Automotive, and now its current successor, O'Reilly Auto Parts.

2008 saw Top fuel & funny car races be reduced to the present 1000 feet.

The season closer, the NHRA Finals, was brought to the facility in 1984 from the now defunct Orange County International Raceway. When the event was first brought to Pomona, the event was sponsored by Winston (after NHRA's main title sponsor at the time, RJ Reynolds' "Winston" cigarette brand). From 2010 to 2019, and again from 2021 to 2022, the event was sponsored by the Automobile Club of Southern California, which is affiliated with AAA. The 2020 event was sponsored by Stellantis and Royal Dutch Shell when it was held at Las Vegas Motor Speedway because Clark County, Nevada allowed spectators when California still banned mass gatherings because of the global pandemic. Beginning in 2023, In-N-Out Burger will become naming rights sponsor for both the circuit and the NHRA Finals.

Other Racing

From 1934 to 1937 a 1⁄2 mile dirt oval was located at the facility. The dirt oval was once again opened in the 1950s but closed in 1959. Pomona was also home to a 1.7 mile paved road course which operated in 1998 and 1999. From 1956 to 1961, a 2-mile temporary road course was located in the parking lot.

Winners

NHRA Winternationals

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Note: From 2021 to 2025, the race has been held in late March or early April, after the Gainesville round. The 2021 race was later postponed to July-August in order to allow spectators. The 2024 race was abandoned after the semifinals because of weather and replaced by two races in Chandler, Arizona.

NHRA Finals

NOTE: The Finals has been held in the Southwest area from 1965 to 1973, the Los Angeles metropolitan area from 1974 to 2019, and again since 2021, and Las Vegas in 2020.

References

1. "Na-Motorsports Track Entry". NA Motorsports. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
2. Festival tickets for In-N-Out's 75th anniversary event sold out, 2023, retrieved 20 October 2023
3. "Need for a safe place to speed: Pomona's hot rod history began with police". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Archived from the original on 2011-07-22. Retrieved 2008-12-03.
4. *Post, Robert C. (1996). High Performance: The Culture and Technology of Drag Racing 1950-1990. Baltimore Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4654-4.
5. "In-N-Out Burger named title sponsor of In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip and In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals". NHRA.com. NHRA. Retrieved 2022-11-01.
6. "Na-Motorsports Track Entry". NA Motorsports. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
7. "Na-Motorsports Track Entry". NA Motorsports. Retrieved 5 May 2010.

External links

• Official website
• NHRA's Official Site

• NHRA Division 7 drag racing venues
• Motorsport venues in California
• Sports venues in Los Angeles County, California
• Buildings and structures in Pomona, California
• Sports in Pomona, California