Sacramento Raceway

The drag strip was originally built in 1964 by Vastine Smith (Dave Smith’s long lost cousin). Vastine Smith laid the original asphalt and timing tower for the current dragstrip and two sets of grandstands which held approximately 50 Spectators. Mr. Smith ran the racetrack for a few years, then turned management over to Betty Clark in 1967 who named it Eldorado Raceway.

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In late 1967, Western Oil Development purchased the 198 acre property and then named the facility Sacramento Raceway. Western Oil Development spent approximately $50,000 in upgrades to the property, adding the now existing starting line light poles, NewTronics Timing equipment (win light only), and an entry gate ticket booth. The Investors, after one year of promotions, searched for a buyer who would lease and retain the property as a race track because they could not make the dragstrip successful. Dave Smith and his family (current owners of Sacramento Raceway Motorsports Park) leased Sacramento Raceway in early 1968. While still running his family business, Cascade Custom Fence Co., Dave Smith held drag races every Wednesday night, every Saturday night, and Motocross every Sunday.

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The Racetrack was purchased by the Smith family in 1971. Dave Smith, over the past three decades, has made many improvements to Sacramento Raceway Park including, but not limited to: safety upgrades to the one-mile motocross track, supercross track, the 2-1/4 mile clay stock car tracks, the 5/8 mile clay NASCAR track (built in 1980 and now inoperable when use permits were denied in 1982 because of the adjoining Mather Air Force Base), sand drag track, and BMX racetrack; the addition of full facility restrooms; food and souvenir concessions; shade trees; NHRA certified double steel guardrails; new TSI infrared and Daktronics timers; safety fencing; additional lighting; dragstrip repaving; grandstands seating 10,000 spectators; a homestead; and, maintenance yards. According to the County of Sacramento, these improvements have turned Sacramento Raceway Park into an $8,000,000 facility.

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Because of County restrictions concerning noise, curfews and traffic congestion, the current schedule of events only allows the race track to hold Wednesday night muffled street legal fun drags, bi-monthly Friday night supercross, Saturday night stock car racing, and Saturday/Sunday drag races with highlight events featuring jet cars, funny cars, wheelstanders, and more. The facility currently is an NHRA sanctioned dragstrip and uses all NHRA rules and regulations for every event.

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Northern California Automotive related businesses that rely on Sacramento Raceway Motorsports Park for their income include: high performance engine shops; custom paint businesses; carburetor tune-up shops; race car fabricators; and, many others. Sacramento Raceway Park is said to make a total economic impact of $25,000,000 a year.