NASCAR: Five Tracks Fans Wish Were Still On The Schedule

Riverside International Raceway

If you talk to old time NASCAR fans in California, many of them still lament the loss of Riverside International Raceway. The multi-layout road course facility hosted 48 Cup races on its 2.62-mile layout for nearly 30 years.

The track’s existence was threatened throughout the mid-1980s until the 1988 when the raceway came to an end. Rusty Wallace won the final race at Riverside and between 1989 through 1996, Southern California NASCAR fans did not have a local track to watch the Cup drivers and teams.

Riverside holds the distinction of being the only track to host three point-paying Cup races in one season in NASCAR’s modern history. The road course hosted the 1981 season opening race, hosted the mid-point event of the season and also hosted the final race of 1981.

Next: Do You Smell What The Rock Is Cooking?