This Weekend's Race is Where? Hint: NASCAR Ought to Tell the L.A. Times

The schedule tells me there's supposed to be some NASCAR racing coming up over in California at the Auto Club Speedway - the track Roger Dodger built over in the L.A. market and that Brian France is so fond of that ISC bought it and even added a second poorly attended race.

Now if I were NASCAR and/or ISC, I'd be doing a racing version of basketball's full court press right now with the L.A. media, hoping to generate some interest and sell a few tickets to my event across the country.

I was curious to see what the Los Angeles Times has to say about the upcoming race weekend at Auto Club Speedway.

Guess what? They have NOTHING to say.

The last NASCAR story in the L.A. Times was dated March 14th about Denny Hamlin dropping his fine appeal.

To its credit, the L.A. paper does have a racing story in today's edition. Here's the headline and opening sentence:

Sports Now
SPORTS NEWS FROM LOS ANGELES AND BEYOND
IndyCar season set to open with St. Petersburg street race

By Jim Peltz

March 20, 2013, 12:06 p.m.

Ryan Hunter-Reay opens his defense of the IndyCar championship Sunday with the series season opener in St. Petersburg, Fla. etc, etc, etc...........

HEY NASCAR and ISC.... You dumbos need a lesson in how to market and promote. Send one of your media specialists over to the L.A. paper. No wonder you don't draw flies at Auto Club Speedway.

And to think the LA Times once sponsored NASCAR's season ending race at Ontario BEFORE Cup really hit the big time.

Yep... like the one where Dale Earnhardt clinched the 1980 GN Championship in the first outing of the Wrangler Jeans Machine! Saw a couple of old program covers floating around on the net.

And a few more...

That is most interesting Dave. What a slam. But then that speedway never impressed me from day one and, besides, wasn't it that hunk of Hollywood glamor that took MY Southern 500 from Darlington on Labor Day.

Being into music as I am, it brings to mind the words of that old standard "California here I come, right back I started from". But who cares? Not I.

And what about that Television series with the old truck and the sweet granny that had the song that went:

"Come and listen to my story about a man named Brian, if his lips were moving you knew that he was lying, then one day when his Daddy passed away, he began to ruin the racing that we have today;. Ok, that enough before I get fined and/or suspended.

Fine you? Hell, I'll GIVE you $25,000 to finish another stanza or two to that song. I see lots of promise where you are headed with that parody.

Well, not really on the money part. But I might give one of those clipart gift thingys offered here for birthdays.

Chase, the "clipart thingy" would be great. As far as I know, I can't be taxed for that......yet! There are few words to adequately describe my distain for that California track. Main reason is Darlington lost Labor Day to that track. I guess my dislike is so ingrained that California is the ONLY track I have never won a race on X-Box. I don't like New Hampshire either though and I win almost everytime there. Don't get much time to play X-Box anymore so I guess I would need to brush up.

So you want more verses to my song, huh? Lol. You should have been around last week when I was trying to write 'rap'. I went to several videos to get the "flow" and believe me, I don't use the language necessary to write rap. But I did learn one thing for sure watching those videos on You Tube......The use of the word Jeremy Clements is alleged to have received his suspension for is about every third word in rap. In between that word is the "F" word and the "B" word as it refers to female dogs. And NASCAR gave its stamp of approval to that at Daytona?????? I swear there is something rotten in Denmark. Wait, I take that back. I was in school with a guy from Denmark and he was a really nice guy. Guess I need to change that to "There's something rotten in Daytona". Oh wait! We're not sure he is in Daytona. No one seems to know where he is. And I'm not talking about 50 Cent.

One other Auto Club Speedwaymysteryis its dis-similarity to its supposed sister, Michigan. As Dave pointed out, Roger Dodger built it, and ordered his gazillion well-paid engineers to build the California Dream as a carbon copy of MIS. But it a'int. It just a'int. The stories ofmovies being filmed on the site, and hoards of spectators blissfully shopping for souvenirs under the bleachers as the race aero-whizzed along, notwithstanding, the boring shows at ACS may be related to its lead-balloon personality. But, the question remains, MIS is not that complicated of a design, and with the Penske resources, how did they all totally miss the mark?

Luv the lyrics. I'm with Chase. Please give us a few more stanzas!!!

Don't forget, also, that Auto Club Speedway is built on top of a Federal Toxic Waste Site, the old Kaiser property - NASCAR's version of the Love Canal. Could be hazardous to your health to attend. They probably don't need lights at Fontana, the spectators and competitors may glow in the dark.

For those not familiar, here is a partial list of what was found on the site where Auto Club Speedway now resides:

NPL Site Narrative for Kaiser Steel Corp. (Fontana Plant)
KAISER STEEL CORP. (FONTANA PLANT)
Fontana, California

Federal Register Notice: June 24, 1988

Conditions at proposal (June 24, 1988): Kaiser Steel Corp.'s former plant occupies about 2,000 acres in Fontana, San Bernardino County, California. The plant operated during 1942-83. In February 1987, Kaiser filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Federal bankruptcy code.

The plant consisted of three main units: a primary production unit, a rolling mill, and two slag disposal areas covering approximately 1 square mile. California Steel Industries, Inc., purchased the rolling mill from Kaiser in 1984. Cuyahoga Wrecking Corp. purchased the coke plant and blast furnaces in the primary production unit for salvage and began dismantling them in 1985. Tanks and structures were cut open with blow torches, spilling contents onto the ground and starting fires. Asbestos insulation was torn or knocked off, releasing fibers to the environment. EPA pursued a criminal case against Cuyahoga; in December 1988, Cuyahoga officials were found guilty on seven counts of Clean Air Act violations, and received prison sentences of up to 1.5 years.

A consultant to Kaiser has identified 28 potentially contaminated source areas throughout the former plant. Hazardous substances on-site include PCBs, coal tar sludge, plating sludges, acids, asbestos, and heavy metals. Photographs taken during a 1986 inspection show waste and wreckage scattered about the site, numerous drums and sumps in poorly maintained condition, and visibly contaminated soil. The plant is being dismantled for the planned development of an industrial park; a considerable amount of wreckage appears to have been removed.

A 1985 study by Kaiser consultants showed elevated levels of benzene, methylene chloride, and total dissolved solids in on-site wells. The water table below the site, now approximately 350 feet, is expected to rise in the future with implementation of a regional ground water storage program in Chino Basin. Three of the main drinking water wells of the City of Ontario are 1-2 miles directly downgradient of the Kaiser plant. An estimated 150,000 people obtain drinking water from municipal wells within 3 miles of the site.

The facility acquired Interim Status under Subtitle C of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) when it filed a Notification of Hazardous Waste Activity and Part A of a permit application. The site is being proposed for the NPL because it satisfies a component of EPA's NPL/RCRA policy: the owner has demonstrated an inability to finance appropriate remedial action by invoking bankruptcy laws.

Status (October 4, 1989): EPA has dropped this site from the proposed NPL. Kaiser emerged from bankruptcy in September 1988. Hence, this site no longer satisfies the NPL/RCRA policy.

Kaiser is under a Consent Order from the California Department of Health Services and a Cleanup and Abatement Order from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board. EPA has referred the site to the State Superfund program.

EPA tests conducted in 1988 detected heavy metals in the atmosphere at the disposal piles and in ground water. The levels of barium, chromium, cadmium, lead, and mercury in ground water equal or exceed Federal primary drinking water standards. The highest concentrations are in wells near the chrome and ferrous chloride (pickle liquor) ponds. The ponds are known to have had two leaks, resulting in a total loss of 1.5 million gallons of hydrochloric acid solution.

For more information about the hazardous substances identified in this narrative summary, including general information regarding the effects of exposure to these substances on human health, please see the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) ToxFAQs. ATSDR ToxFAQs can be found on the Internet at ATSDR - ToxFAQs ( http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/index.asp ) or by telephone at 1-888-42-ATSDR or 1-888-422-8737.

Wonder what the estimated lifespan of an Auto Club Speedway employee is? And, speaking of San Bernardino County, anybody heard from Warner W. Hodgdon recently?

I think he and J.D. Stacy are working on a screenplay for the male version of Thelma and Louise - where they hold hands and run their racing operations off a cliff.

Hal Needham doing the stunt driving?

you guys are awesome - love this stuff !!!!

Now is not the time to talk about all the things I know.

My question was serious. Charles Moneypenny, a city of Daytona engineer, designed the Daytona International Speedway (his first), and Michigan Speedway;Auto Club Speedway's designer was Paxton Waters Architecture. Contrary to popular understanding, the two tracks are not sisters, and do not perform as such. MIS is banked 18 degrees in the turns, 12 degrees at the start/finish line and 5 degrees on the backstretch. California is similar but its numbers are 14, 11 and 3. The asphalt composition may also differ, and the end-results are very different. Obviously. My question remains: If the duplication of MIS was the goal, why the difference? The answer: Michigan was only thebasisforAuto Club. BTW, MIS is also similar to the old Texas World Speedway.......as they were both once part of the short-livedAmerican Raceways, Inc.

The Californiabanking may have been lowered as a concession to the open-wheel "championship" crowd that Roger Dodger envisioned as being the speedway's ultimate attraction and identity.

CART raced at Cali from 1997-2002 as theMarlboro 500.

Mr. Moneypenny, at the very advanced age of 90, came out of "retirement" and designed the current Richmond track for Paul Sawyer. Paul never ceased showing all of Mr. Moneypenny's plans for the radius and spiral of each turn. Paul wanted something similar to a mini-Michigan. At the time, the 60 foot wide racing surface Mr. Moneypenny designed was virtually unheard of.

As Bobby pointed out above, M.I.S. & Texas World were both originally American Raceways properties, developed by Larry Lopatin, who also got his claws into the Atlanta track.

SPEEDTV.com
www.speedtv.com , 2 Mar 2005 [cached]
Sawyer had retained Charles Moneypenny to design the track.
...
Mr. Moneypenny was 90 years old, a veteran of World War I, and was retired city engineer for Daytona Beach.He had formulated (and patented the formulas) for bank, radius and spiral (transition) of the turns for the Daytona International Speedway when France had built it in 1958.He also designed the Michigan speedway, built 10 years later.
Mr. Moneypenny applied his formulas to the blueprints for the Richmond track, which due to land considerations was set for 0.75mi - much smaller than 2.5mi Daytona or 2.0mi Michigan.

Also, IndyCar ended its 2012 season at Fontana and will do so again this year.