NASCAR president Steve Phelps and chief operating officer Steve O’Donnell was asked Friday about the status of the proposed development of Auto Club Speedway:
Q: Regarding Fontana, we’ve recently seen visual evidence that the demolition of the two-mile oval in Fontana has begun. Can you confirm that? Can you also provide an update on if the plan is still to put a short track there, if the parameters of that layout would be like a Richmond, Martinsville, Bristol hybrid? If that’s going to happen, what is the target for a complete date?
STEVE PHELPS: I would say, yes, I will confirm that demolition has begun. I would say that we are still planning on building a short track in Fontana. What the timing of that is, I don’t know. This isn’t the best time to be building based on inflation, the cost of capital, et cetera. But our intention is to continue to be in the southern California market. For 2024 will be at the Coliseum. It is our intention to build a short track in the Inland Empire.
STEVE PHELPS: Yeah, it’s going to be a short track. Most likely be a half-mile racetrack. What exactly that looks like… We’ve got renderings, we’ve got what it looks like. We are ready to go when the time is right.