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Willow Springs Has Found a Buyer: Report
After going up for sale last year, Willow Springs International Raceway appears to have a buyer.
The famous track opened in 1953 and has hosted everything from road racing to media drives for new car launches to car club track days. It was the location of California’s first NASCAR road race and it was also where George Lucas, then a budding University of Southern California film student, captured Pete Brock buzzing and drifting a Lotus 23 along the track as a part of his senior project.
The Drive reports that the buyer is investment firm Cross Harbors Capital Partners.
Cross Harbors Capital Partners has an office in southern California, to which we reached out for more information but haven’t received a response. According to its website, “The firm acquires and operates properties for its own account and actively invests in transactions with joint venture operating partners and third-party borrowers. All major commercial real estate asset classes located throughout the United States are eligible for investment consideration including office, warehouse/industrial, retail, apartments, hotel/resort, land, for-sale residential, and mixed-use properties.”
Since the news of the sale hit the web, cynical commenters have lamented that the track will likely wind up covered in condos or tract housing. Of course, if you’ve visited the area in the past, you’d know that virtually any of the fantastically flat desert surrounding Willow Springs International Raceway would make a better place for a housing development than the Willow Springs property itself, which is perched on the side of a hill. We wager that part of the reason Willows Springs has managed to survive so long is that it remains relatively isolated, rather than surrounded by homes like some of our other favorite California tracks, which have had run-ins with new neighbors.
While we wait to hear what Cross Harbors Capital Partners plans for the site, and with whom it may have partnered, we have to speculate that anyone seeking a return on their investment would want to increase the number of events and expand the track’s appeal.
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We can think of plenty of ways to do so. There are three main road courses on the 600-acre property: Big Willow, Streets of Willow, and Horse Thief Mile, yet there’s not much infrastructure to support race teams, let alone spectators. There are a few restrooms, a cafe, and a pit area near Big Willow, but there’s plenty of room to expand access and amenities, even in basic form.
It must be said, however, that an ingredient of the track’s charm is its throwback vibe. While we hope to see Willow Springs thrive, we wish that whatever comes doesn’t change the character of the place too much. There’s a lot of room to grow and yet maintain The Fastest Road in the West as the unique desert outpost that drivers and spectators so dearly love.
There’s a clear difference between being cynical and being observant.
Let’s revisit this article in my comment in a year.
*And
Funny, but Willow Springs Raceway is probably the only place in California where people are building away from. The area has been essentially empty forever. Even the little “town” of Willow Springs has not had any new construction of note in decades. The only thing “new” in the area is a wind farm.
Most of the area around the track is for sale but this partnership bought the track. I am thinking that this will become a “country club track”, with condos and homes, higher track use fees… Not good for us grass (weed) roots racers, but good for those who want a track with a home on it to stay for that race weekend. Well, it’s closer than Thermal… There is even a close by airport.
https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/willow-springs-sold-tenants-told-to-move-out/
I remember a few years ago, at lunch time, being introduced to the “new” owner ? Guess that was not the case.
I hope the track survives as a track, not a subdivision. Recently in mid Tn Nashville Super Speedway faced a similar fate but was bought by another Nascar track. It’s still thriving with a bunch of Nascar races under it’s belt, & serves as a site for several major car shows. All this even though there’re warehouses creeping in from all sides & still no real infrastructure such as motels & food places without a drive to get there. Let’s hope Willow Springs goes the same way.
Hopefully the track survives. The lack of communication on what is going on does beg the question on what their intentions are beyond making some money. Investment firms tend to like quick returns.
Get out your dollar- what’s the over/under on the announcement of the new warehouse park? That, or it’ll get turned in to a Billionaires’ playground, ala the Thermal Club, so they can have a “curated experience” without the bother of the unwashed masses getting in the way.
Willow Springs is a state of California historic landmark, don’t know if that status prevents the land from being developed. Hopefully yes.
The FUTURE needs this race track. Lets pray that it survives with a good owner.
Warehouses are good!!! No pesky neighbors around on weekends, the buildings can muffle some of the noise and with people around on weekends there would be less chance of bad guys doing their thing.
All it needs are some decent amenities: restrooms, food service of some sort (maybe food trucks), fuel and tire service and garage spaces.
I remember plenty a weekend racing late models. Grenaded a motor down the front stretch. When SCCA Cal Club moved to Buttonwillow, Willow turned to mostly motorcycle events. I hope Willow survives as a race track! If not, the developers can fry in the summer heat. I have retired to AZ but still visit. Much cooler at 5000 ft in AZ!
I was in a perfect Pro race for Willow Springs, a Can Am Teams (CAT) race. I heard one person say, “We should put the teams in the stands and put the spectators on the track, the stands would have more in them that way.”