The final day of racing at Irwindale Speedway was both a party and a wake, one that began just after high noon Saturday and ended just before Sunday started.
There were funereal speeches — eulogies, if you like — tears and sadness. But there were also beach balls, cheers, flags and fireworks. In between there was racing — a lot of racing — with more than 140 drivers taking to the track in almost anything that had wheels and an engine before the final car crossed the finish line just before midnight.
Irwindale has long been home to the weird, wacky and wonderful, from trailer and figure-8 races to all-female demolition derbies and RV auto soccer. It was where drifting got its start in the U.S., the wide, banked asphalt track perfectly suited for what has become one of the fastest-growing racing series in the country. And it was where a radio-controlled car hit a world-record speed of 111 mph.
The track is — was? — historic and iconic so its closing after a quarter-century is another blow in what has been a long, slow decline of auto racing in the region.