Kyle Larson (1) battles Daison Pursley during Friday's Turkey Night Grand Prix feature at Ventura Raceway. (Richard Bales Photo)
The 2020 edition of the Turkey Night Grand Prix will not take place. (Richard Bales Photo)

Track Of The Day: Ventura Raceway

With the racing world paused amid the COVID-19 outbreak, SPEED SPORT is highlighting race tracks around the United States. This is part of that ongoing series.

Track Of The Day: Ventura Raceway
Address: 10 West Harbor Blvd., Ventura, CA, 93001
Website: www.venturaraceway.com

History: Racing has long taken place at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, with races being held as far back as the early 1920s. However, it wasn’t until 1985 when the current fifth-mile dirt oval known as Ventura Raceway was built at the fairgrounds, which is located within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean.

Located less than four hours from the Mexican border, the track promoted by Jim Naylor, plays host to a number of weekly and touring series events throughout the season.

The track — once known as Seaside Park Raceway — is annually visited by multiple regional USAC divisions and is home to the Ventura Racing Ass’n, which sanctions two sprint car divisions at the track.

Regular divisions at the track include the VRA Sprints, VRA Sr. Sprints, Mod Lites, IMCA Modifieds, Hobby Stocks, Dwarf Cars and the WMR Midgets.

The track also annually hosts a number of flat-track motorcycle races and since 2016 has hosted the annual running of the Turkey Night Grand Prix for the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series. Kyle Larson is the defending race winner.

Midget racers line up for a heat race before a capacity crowd at California’s seaside Ventura Raceway in April 1991. (Chris Economaki Photo)