UPDATE: Plans by NASCAR to redesign Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Ca. are in possession of the Planning Commission of San Bernardino County for Land Use Services, which will now determine whether conversion of the two-mile oval into a half-mile short track must go before the public for an approval hearing – and the answer, so far, is that it may not.
"The heart of the proposal is to reconfigure the current two-mile relatively flat oval into a high-banked half-mile oval," said David Wert, public information officer for San Bernardino County, told Kickin’ the Tires in a phone interview Tuesday. "We don’t know yet, whether, or not, this will require any type of public review, any action by our planning commission or our board of supervisors. From what NASCAR told our planning people initially, it doesn’t sound like it will require that it is a dramatic enough change in the use of the land to require any type of public hearings or actions by a public body."
Wert said the change would definitely be a major alteration for the track itself but not necessarily for the land’s usage. "It would be a dramatically different track than it is now, for sure," he said.
— Kickin the Tires —
ORIGINAL POST 9-8-2020: Auto Club Speedway will be turned into a half-mile short track, according to FOX Sports reporter Bob Pockrass.
NASCAR is aiming for construction to begin following the 2021 race weekend.
A look at the plan for Auto Club Speedway conversion to a half-mile. NASCAR hopeful to start construction after 2021 race for 2022 event. #nascar pic.twitter.com/l4pUg4MkGk
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 8, 2020
NASCAR comment on changing Auto Club Speedway to a half-mile. They are calling it ?Next Gen in California? pic.twitter.com/rYzEsUj26t
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) September 8, 2020