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Tracks: New Irwindale Dragstrip will be a safe place for local racers

26 August 2000

Irwindale, Calif. - - Everyone has read the horrific headlines ... Illegal racing 
on city streets has surely taken a terrible toll on young drivers as well as 
on innocent bystanders.  But, we don't intend to rehash any of that here.  What 
the new Irwindale Dragstrip intends to do is provide a safe alternative to the 
illegal and dangerous operation of high-performance automobiles.

Irwindale Dragstrip at Irwindale Speedway will work with the National Hot Rod 
Association (NHRA) well as with local, regional, and statewide law enforcement 
agencies to get youngsters heading in the right direction by giving them a safe 
place to race and exercise their automobiles and their personal "need for speed".

"One of the most important components of this facility will be our participation 
in NHRA's very successful Youth Education Services ("YES") Program,"  said track 
VP/COO Bob DeFazio.  "The NHRA's Education Services Department is devoted exclusively 
to educational programming.  The staff develop and work with both tracksite and 
classroom programs for students from kindergarten through college."

"We believe that we can truly make a difference in some young lives here at Irwindale, 
by offering both a safe place to compete and a stimulating educational opportunity 
for young people from all over southern California.  We want to make the name 
Irwindale come to proudly mean a place where kids can do what kids do with cars 
under controlled conditions, a place that offers healthy alternatives to anti-social 
behavior like illegal street racing and the use of drugs."  

Support for the new facility has been strong from many local and regional law 
enforcement agencies.  "Everyone who's involved professionally with kids and 
cars is in favor of what we are doing here at Irwindale,"  DeFazio indicated. 
 We've got tremendous support from all the leaders in the field."

The Irwindale Dragstrip is presently under construction. Ground was broken on 
Saturday, August 12, 2000.  Many guests, including Wally Parks, the founder of 
the NHRA, were on hand to take part in the celebration of the first dragstrip 
to be built in the southland in over 30 years.  Plans are to have the new facility 
on-line and operating early in the new year.  A 1/8-Mile "strip", the track will 
welcome both NHRA Street Legal Racers and Junior Dragsters.