The Legendary Willow Springs Racetrack Is Up For Sale And It Might Never Be The Same Again

In some ways, racetracks often feel like utopias, where the anecdotes pour like water and the only big limits are set by marshals and physics. Unchained from the nine-to-five, you can find nirvana as the tach sweeps past five while the cosmos seems to vibrate at your feet. However, stories aren’t infinite. Chapters need to close, heroic eras need to end, and leaps into the great unknown need to be taken. For the first time since 1962, Willow Springs International Motorsports Park in Rosamond, Calif. is up for sale, and however this arc ends, it’ll change motorsports in America forever.

While Willow Springs was purchased by the Huth family back in 1962, it all started with Big Willow a decade prior. Ken Miles helped plan the layout of this track, which quickly earned the name of “the fastest road in the West.” It was featured in “The Love Bug,” and “Ford v Ferrari,” and “Furious 7,” along with more commercials than you can count. However, it’s more than just a filming location with famous roots — it’s a part of motorsports history.

The Can-Am Challenge Cup raced here, the Trans-Am series raced here, the Atlantic Championship Series raced here. To beat Mario Andretti’s overall lap record, you’d need to average 136.26 mph around the entire 2.5-mile Big Willow course. Talk about a heroic number. The track’s a California Point of Historical Interest, and yet despite all the fanfare and reverence for the track, it’s been grassroots as fuck for a long time.

Part of the joy of Willow Springs is its relative affordability. An 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. test-and-tune session at Big Willow costs $225 once you pay a $300 annual membership that includes the fee for your first event, and that’s a damn good price for a full day of lapping if you own a racecar. If you don’t own a fully prepared racecar, several organizations hold reasonably priced trackdays at Willow Springs, such as Open Track Racing’s Big Willow events, which have a $215 entry fee. Not only is that cheaper than a super speeder ticket, trackdays are great places to make new friends.

At the same time, there’s so much more to Willow Springs than Big Willow. From the winding Streets of Willow club circuit to the elevation-intensive Horse Thief Mile to the karting track to the skidpad to a choice of paved or dirt ovals, the complex offers something for fans of just about every discipline. Willow was even one of the first tracks in America to host drifting, with Option throwing an event there in the VHS days.

However, as racing complexes change hands, business plans change. Keeping a racetrack open is expensive, and other track operators across the country have adopted a variety of strategies. Some use country club models like we’ve seen at M1 Concourse, the Thermal Club, and Atlanta Motorsports Park, where the entry point to membership might not be affordable for the bulk of trackday enthusiasts. Some tracks have raised pricing significantly on events, catering to a higher-end crowd while making it harder for people on a budget to get on track. Some tracks have simply closed down.

As of now, it’s not known who will buy Willow Springs or what direction they might take the track in, but don’t be surprised if accessibility changes in the future. It’s expensive to keep a racetrack going, especially a motorsports complex of this size. On the bright side, it seems like the Huth family is looking for a buyer who will actually keep the track going. Having to scrape up some extra cash to hit the track would be a bummer, but it’s still better than not having any track at all.

(Photo credits: Willow Springs International Motorsports Park/Team Scarborough)

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