It is a pretty cool track that I think has been around since the late 1980s or early 90s. Has always been named Mohave Valley Raceway. Last year longtime second-generation racers Bill and Ron Meyer bought the track. Their days go back to the 1950s or 1960s when their father raced at the Heidelberg Raceway just outside of Pittsburgh. The family moved to the West Coast in the 1960s and the two brothers became well-known stock car racers around So Cal including Ascot.

They called me to come over and announce three races when 2021 season began as the longtime track announcer was having some health issues. Very racy 1/3 mile semi-banked clay oval. Since they took over a little over a year ago they have added lights, put in a new sound system, just installed a new catch fence, added clay in the corners and they just ordered a new scoreboard. Great promoters and super nice people. Highly recommend this track if you get out here to the west.


The last time I had been in that area was when my family first came from Michigan to California for on vacation. It was 1963 and I was six-years-old. So, the only thing I remember about it was playing in the swimming pool at the hotel with my dad. I remembered nothing of the drive. Once you get off the 15 in Barstow and onto Interstate 40, it is 140 miles to Mohave Valley and there is virtually nothing except desert landscape (very cool landscape and you even go through an old volcano lava field).

I did not remember anything about that road from when I was last there as a kid. The trip was about 250 each way from my home in So Cal and I had planned on driving home right after. Once I saw that road with almost nothing - and I mean nothing but a couple of gas stations and small restaurants in the middle - I started having second thoughts. A friend who was racing the first night got downwind that I planned on driving home and said, "bull $%^#, if you go off that road in the middle of the night, nobody will find you until Tuesday." He had some hotel comps and gave me a room at Harrah's in Laughlin, Nevada. That is one of the cool perks of racing at Mojave Valley. You are only minutes east of the Colorado River and 20 minutes south of Laughlin.

As Tim mentioned above, the off-ramp is the Needles, California exit and the ramp dumps you in front of a gas station that has outrageous prices. When I first went there the first week of February 2021, gas in Southern California was around $2.65. That station was $4.99!!! Another station a few blocks down was only a few cents cheaper. But, three miles later on the same road and into Arizona, it was $1.97!!! And, if you need ammunition the first store selling it is about 30 seconds into Arizona (even more in Bullhead City, along with drive-up liquor stores).

Once again, I highly recommend this track if you come west. You can make a weekend of it after the races at the river or in Laughlin.