The Irwindale Speedway & Event Center (a.k.a. Irwindale Speedway , Irwindale Dragstrip , or "The House of Drift") is a motorsports facility located in Irwindale, California , United States . It opened on March 27, 1999, under the official name Irwindale Speedway. Toyota purchased the naming rights to the facility in 2008, and from that time until 2011 it was also known as the Toyota Speedway at Irwindale .
32-473: UEO may refer to: Katsuhiro Ueo (born 1972), Japanese professional drifting driver Kumejima Airport (IATA: UEO), Okinawa, Japan United Earth Oceans Organization , an organization in the television series SeaQuest DSV the abbreviation for Union de l'Europe Occidentale on the flag of the Western European Union Topics referred to by
64-429: A 1 ⁄ 8 -mile drag strip. The property is primarily used for NASCAR races such as ARCA Menards Series West and Whelen All-American Series events. In late 2011, NASCAR announced it was dropping Toyota Speedway from its schedule. The company that managed the track, Irwindale Speedway LLC, filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy on February 13, 2012. In January 2013, it was announced that the track would be re-opening as
96-520: A "best-of-the-best" race. The races were televised live on the Speed Channel . It was also the home of the Turkey Night Grand Prix race, a Thanksgiving midget car racing tradition in southern California since 1934, when the race debuted at Gilmore Stadium . Among the 2005 participants were Tony Stewart , Jason Leffler , and J. J. Yeley . It was also seen in an episode of Malcolm in
128-475: A Trueno. He entered and competed at the Kyushu Ikaten, which was held at Mobility Omuta on March 29, 2000 (he won in the finals against Masao Suenaga ). The 2000-spec AE85 was later repainted cream in mid-2000 with revised changes and he won the 6th All-Japan Ikaten competition at Bihoku Circuit on Sept. 7, 2000. In late 2000, he got hold of a genuine AE86 Sprinter Trueno (GTV Trim) which he swapped parts out of
160-618: A body part. In 2020 he finally taste victory again winning in his home course at Autopolis beating his former Ikaten teammate Naoto Suenaga and break the record for the oldest driver to win in D1GP at 48 years old. He backed up this record by another win in round 3 of the 2023 season at the age of 51 years old. He has competed in Formula D starting in 2008, first appearing at the Red Bull Drifting World Championship , which he drove
192-439: A decent season but placed 3rd overall. At the championship round finale, he was ranked 2nd and he was only 18 points behind Youichi Imamura but mechanical issues occurred during the practice sessions. He was unable to pull through the first round regardless of the quick repairs and it forced him to sit at 3rd overall with Nobushige Kumakubo being ranked 2nd overall. In 2004 , he had a tough season, either unable to pull through
224-503: A sell-out crowd attendance of 10,000, it had surpassed all other events Irwindale hosted in the past, the previous being 8,700. Since then, it has become the series regular opening round in February and a non championship event in December and has also hosted a round of the domestic series, Formula D . The venue has been expanded to accommodate 15,000 spectators. The circuit is regarded as one of
256-449: Is (デスカラデスネ/ですからですね Desukara Desune ). He was into cars from a young age, and started out competing in gymkhana events, starting with a Nissan Skyline R32 GT-R . At one of these events one of his younger colleagues took him to the Touge and challenged him saying that he couldn't do it. So he went out and proved him wrong, and this got him started in drifting. As well as his drifting he is also
288-507: Is $ 150,000 owed on a personal-injury claim. Irwindale Speedway LLC owed Nu-Way Industries Inc., the company that owns the property where the track and offices are built, $ 55,000 in rent. Irwindale Speedway LLC has two more outstanding personal injury claims with unknown values. There is also a debt of $ 8,093.51 owed to the city of Irwindale Police Department, $ 16,379.58 owed to the Golden State Water Company and $ 1,437.50 owed to
320-527: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Katsuhiro Ueo Katsuhiro Ueo ( 植尾勝浩 , Ueo Katsuhiro , 26 May 1972, Tamana, Kumamoto ) is a Japanese professional drifting driver, whose currently competing in D1 Grand Prix with a Nissan Silvia S15 , well known for formerly using the Toyota AE86 in the series. He is also known as, Therefore, it
352-399: Is proud to extinguish the "nowhere else to go" excuse used by illegal street racers, and local police often hand out flyers to offenders for free entry into drag races at the dragstrip to promote safe racing and has re-opened. The drag strip is set to close on December 21, 2024. The venue is also known for drifting events; when it hosted D1 Grand Prix's first overseas event in 2003 , with
SECTION 10
#1733084736592384-648: The 7th round of 2005. In 2006 , he entered the D1 Street Legal series, starting out with the AE86 in the first round. On-wards however, he changed to a Nissan Silvia S15 for NKB Racing and his performance has been successful despite using a different car. During Round 7 of 2006, he attempted to pilot the NKB SR20-powered Nissan Fairlady Z Z33 but he could not proceed to the Best 16 during the qualifying round as
416-554: The AE85 to the new AE86. This car was more commonly known as Professor, due to a decal that was placed on the side of the car at the time. He continued to use this AE86 in D1 for the 2001 season until the 2006 season. He has been competing in the D1 Grand Prix since the first season, debuting at Round 3. He has always done well, getting his first win at the first round in 2002 and going on to take
448-647: The Best 16 for Odaiba Rd.1 and Rd.2, and getting into the Best 8 at the Tsukuba Rd.3. For the final round of the season, he debuted a new S15 that was powered by the Nissan GT-R's engine, the VR38DETT which is bolted to a Holinger sequential transmission that produces 1000ps. In 2019 he's now supported by new tire manufacturers Valino and got into his first final in Tsukuba on round 2 but lost to Masashi Yokoi due to his car losing
480-659: The D1GP UK Silverstone and D1GP Las Vegas 2006 Exhibition Matches. He has not adapted well to the new vehicle and finished the season down in 20th place. In 2015 , after the event of Formula D Japan, he made a comeback to D1 Street Legal after a 7-year absence which he picked up a sponsorship with Z.S.S. Racing. He is driving the S15 once again, starting in 2015. He has done very well for the season, earning 2nd overall. In 2016 , following his successful season of 2015, more luck shines on him when he managed to get his first D1SL win at
512-520: The First Round or Best 16. It turned out however, that the AE85's chassis strength had started to weaken since the reinforcement method done to it was by the use of rivets instead of the stitch-welding method, which the AE86 had used. In 2005 , he went back to the AE86 for the 2005 and 2006 season, and he was able to retain a decent season again, after getting his second victory at Round 2 of 2005. Ueo also accomplish of getting 3 straight 100 tansou runs at
544-490: The Irwindale Event Center, and would operate as a Whelen All-American Series venue for the 2013 season. For the past decade, the Formula D Championship Series had featured sold out events at the venue. In 2015, plans were made to demolish Irwindale Speedway and build an outlet mall on the site of the track. On August 9, 2017, it was officially announced that Jim Cohan, CEO of Team 211 Entertainment, who operated
576-665: The Middle , titled "Stock Car Races", also used in the opening scene of the pilot episode of Fastlane and in Episode 25 of Fear Factor Season 3. In 2012, Irwindale Speedway LLC, the management group that ran the track, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy on the same day track management canceled the 2012 racing season. In the paperwork filed at the United States Bankruptcy Court, Central District, it shows that Irwindale Speedway LLC owed creditors $ 331,773.11. The largest amount
608-664: The San Gabriel Valley Tribune for advertising. In late 2012, Jim Cohan, who ran the LA Driving Experience at the track was able to secure funding to re-open the speedway under his management. In September 2013, the property housing the Irwindale Event Center was purchased by Irwindale Outlet Partners, LLC for $ 22 million. The lease for the Irwindale Event Center continued on a year-by-year basis. In March 2015, plans were made to demolish Irwindale Speedway and replace it with Irwindale Outlet Center, an outlet mall , but
640-683: The Wisesquare & Drift Speed-sponsored S15. He would later compete in some of the championship rounds during the following year (2009). His comeback to Formula D was when the series introduced 'Formula D Japan' back in Summer 2014 and competed with his own S15 which was built for the event, as well as his comeback to competitive drifting. He competed again for the 2017 round of Formula D Japan at Okayama Circuit with his D1GP VR38-Powered S15. Irwindale Speedway The speedway features banked, paved 1 ⁄ 2 - and 1 ⁄ 3 -mile oval tracks and
672-521: The championship. In 2003 , he had switch to two different Truenos starting in 2003 at the 4th round in Fuji Speedway until the end of the D1 2004 season, which he used an AE85 (different from 2000 one) while the AE86 was used as a T-car, it was also the car that he had brought over for the Irwindale Speedway exhibition match, which he won after defeating Nobuteru Taniguchi in the finals. He had
SECTION 20
#1733084736592704-450: The closure has been delayed. The track is currently running the 2017 season. On August 9, 2017, Cohan made an announcement in an e-mailed statement saying that the track was closing down officially in January 2018. On December 29, 2017, it was announced that the track would not close in January 2018 as former Irwindale Late Model racer and track champion Tim Huddleston took over management of
736-586: The drag-strip will close by the end of December. Construction began in March 1998 on Irwindale's 6,500-seat grandstand and 1 ⁄ 2 - and 1 ⁄ 3 -mile ovals. Irwindale Speedway hoped to fill the void left in the Los Angeles Basin left by the closures of the famed Riverside International Raceway , Ontario Motor Speedway and Saugus Speedway . The $ 7-million project was completed March 1999 and held its inaugural races on March 27, 1999. However, during
768-666: The first practice session for a sprint car race , driver Casey Diemert died of head and neck injuries after hitting the wall and flipping his car from turn 3 to turn 4. From 2003 to 2010, the main 1 ⁄ 2 -mile oval hosted the NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown . In this event, the top 30 drivers in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the top 40 drivers in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series come from their respective regional tours to compete in
800-462: The most popular courses for crowds and drivers despite the unforgiving concrete wall which drivers usually brush through with their rear bumpers. Because of its popularity, the circuit is nicknamed the House of Drift . The 2003 Guinness Book of World Records lists the fastest-ever top speed of a radio-controlled car as 111 mph (178.63 km/h) set by Cliff Lett of Associated Electrics . Lett,
832-456: The owner of tuning shop and used car dealership Racing Garage SIFT . To start off his drifting activities, he got hold of his first AE86 which was an AE85-spec Corolla Levin , heavily modified and turned into an AE86. He had owned this car from 1998-1999 and had entered several drifting events (Carboy's DoriCon GP, Battle Magazine's BM-Cup, P's Cars) at the time. In 2000, he converted the Levin to
864-465: The rear lift-gate had lifted open, and was deemed as a mechanical issue from the judges. This was also the last season that he would drive the AE86. In 2007 , he changed teams and as well with a new car in the main series, moving to Team M.O.V.E's Nissan Silvia (S15) , the car that won the 2005 championship at the hands of Yasuyuki Kazama while his teammate at the time Hideo Hiraoka was assigned with Team M.O.V.E's second S15, which Kazama had used for
896-457: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title UEO . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UEO&oldid=1143713494 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Disambiguation pages with surname-holder lists Hidden categories: Short description
928-445: The season opener after 10 years of being in series, as well as being a D1GP veteran to still compete in the spin-off series. After earning two victories and a 3rd-place podium, he was crowned as the 2016 D1SL Series Champion. In 2017 , he went back to competing in the main series as D1 Street Legal was halted for the rest of year. He had an average performance with recurring issues on his D1SL S15 machine but he has ended up getting into
960-505: The speedway to have it remain open. In February 2020 Irwindale's famous All-Star Showdown returned to the track following a ten-year hiatus. The track remained open without spectators during the COVID-19 pandemic founding its own streaming service IrwindaleSpeedway.tv operated by Low Budget TV. In June 2021 fans returned to the track. At the 2024 West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150 , post race drama happened when Sean Hingorani
992-406: The track under the name of Irwindale Event Center, would cease operation. On December 29, 2017, it was announced that the track would not close in January 2018 as former Irwindale Late Model driver and track champion Tim Huddleston, along with K&N West team owner Bob Bruncatti, took over management of the speedway to have it remain open. On October 29, 2024, it was announced that the speedway and
UEO - Misplaced Pages Continue
1024-462: Was caught on the hot mic swearing at owner Tim Huddleston. On October 29, 2024, Huddleston officially announced that the both speedway and the drag-strip track will be permanently close on December 21, 2024. The 1/8-mile drag racing strip opened on September 29, 2001. In 2003, in cooperation with local law enforcement, Irwindale Speedway opened its own dragstrip and hosts legal drag races for street-legal cars, trucks, and motorcycles. The dragstrip
#591408