Just over a month ago, news came out of southern California by way of motorsports journalist Louis Brewster and the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin that the Auto Club Dragway in Fontana was close to reaching an agreement with San Bernardino County officials to reopen the quarter-mile drag racing facility in 2014. As had long been rumored, part of those negotiations included the condition that a sound wall be constructed to cut down on noise emitting from the track during racing events.

In July, Auto Club Speedway officials reportedly reached an agreement with a group of local whiners citizens known as CcoMPRESS (Concerned Community Members and Parents of Redwood Elementary School Students) to continue drag racing operations if a specific set of conditions were met, which of course, included the sound wall, which would be required to span the half-mile from the starting line through the shutdown area, between the drag strip and the Northern Santa Fe railroad tracks that directly parallel the strip. The wall, according to The Bulletin, would cost upwards of $1 million to construct, but despite the price tag, speedway President Gillian Zucker reiterated that they were fully committed to bringing drag racing back to Fontana.

Well, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Yesterday, the Auto Club Speedway confirmed that they’re full speed ahead with the sound wall construction on their Facebook page, and the proof is in the puddin’, with a photo showing the assembled rebar columns that will be used to build the wall already on-site and ready for construction to begin.

Track officials have yet to place a timetable on the completion of construction and the resumption of racing activities, but we hope to learn more in the coming weeks.

 The Auto Club Dragway is one of the few remaining drag strips in southern California — the birthplace and once-hotbed of drag racing — and the only quarter-mile strip in the immediate Los Angeles area. Before it’s closure, the track played host to several major events, including the NHRA’s Pacific SPORTSNationals, a sportsman-only national event for the Lucas Oil drag racing series, and several Pacific Street Car Association doorslammer and NMCA WEST events. 

Image courtesy Auto Club Speedway