Buttonwillow Raceway

Buttonwillow Raceway Park is a motorsports park in Kern County, California, 10 miles north of the town of Buttonwillow and 28 miles northwest of Bakersfield. Owned and operated by the California Sports Car Club, a region of SCCA, Buttonwillow is the “flagship” track of Cal Club, and is also the location of the Club’s administrative offices. http://buttonwillowraceway.com/

The track primarily hosts club level events and Time Attack events. Don’t stopping at the Willow Ranch for ridiculously good BBQ. See below under Food.

Located in the central part of California, Buttonwillow Raceway is approximately a four to five-hour drive from San Francisco and San Diego, and approximately two hours from Los Angeles. When events are held here, most stay either in RVs, fifth-wheel trailers or the specially-constructed worker compound (or “worker village”) on the track grounds, or in the hotels on Highway 58 in Buttonwillow itself.

THE TRACK:

The track is fun and the facility well laid out.  In addition to the main tower, there is a tire shop and fuel station that is usually open on the weekends.  Call to confirm.  There are permanent bathrooms in the paddock near pit lane in and pit lane out. And there is a smaller bathroom with a shower back towards the turn 2 corner of the paddock.

Buttonwillow is run in many different configurations with the main changes being clockwise vs counterclockwise direction and whether you include Lost Hill/ Phil Hill (Turn 9) or run the long drag strip into Turn 10. Clockwise Thirteen or 13CW is the most common setup. Lemons almost always skips turn 9.  It just depends who is running the track that day.

SPECTATING:

The best places to watch are from the Tower, The berm on the outside of the Esses(11) and Off Ramp (2).  The Tower allows you to see the most of the track including Turn 6, the Bus Stop, from one location.  But the area by the Esses can be cool because you can see cars go over Turn 9 and down to 10 and back around. Turn 2 is great to watch from if there is a heated battle as cars will fight for position braking into 2 and use different lines thru Off Ramp to make it stick.

ACCOMMODATIONS:

More hotels can be found here.

FOOD:

DIRECTIONS:

Buttonwillow Raceway Park
24551 Lerdo Highway
Buttonwillow, CA 93206

• Direct Interstate 5 Freeway access
• 126 miles north of downtown Los Angeles
• 196 miles south of San Jose
• 28 miles northwest of Bakersfield
• 1/2 miles west of I-5 on Lerdo Highway
• 60 miles from Paso Robles “Wine Country” and gateway to central coast recreation

TRACK FACTS:

• Three separate tracks, West loop: 1.86 miles, East loop: 1.06 miles, combined track: 3.1 miles
• .69 mile Kart track
• 40+ Race and test configurations purposely designed to emulate street and road racing courses
• 36′ to 55’ track width, 40′ on front straight
• Exceptional safety with minimal walls and hazards
• Moderate climate allows year round use
• Main straight 3,800 feet in length – usable as a test drag strip
• Various turn bankings up to 10%, negative camber turns, crowned turns similar to street courses and fast elevation changes.
• Skid pad 250′ x 255′
• Elevation: 250 feet
• GPS: N 35 29.4855, W 119 32.6655
• Time zone: PST/PDT (-0800/-0700)

HISTORY:

Buttonwillow was officially opened on March 24th, 1996, although they did run a practice session in December 1995. It was constructed by the California Sports Car Club in order to give the club control over their racing future.

The sand dragstrip opened around 2001.