Auto Club Famoso Raceway

The Famoso Raceway dragstrip is located north of Bakersfield, California, and is known historically as the home to the annual March Meet, also known as the U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships. The strip, located on Famoso Road between Highway 99 and Highway 65 east of the Highway 99 and Highway 46 interchange, was originally built in World War II as an auxiliary training base for the nearby Army Air Corps training base at Shafter's Minter Field. After World War II, the Army abandoned the field. It was in the 1950's that an aspiring group of drag racing pioneers from the Bakersfield area, the Bakersfield Smokers, purchased the strip and made the necessary adjustments to allow for drag racing. The Famoso Raceway hosted the first ever March Meet in 1959 and it helped establish the fledgling National Hot Rod Association's (NHRA) legitimacy.