ARIZONA
The Grand Canyon State
From the travels and adventures of the “World’s #1 Trackchaser” All-Time Favorite Arizona Track: Manzanita Speedway – Phoenix Current lifetime trackchasing state rank: 1 Best Memories: Did you know that we lived in Phoenix for a year back in 1974? Manzanita was our home track and is my all-time favorite in the state of Arizona. This was back when the Shumans (Ronnie and Billy) and Lealand McSpadden (above) were ruling the roost. I learned to eat “cheese crisps” aka quesadillas at Manzy. It took me forever to see the Christmas special races at the Arizona Karting Association’s AKA Speedway (above) in Glendale. The Arizona Motorsports Park places a limit on the maximum amount of spectators that can be on the property at one time: 200. I’ve never heard of such a thing. At the Canyon Raceway figure 8 track, the promoter drove into one car at the “X” hard enough to separate the engine from the rest of the car. He told the crowd he just wanted to liven up the show! At the Crazy Horse Campgrounds (above) track the UTVs raced within a foot or two of the water in Lake Havasu. At the Gila Bend Grand Prix Off-Road track, the racing was delayed by a funeral procession! I saw the first-ever weekend of wheel to wheel racing at the Inde Motorsports Ranch. Sadly, I was at the Phoenix International Raceway the day Jim Haynes crashed. I’ve seen the Copper Classic many times at PIR even though I never really liked racing at the track because of the direction the sun went down. While attending our nephew’s college graduation from Northern Arizona University we slipped over later in the trip to see the racing at the Thunder Raceway in Show Low. Our son J.J. (above) flew us to the Yuma Speedway Park in a private plane during our 1998 visit. He’s now a captain for a major U.S. airline! If you see a track link in the above list simply click on it to be transferred to my Trackchaser Report. Here you will be able to read about my adventure at this particular track. Not only will you learn about my time at the track but you’ll hear about all of the interesting people, places and things I encountered during the entire trip, coming and going, to that speedway. Most of my Trackchaser Reports will also include a photo album and YouTube video. Check it all out. Don’t be afraid to use the “search” box in the upper right corner of my website’s home page. Just type in the track name or whatever and you’ll be directed to the place you want to be. Below is a key to surface types and track configurations so you can understand the above list just a little bit easier. Surface types: D-dirt; P-paved; M-mixed Configuration types: O-oval; RC-road course; F8-figure 8 track
#
TRACK
CITY
STATE
COUNTRY
DATE
TRACK TYPE
1
Manzanita Speedway
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
Pre-1980
INNER-DO
2
Manzanita Speedway
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
Pre-1980
OUTER-DO
3
Phoenix International Raceway
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
Pre-1980
PO
4
Phoenix International Raceway
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
Pre-1980
PRC
5
Central Arizona Speedway
Casa Grande
Arizona
United States
Pre-1980
DO
6
Tucson Raceway Park
Tucson
Arizona
United States
April 30, 1994
PO
7
Yuma Speedway Park
Yuma
Arizona
United States
April 18, 1998
DO
8
Canyon Raceway
Adobe
Arizona
United States
January 15, 2000
DO
9
Mohave Valley Raceway
Bullhead City
Arizona
United States
April 8, 2000
DO
10
Mesquite Raceway
Littlefield
Arizona
United States
April 22, 2000
DO
11
Arizona State Fairgrounds
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
October 18, 2001
DO
12
Arizona State Fairgrounds
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
October 19, 2001
DF8
13
Manzanita Speedway
Phoenix
Arizona
United States
Retroactive – 2001
DF8
14
Thunder Raceway
Show Low
Arizona
United States
May 11, 2002
DO
15
Firebird International Raceway – East
Chandler
Arizona
United States
May 2, 2004
PRC
16
Prescott Valley Raceway
Prescott Valley
Arizona
United States
October 16, 2004
DO
17
Firebird International Raceway – Firebird
Chandler
Arizona
United States
October 17, 2004
PRC
18
Firebird International Raceway – West
Chandler
Arizona
United States
October 31, 2004
PRC
19
Canyon Raceway
Adobe
Arizona
United States
December 11, 2004
DF8
20
Tucson Raceway Park
Tucson
Arizona
United States
April 30, 2005
MIXED-O
21
USA Race Track
Tucson
Arizona
United States
April 30, 2005
OUTER-DO
22
Speedworld Speedway
Surprise
Arizona
United States
February 19, 2006
DO
23
West Valley Speedway
Surprise
Arizona
United States
January 14, 2007
DO
24
Speedworld Off Road Park
Surprise
Arizona
United States
May 3, 2009
DRC
25
USA Track
Tucson
Arizona
United States
July 3, 2010
DF8
26
Inde Motorsports Ranch
Willcox
Arizona
United States
October 10, 2010
PRC
27
Firebird International Raceway
Chandler
Arizona
United States
December 12, 2010
DRC
28
Arizona Speedway
Queen Creek
Arizona
United States
January 1, 2012
DO
29
Tucson International Raceway
Tucson
Arizona
United States
June 9, 2012
INNER-DO
30
Havusu 95 Speedway
Lake Havusu City
Arizona
United States
October 5, 2013
AO
31
Crazy Horse Campground
Lake Havasu City
Arizona
United States
March 15, 2014
TEMPORARY-DRC
32
Canyon Motocross
Peoria
Arizona
United States
April 19, 2014
TEMPORARY-DRC
33
Arizona Motorsports Park
Litchfield Park
Arizona
United States
May 3, 2014
PRC
34
Tucson International Raceway
Tucson
Arizona
United States
May 9, 2014
TEMPORARY-DRC
35
Havasu 95 Speedway – Mixed
Lake Havasu City
Arizona
United States
November 29, 2014
TEMPORARY-MRC
36
AKA Speedway
Glendale
Arizona
United States
December 30, 2014
OUTER-DO
37
Gila Bend Grand Prix Off-Road Track
Gila Bend
Arizona
United States
November 21, 2015
DRC
38
Wild Horse Motorsports Park
Chandler
Arizona
United States
May 22, 2016
MIXED-RC
39
Canyon Speedway Park
Peoria
Arizona
United States
March 31, 2018
INNER-DO
40
Western Raceway
White Hills
Arizona
United States
April 1, 2018
DRC
41
Central Arizona Speedway
Casa Grande
Arizona
United States
May 18, 2019
INNER-DO
42
Payson Events Center
Payson
Arizona
United States
October 6, 2019
DRC
43
Gila County Fairgrounds
Globe
Arizona
United States
Novembe 21, 2020
DRC
44
Tucson Kart Speedway
Tucson
Arizona
United States
December 5, 2020
DO
45
Long Mountain Events Center
Kingman
Arizona
United States
January 9, 2021
DRC-LONG
46
Long Mountain Events Center
Kingman
Arizona
United States
January 9, 2021
DRC-SHORT
47
San Tan Karting
San Tan
Arizona
United States
March 7, 2021
DO
48
Gila Monster Speedway
Globe
Arizona
United States
July 30, 2022
DO
49
The Podium Club @ Adessa
Casa Grande
Arizona
United States
February 18, 2023
PRC
50
Adobe Mountain Speedway
Glendale
Arizona
United States
November 4, 2023
INNER-DO