Willow Springs International Motorsports Park is located in Willow Springs near Rosamond, California, about north of Los Angeles. It is the oldest permanent road course in the United States. Construction began in 1952, with the inaugural race held on November 23, 1953. The main track is a long road course that is unchanged from its original 1953 configuration. The elevation changes and high average speeds make it a favorite of many road racing drivers. Willow Springs hosted two NASCAR Grand National races in 1956 and 1957 on the original road course, won by Chuck Stevenson and Marvin Panch respectively. The track also hosted 5 NASCAR Winston West Series events, the first two in 1955 and 1956 and the other three between 1984 and 1986. Willow Springs also hosted 1 NASCAR Southwest Series race in 1986. There are a total of seven tracks at Willow Springs. The largest and most well known track is Willow Springs International Raceway. There are other racing facilities such as The Streets of Willow, The Horsethief Mile, The Speedway at Willow Springs, Willow Springs Kart Track, The Playpen, and the Walt James Stadium. Efforts by fans resulted in the State of California declaring Willow Springs International Raceway as a California Point of Historical Interest in 1996.
Opened in 2003, the Horse Thief Mile is a 1.0 mile paved roadcourse featuring 11 turns as well as numerous elevation changes. It was designed to simulate a winding mountain road.
Media
Willow was used by George Lucas in A Man and His Car It appeared in the 1969 Disney film The Love Bug, under the guise of "Jackrabbit Springs". The track was featured in the Japanese Best Motoring International "American Touge" video special. The track is in the 1985 Christopher Cross music video "Every Turn of the World" The movie Fast Girl was filmed and based at Willow Springs Raceway. On 3 February 2013 the track featured on the British BBC program Top Gear, while Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May were being chased by aeroplanes. Willow Springs International Motorsports Park was the venue of a photoshoot session by Playboy for its Playmate pictorial and centerfold featuring Alyssa Arcè as Miss July 2013. The photographs were featured in the magazine's July-August 2013 issue. Willow Springs tracks have been featured in video games including,, Gran Turismo 6, Gran Turismo Sport and Project CARS The track has been used in several episodes of Wheeler Dealers since they started U.S. production in Season 12, and featured The Horsethief Mile in Season 13, Episode 13, featuring a 1976 Porsche 912E. The music video for It's the Things You Do by Five was filmed at Willow Springs Raceway. An episode of Bones involving a plot line of motorcycle racing was filmed at the circuit. Several segments of Jay Leno's Garage have been filmed at Willow Springs, mostly Jay doing hot laps in his cars. Jay has also driven other peoples cars and other drivers have done timed laps for the show. The Streets of Willow Springs track was also used in an episode of Street Outlaws in April of 2019 on the Discovery Channel. Willow Springs also appears in the movie Ford v Ferrari.
Track records
The overall track record is held by Michael Andretti in a 1987 CART Indycar. Andretti completed a lap of the 2.5 mile main track in 1 minute 6.050 seconds, for an average speed of.
