History
OCIR opened on August 5, 1967, beside the Santa Ana Freeway on land leased from the Irvine Company, combining a quarter-mile drag strip, a 2-mile road course and a motocross track. The road course saw little use after the first two years, but the drag strip became a Southern California landmark, and the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving began there in 1968.
The raceway closed on October 30, 1983.
Why it matters: One of Southern California's best-known drag strips of the 1960s-1980s.
Timeline
The site today
| Physical status | Status unknown |
|---|---|
| Mapped location | Approximate historic location |
We have not verified what occupies the site today. Know? Tell us, with a source.
Venue facts
| Other names | OCIR |
|---|---|
| Location | Irvine, California |
| Venue type | drag strip |
| Sports | Motorsports |
| Opened | August 5, 1967[1,2,3] |
| Last used for sports | October 30, 1983[1,2] |
| Physical status | Status unknown |
| Owner / operator | Founded by Bill White, Larry Vaughan and Mike Jones on land leased from the Irvine Company[1] |
Documented details
Sources
- Orange County International Raceway, Wikipedia. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: closed, events, opened, owner operator
- OpenHistoricalMap/Projects/Ghost Tracks/US/CA, OpenStreetMap Wiki. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: closed, coordinates, opened
- Latitude and longitude of Orange County International Raceway, latitude.to. Accessed 2026-10-19Supports: coordinates, opened
Research confidence
Key facts on this page (opening, closing, status and location) are each supported by sources, with key dates corroborated by at least two independent sources. Last reviewed 2026-10-19.
Where sources disagree (1)
- latitude.to (from Wikipedia data) gives 33.6620, -117.7475, about 500 m from the OpenHistoricalMap point used here.
See something wrong or missing? Suggest a correction or submit a source.