Is Racing Dead In Portland?

Portland used to be the hub of quality racing. I know some people will say we still have racing. Yes that is true but it is just local, the thing missing is big name brand racing. Portland used to have two tracks, the Portland Speedway and Portland International Raceway, both still around much to the dismay of some business and residents who are near the track.

Portland Speedway, not to be confused with PIR, used to host such names as Greg Biffle, a multiple winner in the lower series who later moved on to NASCAR. Legend Bobby Allison, along with Chad Little and Ken Schrader, two other drivers who went on to race in NASCAR. The draw of oval racing can only now be found on dirt tracks like Banks, which is great, but doesn’t replace the NASCAR style of racing on a paved oval. Greg Biffle is part owner of the track and sometimes races at Banks which sells out when he shows up to have fun. On the flip side, if oval wasn’t your thing, you could head on over to PIR and watch great road racing.

When Indy split in two, one part became CART, and CART became more popular. In 1984, PIR hosted their first CART race; after that Portland racing fans were hooked. In 2000, when I was in 8th grade, I watched Greg Biffle in NASCAR trucks win after he spun out Ron Hornaday, Jr. It was an amazing race. After the race, a fan was carrying a tire that was autographed by many drivers, another with a hood of a truck and lastly someone carried a fender.

This was just part of the race weekend which finished with CART racing on Sunday. There were so many great names there, Michael and Mario Andretti signing autographs, Max Papis, Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, so many talented drivers in once place. A great moment I remember was when Al Unser Jr. was in his race trailer, he saw us waiting and came out and to sign all the fan autographs. CART in 2007 would cease to exist and many of its drivers went back to Indycar; as of now, Indycar has no plans to run at PIR. American Le Mans, which used to be a regular at PIR, also has no plans in coming back. To top it off, NASCAR KN Pro Series, who used to headline their own race weekend, has been missing because of trouble securing major sponsor for its race.

This is such a great lost for racing fans of the Pacific Northwest in Washington and Oregon. As there are many of us fans that want to see a major motorsport series come back to the area. Oregon Trail Rally attracts many fans to PIR, which is mainly due to the race’s biggest draw, action sports star Travis Pastrana. The stands are never full and it’s quite a sad state to see.

Race weekend is always exciting in major motorsports; you see the drivers practice, qualify, and race all on Sunday. Last weekend, the V8 Supercars raced in the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, Australia; they put on a great show. It wasn’t just them that made it great, it was the whole list of car racing that made it great. Ranging from Robby Gordon’s Stadium Super Trucks, Touring Car Masters (think vintage Trans-Am racing), and V8 Utes (think Ford Ranchero or Chevy El Camino but modern). In Stadium Super Trucks, the third place racer slid upside down across the finish line, then hit the fence, righted himself and kept on going much to the crowd’s delight. This is what racing is supposed to be; sadly we have none of that here.

Many fans miss the sound of a CART racecar going through the gears towards the finish line and down shifting for the festival curves. Or the sound of the NASCAR trucks rumbling down the straightaways, rubbing, trading paint and seeing the drivers drive around the track missing a hood or another piece of their truck’s body.

The question is when a major brand of racing will come back to Portland? The stands are often empty, a shell of the golden era of Portland racing; someday, hopefully in the near future, we can see the track and racing in Portland thriving again. Right now, racing fans can only hope it comes soon.