Upon visiting a race track for the first time, we all have expectations that the facility will meet or exceed our personal standards. In the past I’ve heard how great a track is or “what a dump the place is.”
Upon arrival, I make my own judgment. I’ve been to 153 different tracks, so it takes a lot to impressive me nowadays.
Mark down Ventura (Calif.) Raceway as must-visit race track. All the rave reviews and hype I heard about it before hand are true. The fifth-mile clay oval sits on Seaside Beach in Ventura. The facility is less than a quarter-mile off the Pacific Ocean, creating a true problem for those sitting at the top of the grandstands — watch the action or turnaround for a beautiful ocean view.
The size of the track creates great close-quarters racing. The USAC Western Midgets, VRA Sprint Cars and Focus Midgets put on a great open-wheel show. Other evenings, the track also runs IMCA modifieds and dwarf cars. The track begins early and a 10 p.m. curfew makes a solid action-packed evening. Jim Naylor is truly a “throwback” promoter with many unique race promotion events. Naylor also doubles with Jammy Ernest as the track announcer. Track General Manager Cliff Morgan heads up the race control.   
The track infrastructure, various food vendors, a different souvenir program for each night of racing, and “Race Track Bingo” are just a few of the luxuries at Ventura. My biggest surprise upon talking with Naylor is that he has never been named Racing Promotion Monthly Promoter of the Year. A good many track promoters could learn a few lessons by visiting Naylor’s facility.   
The VRA Sprint Cars Series continues to grow each year and provides a solid open-wheel racing program along with a Senior Sprint Car division. The VRA Series has been as important to non-wing sprint-car growth on the West Coast as the USAC-CRA Series, but it receives far less exposure.
Naylor has also helped keep the USAC Ford Focus Dirt Midget Series alive in California with the track hosting 75 percent of the series’s events this season. The track is also home to Cory Kruseman’s Open Wheel Driving School.
Naylor has battled the city council and local residents about noise levels and worked out a great program to keep racing alive at the facility. But most importantly is that Ventura is the closest dirt track to Los Angeles. It is important for the sport that a dirt track like Ventura remains operating close to a major metropolitan city like the City of Angels.
The recent USAC Western event drew both of Cruz Pedregon’s Toyota-powered cars. Sammy Swindell used the event to shakedown the No. 75, which he will pilot in January’s O’Reilly Chili Bowl. Cruz himself, on an off-NHRA weekend, drove the second car to a solid 10th-place finish. Josh Wise joins the team as the third driver in January at the Tulsa, Okla., event. 
Shane Scully, who appeared headed for the 2002 USAC Western Championship before flipping out of Belleville, will make his return to the cockpit during the Chili Bowl.
Next time you’re in Southern California, set aside a few hours to go see racing at Ventura Raceway; you won’t be disappointed.