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Greater Vancouver Motorsport Facilities - Past and Present
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Abbotsford Airport, Abbotsford
2 mile paved road course 1949 to 1958, Sports cars and Motorcycles, dragstrip 1952 to 1957.
Abbotsford Exhibition Grounds, Abbotsford
1/4 mile dirt oval, mini-stocks, 1992 to 1993.
Action Raceway, aka Langley Speedway, Langley
3/8 mile paved oval, 1965 to 1984.
Kent Raceway, Agassiz
1/4 mile dirt oval, 1971 to 1977.
1/4 mile paved oval, 1978 to present.
Agrodome, PNE, Vancouver
indoor mini-stocks and motorcycle flat track.
BC Place Stadium, Vancouver
indoor, Legend cars, 1/10 mile concrete oval, 1996 to 1997.
1984 and later monster trucks and demolition derby.
Boundary Bay Airport, Delta
dragstrip, 1972 to 1976.
autocross facility, 1982 to 2007.
Chilliwack Exhibition Grounds, Chilliwack
1/2 mile dirt oval, 1921 and 1946.
possible sports car race 1963.
Cloverdale Exhibition Grounds, Cloverdale
1/2 mile dirt oval, 1946, 1950, 1958.
indoor motorcycle races.
Cloverdale Speedway,
Indoor Motorcycle Racing,
Cloverdale, Surrey
Indoor Motorcycle races, 1968 to 1971.
1/2 mile flat track racing, 1969.
Con Jones Park, aka Callister Park, Vancouver
1/5 mile dirt oval, 1939 to 1941, late 1940's.
Cultus Lake Hillclimb, Chilliwack
paved hillclimb, c. 1963.
Deas Slough, Delta
Hydroplane and Crackerbox boat racing, 1961.
Digney Speedway, Burnaby
1/4 mile paved oval, 1948 to 1958.
False Creek Speedway, Strathcona Park, Vancouver
1/4 mile dirt oval, 1957 to 1958.
1/4 mile paved oval, 1959 to 1962.
Grouse Mountain Hillclimb, North Vancouver
Mountain Highway, 1951 to 1952.
Grouse Mountain Hillclimb, North Vancouver
Skyline Drive, 1952.
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Hannegan Speedway, Bellingham, Washington
1/4 mile dirt oval, pre-WWII to present.
Hastings Park, now PNE, Vancouver
1 mile dirt oval, 1907, 1911 to 1916, 1918 to 1927, 2001.
motorcycles, 1911 to 1916, and 2001.
1/8 mile paved oval on parking lot, 1975 to 1990, 1993 to 1994.
1/8 mile oval in Agrodome, 1969 to 1971.
Haney Speedway, Haney
1/4 mile dirt oval, 1959 to 1961.
1/4 mile paved oval, 1961 to 1966.
IOCO Hillclimb, IOCO, Coquitlam
1961 to ?.
Jones Lake Hillclimb, near Hope
0.4 mile gravel hillclimb, 1954 to 1955.
Kilgard Hillclimb, Abbotsford
paved hillclimb, 1953.
Lansdowne Park, Richmond
horse dirt oval, teens and '20s.
Langley Speedway, Langley
3/8 mile paved oval, 1965 to 1984.
Mahon Park, North Vancouver
1/4 mile dirt oval, midgets, 1946.
Minoru Park, Richmond
1 mile dirt horse oval, 1912 to 1914, 1918.
Mission Raceway, original site, Mission
dragstrip, 1965 to 1978.
Mission Raceway Park, Mission (click for article)
dragstrip, 1992 to present.
mini-stocks, sand drags, motocross, demolition derby, 1978 to 1992.
1/6 mile dirt oval, 1990 to 1993.
1.5 mile road course, 1993 to present.
Paterson Park, Ladner
1/2 mile dirt horse oval, 1954.
Queen's Park, New Westminster
motorcycle flat track.
Westwood Racing Circuit, Coquitlam
1.8 mile road course, 1959 to 1990.
Wonderland Speedway, Langley
1/4 mile dirt oval, 1954 built, very few (if any) races run.
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Note: This list is a work in progress and is far from complete. If you know of any other facilities
where organized motorsport took place, we would like to know about them; photos are especially welcome.
EMail: Tom Johnston
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Important Dates - Greater Vancouver Racing History
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1918
Automobile racing returned to Vancouver on July 1st at Hastings Park. Gus Duray in a Stutz won the
major race of the day.
The automobiles returned that year for the annual exhibition at Hastings Park and again, Gus Duray with
his Stutz was the winner, with Henry North in the Romano Special second. The top notch cars and drivers
all came from the Seattle area.
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1948
Digney Speedway in Burnaby, BC, opens. Midget cars and drivers came from Vancouver, Seattle, Portland
and Victoria to race. Included in the bunch was Shorty Templeman who would go on to be the USAC midget points
champ three years running during the 1950's.
Also at Digney in 1948 were the racing roadsters from south of the border. Len Sutton, who finished
second in the 1962 Indianapolis 500, and Pete Lovely, who qualified for numerous Formula One Grand Prix
were part of the show.
Motorcycles also raced and included Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneed Trev Deeley.
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1958
Last season for Digney Speedway and the BC Stock Car Association.
The BC Track Racing Association gets up and running and races at places like the Cloverdale Fairgrounds.
Jim Raper, from Bellingham, Washington, wins one of the first BCTRA races.
Greater Vancouver Motorsport Pioneers Ron Bestward and Slim Easton are featured in the Columbian
newspaper in an article about cracker box racing boats. Ron is said to be the Canadian champion in the class.
The Canadian national championship scrambles race for motorcycles is scheduled for Langley Prairie
(now Langley) in the fall.
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1968
Langley Speedway raced Saturday nights, Sunday afternoons as well as holidays. Greater Vancouver Motorsport
Pioneer John Rothwell won the superstock points championship that year.
Westwood held a combination of national and regional and club races throughout the year.
Jerry Ruth, at Mission Raceway, kept lowering the track record with his AA/FD. From 7.02 down to 6.87
in one season.
Motorcycles raced at Westwood (road racing), Cloverdale (indoors and outdoors), and Aldergrove (scrambles).
15,000 watched drag boat racing at Deas Slough.
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1978
Mission Raceway closes at the end of the season after opening in 1965. Property for the new track was
secured before 1978 was out.
4X4 racing was held at Stokes Pit in Surrey.
Doug Heath, from Surrey, was a NASCAR points champion in the Northwest Modified Series.
Another Doug, Doug Larson of Quesnel, won the last super modified race held at Langley Speedway.
Ludwig Heimrath, from Ontario, won the Trans-Am race at Westwood in a Porsche Turbo.
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1988
Westwood racing continued with the GM Series, Formula Atlantic, motorcycles and karts.
The Langley Loafers held their first annual old-time drags at Ashcroft.
Mud and bog monster truckes at Cloverdale.
The Fraser Valley Drag Boat Association held another successful season around the province.
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2011
Special Guests Red and Chuck Robinson
2011
Racing Through the Years
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