Coronado Speed Festival

For a long time, club racing and sports car racing was done on old air bases. It was an outgrowth of the large number of internationally traveled men after WWII, combined with a broad exposure to multiple nationalities and their products—fast cars and road racing, in this case. At the same time the American government (and the British government, by default) suddenly had a huge number of big cement runways and airfields all over the place that weren’t sending up bombers or fighters or cargo planes. The first SCCA race was held at an airbase in Iowa, in fact, and some of the best test facilities in Great Britain and the U.S. are old airbases. So? Let the boys race.

Cornerstone of Vintage Racing in California
San Diego’s Coronado Speed Festival is in its 11th year, every one of them with the event held here at Naval Air Station North Island. It’s one of the jewels in the crown of events called Fleet Week San Diego, the largest celebration of the U.S. military in the country (held in conjunction with the huge MCAS Miramar Air Show). You’ve probably heard of the Monterey Historics held at Laguna Seca; this is a sister event to that. Coronado is a small lump of sand at the southern edge of the inlet to San Diego’s harbor, and half of it is dotted with delightful little homes. The other half is one of the U.S. Navy’s prized possessions, and one of the westernmost naval airstrips and military port facilities in the country. Everything from C5 Galaxies to aircraft carriers stop here (and submarines, but who’d know?), accompanied by dozens of fighter jets and hundreds of other military aircraft.


Without racecars, though, who’d race what? A large number of expensive old sports and racecars live in Southern California, in particular in the San Diego area (though racers come from all over the western U.S. for the Coronado Speed Festival, more than 200 of them this year). It boasts one of the highest concentrations of gearheads anywhere, and no shortage of folks who can afford to campaign vintage race metal. Certainly, some of these cars are not worth more than $20-$30 large, but others are worth more than your house. Two, three of your houses, maybe, with what the market’s been doing out here.

Temporary Racecourse
One of the downsides of a temporary racecourse built on to any sort of airfield is the general lack of creative or innovative course layouts available. There’s only so much tarmac, and only so many ways to bend the course around the cement that’s been permitted for race use. Take a look at Sebring, or the old Grand Prix of Cleveland (R.I.P., Champ Car), and you’ll see what may be the only bummer about running on an airport circuit (that, and the occasional lumpy cement pad).