For the first time in years, the sounds of revving engines, cheering crowds and cars zipping around a dirt track at near-100-mph speeds can once again be heard at the Santa Maria Speedway.

Last month, the racetrack off Highway 101 on the border of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties reopened under the new ownership of Santa Maria businessman Pat Cusack and his family, and enthusiasts like longtime racer and board of directors member Chad Weber are happy it’s back.

In Weber’s 25 years of working with the track, he’s seen four different owners, with the most recent five years proving to be a tumultuous time for the facility during and after the COVID-19 lockdowns.

“Pat’s done a whole bunch of upgrades on the place,” Weber said. “In all of the years that I’ve been here, I’ve never seen it this clean and this nice.”

Now, with the season underway as of April 24, Cusack said he’s fortunate to have a good team of enthusiastic racing fans to return the six-decade-old track to its former glory.

“I was approached to get involved, and I was somewhat hesitant at first just because we’re not a longtime racing family, but we’re a family from the Central Coast,” Cusack said. “We wanted to make sure that the track remained the track, and we just thought it would be a great, great opportunity to restore something and bring it back to life.”

New track draws large crowds in return

Since taking ownership in January, Cusack has made a host of improvements to the speedway, which now sports a large Santa Maria Speedway logo atop a set of seatrain containers on the west side of Highway 101.

New fencing, LED lighting, plumbing, electrical work, an improved concession stand and a full refurbishment and repainting of the speedway’s iconic checkered-flag stands are some of the most notable improvements for fans, Cusack said.

On the track, new signage, a fresh coat of paint and hundreds of pounds of fresh clay for the surface were added in the months leading up to the racing season, making it a safer and more desirable destination for racers, Cusack said. He said improvements of this scale would never have been possible without the racing family that has formed around the track over its history.

Cusack said he was thrilled to have his family on board as part of the team making the speedway what it is today, with his son Scotty running merchandising for the new fan amenity areas.

“I have never seen a business where there’s more people that raise their hands and say, ‘What can I do to help?’” Cusack said. “I mean, you walk down and people are like, ‘Hey, I’m an electrician, here’s my card — call me if I can help you,’ or ‘We’re a plumbing outfit and my grandpa raced, and I used to go the track, so give me a buzz.’”

On its first racing night back in service, the track drew 1,100 visitors, and by the following week, that number had already grown to around 1,600, showing that the community has a strong interest in supporting the speedway, Cusack said.

More improvements are planned should the initial success hold up throughout the season, which runs through November, he said.

Though previous owners had shown interest in diversifying the track’s offerings to include music and rodeo events, Cusack said he wants to focus on racing and related activities such as monster trucks, go-karting and BMX rallies for the foreseeable future, Cusack said.

This racing season will feature United Sprint Car Series sprint cars, United States Auto Club Western States midget cars, SoCal dwarf cars and American stock cars, he said.

Racers glad to have local track back

With racing returning to the Central Coast, longtime fans said they’re glad to have their racing community back at home.

The Eames family has been racing at the track for three generations now and is proud to be a part of its past, present and future, Tom Eames said. Tom’s father raced at the Santa Maria Speedway during the supermodified car era in the track’s early years, and his son Bryce has been racing there since he was 5 years old, Tom said.

“The (Cusack) family’s been with our family for a lot of years, so we’re really happy somebody local got the track and is reviving it,” Tom said.

Earlier this season in the opening sprint series, Bryce was involved in a serious crash that landed him in the hospital with a torn artery and a concussion, which will keep him from racing for six weeks.

Even after the injury, the Cal Poly agricultural sciences student said he’s excited to get back out on the new track, which is now in better shape than he’s ever seen. He said the new improvements will make the speedway safer, more fun and more consistent in the long term, making it available for future generations of racers.

“This is the healthiest the racetrack’s been, just in terms of just the energy, the vibe and everyone just wanting to come back to the racetrack and be a part of it,” Bryce said. “I think there’s something that’s very special about this place that’s hard to explain.”

The Santa Maria Speedway is open Thursday, Friday and Saturday throughout the racing season, though this varies week to week depending on the events planned.

Race offerings change from week to week, with the gates typically opening around 4 p.m., races starting around 6 p.m. and wrapping up around 10 p.m.

Tickets start at $10 going as high as $30 for adults depending on the event, while tickets for kids over the age of 10 are $10 and kids under 10 get in free. For more information, visit www.santamariaspeedway.net/ticketinfo/.