The Santa Maria Speedway returns to races on May 11 

Racing means more to the Clayborn family than just a motorsport, Joey Clayborn told New Times.

"It was a way of life for the Clayborn family, it always has been. It's something that's always passed through generations. My grandfather passed it to my dad and uncle, and they passed it to me, and now I have my son that's now racing," Clayborn said.

The Santa Maria family's home base was the Santa Maria Speedway: A Nipomo racetrack that hosted racing for more than 40 years until the raceway closed in 2021 due to a challenging permitting process for additional events and legal costs following a 2018 lawsuit related to noise complaints and unregulated events. The Clayborns were a part of the raceway every step of the way since its inception in 1964, Clayborn said.

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"[The closure] was terrible, it's never been just a racetrack for us. It's a home away from home. Every year ... we got to go out and spend Saturday night with our extended racing family," Clayborn said. "It didn't stop us, but now we had to travel everywhere to race. Everyone knows how the price of everything gets really expensive week in and week out, for traveling and fuel."

When the speedway announced it would be reopening after a nearly two-year shutdown, Clayborn said his family was thrilled.

"It was just a great feeling. We just heard rumors for so long and we didn't know it was going to happen," Clayborn said. "When we heard the Pombo family was stepping up, we knew that family for years because they are a huge racing family, it was just exciting."

Tony Pombo, a multigenerational Fresno-based racer who's raced his entire life, put in a bid for the property and signed a lease to get racing going again this year, said David Castaneda, the speedway's general manager and events director.

"The goal was to find somebody in motorsports that would take over the track and continue to run it as a racetrack and not change it to another commercial venture," Castaneda said. "It's not like a restaurant; if it closes down it's gone forever. ... It's a very unique facility and very well known across the Western United States."

With the lease guaranteed until the end of 2024, the Santa Maria Speedway anticipates hosting 10 races over nine weekends plus another six separate weekends of go-karts, he said. Construction and maintenance crews have been working alongside local volunteers to gear up for the raceway's first race on May 11, followed by a Memorial Day go-kart race, and its first open wheel sprint race on June 15.

"It means different things to different people. You have fans who've come and watched racing for years," he said. "[To] the race teams it means something different; we've had multiple generations of families from the area that started in the '60s and '70s where their grandchildren are racing. ... They're excited to get back to racing, they are very hopeful we can get this track back up again."

The speedway closed in 2021 following a 2018 lawsuit filed by neighbors in the Costa Pacifica Estates development over noise complaints about racing and then the live music events the venue hosted, Castaneda said. The lawsuit claimed that the speedway needed an environmental impact report before it could go forward with any live music events. But the Speedway's back with a primary focus on motorsports.

Next year, Castaneda wants to see at least 22 weekends of racing, from April to October, and eventually bring back monster truck rallies and motorcycle racing to the speedway.

"The other thing that is vital to a track like this is community support. We're very encouraged by the response from the community so far; everybody is very positive about the prospect of us getting back to racing," Castaneda said. "As it gets closer and closer, I think folks will be very happy to be sitting back in the seats again."

Fast fact

• The Pacific Conservatory Theatre (PCPA) and Solvang Theaterfest are celebrating PCPA's 60th and Theaterfest's 50th anniversaries with a fundraising event on June 15 at the Solvang Festival Theater. The evening will include live performances from PCPA artists, silent and live auctions, and catering from Catering Connection. Attendees will also enjoy premium seats for the Little Shop of Horrors opening night performance. Visit pcpa.org or call the PCPA box office at (805) 922-8313 to learn more. Δ

Reach Sun Staff Writer Taylor O'Connor at [email protected].