Pacific Raceways

Sal is a voice that rides along as you drive Washington's roads: the road ahead, the pass, the stories of the places you pass.

The race track near Kent, Washington, opened in 1960 under the name Kent Pacific Raceways [1]. By 1969 it was being called Seattle International Raceways [1]. The landowner took the place back in 2002, and with that the old Pacific Raceways name came around again [1]. The road course runs 2.250 miles, with more than 125 feet of elevation change and a back section that sits in natural woods [1]. The SCCA, SOVREN and ICSCC race cars on it, and the WMRRA races motorcycles [1]. The facility also holds a dragstrip and a dirt motocross track [1]. The NHRA's Northwest Nationals, first called the Seafair Nationals, have been held there since 1988 [1]. Sports car racing mattered there in the 1960s: the Pacific Northwest Grand Prix ran from 1963 through 1968 as a round of the United States Road Racing Championship, and the Trans-Am Series came from 1967 through 1970, with season finales in 1967 and 1968 [1]. A performance driving school offers licensing courses, lapping clinics and specialty instruction [1].