West Richland’s mothballed race track transitions into event center

WEST RICHLAND, Wash.-- It was more than 15 years ago that the speedway in West Richland was closed, but it was back in Action this week with about a dozen race cars testing out the track.

Last year, the city of West Richland purchased the raceway property with plans to build its new police station on a portion of the land.

Eric Van Winkle, who led the charge to build the Gesa Carousel of Dreams in the Southridge area of Kennewick approached the officials with the city of West Richland with the idea of turning the rest of the raceway property into a multi-purpose event center that can be used for a whole host of different types of events.

The property is full-fenced, has plenty of room for grandstands, an RV park, concession stands, restrooms, parking, and lots of empty land that could be used to host large events.

"Our list is long," Van Winkle said. "We have some things in the works, and we want to make sure that it's not racing centric. The beautiful part is that it has a raceway in the middle of it, but the best part of it is it's 50 acres, and you can do just about anything out there you want."

Van Winkle wants to see outdoor drive-in movies, auto shows, swamp meets, wine festivals, and other events that are looking for space, in the hopes of turning the property into a full-fledged event center.

He says the track could be used for more than race cars, but could also provide a platform for bike races, or other similar events. 

"This week we brought in some of the biggest race guys in the northwest and we tested the track, tested tires," Van Winkle said. "And I tell you, the race surfaces is awesome. Now we need to try five to six other events to see how it goes. We're in the infantile stages."

The property has adopted the moniker of Red Mountain Event Center, and they've set up a facebook page to promote the site.

"We're not opening up a race track," Van Winkle said. "We're opening up an event center that just happens to have a really special tri-oval race track that's extraordinarily well-known across the country."