Couple Things We Will Miss About Chargers Stadium

5. Race Legal Drag Racing

The Race Legal program was created by Dr. Stephen J. Bender back in 1988 to address illegal street racing in Southern California. Instead of trying to punish drivers for this dangerous activity, Dr. Bender created an outlet for racers to get behind the wheel and race in a safer, more controlled environment at Qualcomm Stadium.

Races are held throughout the year at Qualcomm, usually on Friday nights or Saturday afternoons, and it not only has a huge SoCal following, but it has also played a significant role in reducing the number of illegal street racing accidents in the San Diego area as well.

Qualcomm Stadium is the perfect venue to host these types of sanctioned racing events, and if it gets swallowed up by developers, we will lose an ideal environment for car guys to race.

We do have a couple of other large venues in San Diego County that Race Legal could move to, but I don’t think any of them would be as ideal and as safe a spot as Qualcomm.

Barona has a nice thing going with the Barona Drag Races, but I just don’t think it would be the spot Race Legal would move to.

4. Autocross at Qualcomm

There are also a number of different car clubs that use the Qualcomm parking lot for Autocross events throughout the year, including the BMW Car Club of America and the SCCA Solo Autocross Foundation.

Let’s face it; unless you have some pretty deep pockets, for many car enthusiasts, heading to the weekend Autocross is about as close to weekend track days as you are going to get. And the competition is stiff. Not to mention the bragging rights.

San Diego has a deep Autocross following as well, and many of these SoCal events take place on that East or West parking lot of Qualcomm Stadium.

So where do you think they will move the Autocross if we lose Qualcomm? Well, if we are talking about a large venue then I would say they would either have to run these bigger events at the Sports Arena (Valley View Casino Center) or make the drive up the coast to the Del Mar Fairgrounds.

But for me personally, I have some issues with both of these venues. First, I really dislike having to make the drive to Sports Arena. It’s definitely not as accessible or easy to access like Qualcomm is, and during rush hour that place is a nightmare!

Second, although I enjoy making the drive to the Del Mar Fairgrounds, I just don’t think I would attend the Autocross as often because of the longer drive.

Not to mention that Del Mar has a lot of things going on throughout the year already. And I am pretty sure it has something to do with racing an animal with “real” horsepower!

Del Mar is also home to the Goodguys Custom Car Show, and they usually have their own Autocross course that they run during the event.

So I guess I am having a hard time trying to figure out where the Qualcomm Autocross alternative would be. If only it were possible to close off the streets downtown near Petco Park…