Pala Raceway's origin

The Scoop on San Diego's Pala Raceway

Holla from Pala!

By Lindsey LovellThe three of us ventured out to San Diego county's newest motocross facility Pala Raceway. If you haven't been to Pala, then surely you are missing out on some prime riding. The terrain is disfigured by nature, it has taken countless man-hours to make that dirt & sand into a rock-free perfection. The track is a short trek from where Interstate 15 meets HWY 76 located on the Pala Indian Reservation, just 3 miles past the casino.

Lindsey Lovell:  How did Pala Raceway come about?

Kirk Chandler:  A lot of planning. Started off about 8 years ago, Ryan Ouellette contacted Pala Band of Mission Indians even before the casino had been built. He was looking to build a motocross track in San Diego county. At the time, Carlsbad Raceway was on its last leg and reality was there wasn't many motocross tracks in the county besides Barona Oaks and Amago. We contacted the tribe and over time we took over the site that was formerly Vulcan Mining site, a rock & sand quarry. In 2006, we were approved to start working towards building a motocross track. In order to build, we had to have the mines shut down and clean up any problems that the site had. It took about 3 years to basically get done and to get to the point where we could open up motocross tracks, which we were able to do in April of 2009.Comment:  For more on the subject, see Offroad Racetrack at Pala.