West Valley track welcomes drag racers and fans alike

WITTMAN, Ariz. – One place in the Valley wants people to come and drag race.

Here in the northwest Valley community of Wittmann, just off of Grand Avenue and Jomax Road and not far from Surprise, is a little piece of dragstrip heaven known as Speedworld. It’s not new — it’s been here for 55 years. But the track’s owners joke that it’s one of the best kept secrets in the Valley.

Track announcer Hal Sanguinetti said there’s a little bit of everything here.

“Speedworld is a multiuse venue,” said Sanguinetti. “We have 320 acres here, with an NHRA quarter mile drag strip. We have a Lucas Oil off road track, five paintball fields, RC airplanes, RC cars, BMX, and four Motocross tracks.”

Drag racers are welcome on Saturday night as part of an NHRA program to get people to “race on the strip, not on the street.”

“The goal is to get kids who are wandering around with nothing to do a place to come, to associate with their friends, to kid each other about whose car is better, and they can race,” said Sanguinetti.

There’s a $20 per car fee. Sanguinetti said it’s a way to legally race your dragster.

“They can do it under a safe circumstance with fire extinguishers on the starting line,” he said. “A medic is down on the finish line everytime we’re open.”

There are also ambulances at the track.

Sanguinetti said if you’re going to drag race, don’t do it on city streets. Speedworld is the place to do it.

“Somebody isn’t going to pull in (toward you) from a side street,” he said. “You’re not going to hit some gravel in the street, or oil, or something like that. It’s a safe environment to do what you love to do.”