PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Speedway — for decades the place to go for the thunder of car racing, demolition derbies and other motor sports — has closed for good.
Citing financial difficulties, owner Josh Armstrong has chosen to shut down the racetrack — the only track dedicated to motor sports on the North Olympic Peninsula — and has already begun demolishing the 15-acre site about six miles east of Port Angeles off U.S. Highway 101.
“There’s no money in this sport,” he said Thursday.
“I can’t afford it anymore.”
Demolition of the speedway — which opened in the 1950s or ’60s — began Monday, and a section of bleachers had been removed as of Thursday.
Don Perry, Port Angeles’ deputy mayor and a co-owner of the track from 2000 to 2003, said he was disappointed to see it close down.
“It’s kind of like an icon on the Peninsula,” Perry said.
Armstrong declined to comment on his plans for the land or answer any other questions.
The property is zoned for industrial use.
Armstrong also owns Armstrong Marine, which is adjacent to the speedway.
Racer Robert Little of Port Angeles said he was surprised to hear the news.
“Do you know how many cars are ready to go this season?” Little said, adding that races would have begun in early April.
Motor sports at the track were held annually from spring through early fall.
“I’ve driven for 20 years. My kids grew up there.”
Perry said that, though he was sorry to see the track close, he was not surprised by the news.
“It [racing] wasn’t what it used to be in the olden days,” he said.
Perry, who used to race at the track and is a former race announcer, said attendance wasn’t great when he ran it with Port Angeles residents Bill Huizenga and Fred Minker and that it hadn’t gotten any better.
Dan Morrison — whose Port Angeles company, Morrison Excavating — is handling the demolition, said the track used to be the place to be.
“I think everyone in town will be sad to see it go,” he said.
Joe Beck, a worker at Armstrong Marine and a volunteer at the track, was watching the demolition work Thursday.
Beck, 45, said he spent many evenings at the track when he was young.
“It’s sad to see it go,” he said.
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
