Cities sometimes set rules for how loud places are allowed to be. If homes get built nearby, a track may have to adjust events or car setups so it doesn’t exceed the allowed noise level.
Track certification is an approval process that determines whether a facility meets safety and operational standards to host higher-level events. In practice, certification can involve track layout requirements, safety barriers, run-off areas, and procedures for race control and emergency response.
They’re describing the different tracks inside Willow Springs Raceway. Different layouts feel and drive differently, so the way you drive (and sometimes how you set up the car) can change depending on which one you’re on.
The Alpine A106 is an older sports car from France that was made to be fast and handle well. People bring it up when they talk about racing and old track achievements, like how many laps a car could complete in a set time. It’s remembered because it was built for competition, not just everyday driving.
They’re talking about renting a race track so people can film or test cars safely. The track has rules and approvals, so it’s not just “show up and drive.”
A skid pad is a dedicated paved area designed to let drivers explore traction limits in a controlled environment. It’s commonly used for learning car handling and for testing tires and stability behavior without needing a full road course.
“Open door testing” means you could basically show up and pay to test your car. They’re saying that option used to exist but now it’s more restricted and costs more.
An eighth-mile track is a shorter straight stretch—about half the distance of a quarter-mile. They’re saying quarter-mile strips are harder to find now.
LIVE
Hey, what's happening? How are you doing today? Thank you so much for being here. I am Chris.
And this is cool cars with Chris. And on today's fantastic episode,
we're going back over to Willow Springs. So if you're listening on an audio podcast that is
fantastic, but you want to see everything that's happening today, this episode will be in video
format on Spotify and YouTube. There you go. But we are talking about Willow Springs racetrack
particularly. And we're doing an interview with Kevin Hart himself. And this is not the Kevin
Hart, but this Kevin Hart actually runs the facilities at Willow Springs. So he knows all
the six tracks, all the stuff that's going on, future events that's happening, future media
events that's happening, things that has happened there at Willow Springs, things we don't know
about, that you have to be an insider to really know about. It's pretty cool. While we were there,
we asked some serious questions about like, you know, did they film Ford versus Ferrari right
here where we're standing? Yes, they did. So that is that. And today's very special episode is
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We're with Kevin, the official dude from Willow Springs. Hey, dude, anybody? Maybe,
maybe official. I think his last name springs. Is it Kevin Springs or Kevin Hart? If you,
if that's a, oh man, could say you had a real famous guy on your podcast.
Well, I think so, man. We know he's coming on the show next. But so this Kevin,
so what do you do here at Willow Springs? So I handle all sales and business development for
the track. Join the team in October last year. So nice. How does one actually apply to work
here at Willow Springs? That's a good question. You know, we've got some, we've got some open
positions if you're looking for one. Well, so it's a little bit dry for me though, but we're
down in San Diego. So I'm a little bit commute, but, but what is the day-to-day operations?
You know, what do you guys do? Yeah, I mean, so my job is to, to put events on at the track.
And as you can see today, we've got the bar out here. We also got a drift event up at,
on the balcony in Horse Thief. So really? That's why we keep seeing the smoke up. Yeah,
yeah, they're, they're burning a rubber up there. Oh, they're burning that crash gas.
Yeah, they're worried. Yeah, it's not known on Big Willow. So just getting the track ready,
getting everything ready, preps for the day, for the events that are showing up. So
pre-op post-op. It's like a like paperwork trail kept stuff, really, if you guys part. Yeah.
Now you're not actually like sweeping the track, are you? Me? Yeah. I am not. Our maintenance guys
are all over that, but you know, they give me a hard time for not jumping on one of the tractors.
But yeah, we do that, but not necessarily me. No, how, okay, is this place open every day?
Or what days they open with the hours, that kind of stuff? Yeah, it's, it's, we've got activity
all during the week. Like for example, this past week, Monday, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday,
Sunday, you know, we're, we got activity happening. So yeah, we're busy. Now, is there certain days
that like anybody can just come out here and, you know, have fun on the track or the pay for that?
Has it worked for that? I always got a curious about that. Like you take a car out to the track
for like a day. Yeah, we get, I get that question a lot. And okay, it used to, the confusion was,
it used to be a little bit different in years past, but we have scheduled open test days. So if
you have a car, you want to get on track, we have scheduled test days throughout the month
that you can come out and drive. Okay, okay. What's the waiting list on that?
There's not necessarily a waiting list, you know, the more, the more the merrier. But we've,
the next one, the next one is May 15th, actually. It's your, if you want to get back out here.
Oh, nice. What day of week is that? That weekend? Friday. It's a Friday? Okay.
One question I'm always kind of curious about, because I know some track kind of have like
noise ordinances, like noise limits. Is that a thing? We, we, there you go. You get like that.
Being in, in Kern County and where we are, we don't have strict noise ordinances. So
not that we have to worry about as much. That's good. I know, because I know that kind of limits
things sometimes for certain tracks. Yeah. Given we're, you know, really enough, some tracks of
word, they didn't have residential and now they do. And now they got to conform. So that's,
that's good to know. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's a racetrack. It's loud. So it's been a racetrack.
When do you guys actually have rail races, races, words like competition and trophies and all
that kind of stuff? You know, we have, you know, we have some, I don't want it to be in the groups
by saying amateur level racing, but we have like today, we have certain racing and we had NASA out
here last week. That's our racing league. The plan is to have the track certified to be able to host
larger level. Right. Well, not certified yet? Is that? It is, to some extent, but they want to
get the track in a position to host some of the races that they had in, you know, in the past.
So what would be the requirements for having a track certified versus like non-certified?
It has, well, one to say to you the track. And actually, this Big Willow is slated to go through
some improvements coming up. Oh, really? Which is. Big Willow is the one behind us, right?
Yes, sir. Okay. How many tracks we got here, total? We actually have six operable tracks. So I got
Big Willow, the two and a half mile road course, the big track that you see on streets of Willow,
the other road course on the other side of the property. We've got the Jensenbund carding track
right here. That's three. Wow. Yeah. So this one here that they're running on, how long is this
track? Two and a half mile. Two and a half miles circuit. Wow. Are you even on it? We're going to
go on it a little bit. Yeah, I'm taking the new car on the track, probably in the little parade
lap, whatever it is, in a little bit here. You know, I have to say, I work here. I've never
driven on Big Willow. I've ridden, but I've actually never, you know, taken my work car
out there to fix some things and check them, but I've never actually driven. So I feel like
if I wasn't itching so bad to drive, I would say you'd even switch places and go. I feel like
a little bit of a fraud by, by. Have you walked the track at all? Yeah, I actually, I see you. There
you go. What I say, you know more about it at that point, even like walking it and see them. That's
cool. But I don't drive. So everyone, I went out there and everyone talks about the turns. I'm
like, I actually, I mean, turns are there in this track, you know, 99 turns, nine turns.
Now, what is the fastest like speed is everyone gone? Do you know of on record on that track?
Well, I know the, the course record on Big Willow, it was back in the 80s. It was in an,
it was in an Indy car. And I believe it was a 106 lap. Okay, so 12 and a half miles. So if
you do the math, yeah, well, what is considered like a good time for like an amateur car, like a
good time? I think one between like 111 2130 is your, your, your cooking. Okay. So if you
get under, well, under one 30, I guess maybe. Yeah. From what I know. Okay. Okay. Well, right
on, man. That's super, super cool, man. So Willow Springs place has been around since forever.
It's been, you know, in movies, like Ford versus Ferrari was filled here. You weren't here. Obviously,
you wouldn't work here where that happened. I was kind of encouraged to ask you how that all
set up here and how they do all the movie production here. I know they actually do like,
like a lot of YouTubers come out here and do a lot of track. Do you handle with those guys too?
Yeah, yeah. So we do, we do filming out here. We had a, we had a movie set out here this summer
for like two weeks. And then throughout the way we have commercial work that's, that's done all
the time. So, you know, small productions, verticals. So they go through you to get the
production permits? Yeah. Okay. So you sign off or not the permits, but to, to rent the track.
Oh, what's the cost to rent a track for, for an event like that for a day?
It depends on what's in and out. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. So that could be something that could
give me a call for, reach out and, but like, like today, obviously this fence a lot different
than a small five person production, toying around with the car and getting some shots.
Right. I see a lot of YouTubers do like test runs on cars. They take them out here,
the all kinds of stuff out here on this track. I was kind of wondering how that all worked,
you know, like how do you get like the production? How do you get like signing off on it? And what's
the cost to write the track? Like all that kind of stuff. I guess they go through you. Yeah. And,
and, you know, these, you know, these are professional. They, they, they scout and, and then
go to different locations. Like they know, they know how to handle it, but they would come through
Will Springs to, to rent the track. And you know, the great thing I said, we have six tracks. So
there's, there's spots on the track for everyone. Okay. You know, not all, not all shoots need to
be on the big track. We've got skid pads and we've got a carting track and we've got dirt off-road.
So you have a quarter, do you have a quarter mile track? Yeah, we do.
Wow. Is that, is it open? It is. Yeah. And they used to, they, I guess they used to have
appareling like Friday night racing, which we don't, we don't have anymore. But yeah, we've got
a quarter mile back, back part of the property. We have the show too. Later. It's pretty cool.
That's good to know. What was the cost to run your car on that?
Well, you know, the groups that put on, they charge different things. But, you know, for,
for coming out and testing, we, we don't have the ability or we don't offer any more just
open door testing, which like you mentioned before, that, that used to be the case where
you could come in the door and, you know, pay a couple hundred bucks, but now it has to be
like a little more expensive. Well, I mean, that's tough. It's good to know because quarter
mile strips in California are really like dwindling down. I think like the eighth or whatever.
What is it over here? Yeah, we have the 330 foot one over in Paris, California, which, you know,
it's over before like right when it starts kind of thing. And to have a quarter mile. I mean,
yeah, it's like for us, it's like three hours or so. But you know, come down for an event seems
like it's worth it. Yeah, no, I'm so, I'm trying to get some more activity back on that part of
the track. Yeah, it's the speedway. It's like historic. Like I said, that everyone knows are
from like the old Friday night races. And it's pretty cool. But yeah, you'll have to make it
down some point. Yeah, absolutely. Well, man, this has been so great having you on me. I really
appreciate you. Let us, you know, hang out here on your track, man. This has been great. I'm glad
you guys came out. Did you make it out for our reimagined event last fall? Do you know anything
about it? No, no, no. We had our first grand reopening you want to call it. It was called
Will Springs reimagines. We had it last October. We had about five, maybe 5,000 people here. Wow,
it's a long and then we're planning on October 17th this year. Now anybody can come back to,
you know, doing a car, pull car. No, it's it's a public event. It's like it's just like a public
ticket event. We'll have a car show. We're going to activate all our spots of property, have races,
you know, any motorsports enthusiasts day, you know, some vintage. The Peterson Museum brought
a bunch of their cars and had them on the track. That's your spot. Yeah, the pictures. Yeah. So
we had we had they had they brought a great collection out here and ran it ran the cars on
track. They actually ran them too. Yeah. Yeah, there were some pretty historic cars are out there.
I think during John's here, Jensen Button was here. They did a race. So
did you say the day was this October 17th? So put on your calendar and make it out for it.
For sure. Definitely. Yeah, we appreciate your time today, man. Nice meeting you guys.
Thanks for being here. Good meeting you Kevin. Thank you.
About this episode
Willow Springs Raceway takes center stage as Chris and the team talk track operations, access, and what it’s like to drive the layouts. Kevin Hart—who runs the facilities—joins the conversation, alongside staff explaining drift activity, scheduled open test days, and how noise rules and certification affect bigger events. They break down Big Willow’s course-record context, translate pro benchmarks into amateur expectations, and cover how filming crews and YouTubers get approvals. The episode also touches on vintage-car events and the track’s “reimagined” reopening.
In this episode of Cool Cars with Chris, we take you inside Willow Springs Raceway, one of the most iconic racetracks in California, for an exclusive interview with Kevin Hart, who runs sales, events, and business development at the track. If you’ve ever wondered how a real racetrack operates, how to attend track days, or how to drive your own car on a professional circuit, this episode breaks it all down.
We cover everything from open track days and racing events to lap times, track layouts, and the six different courses at Willow Springs, including Big Willow. Kevin also shares insider details on renting a racetrack for film productions, why Willow Springs is a popular location for movies like Ford v Ferrari, and how YouTubers and brands use the track for automotive content.
Whether you’re into car culture, motorsports, racing, or track day driving in California, this episode gives you a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most legendary racing facilities in the U.S.—plus how you can get on track yourself.
🏁 What You’ll Learn in This Episode
How Willow Springs Raceway operates day-to-day
The difference between track days, racing events, and private rentals
How YOU can legally drive your own car on a real racetrack
The 6 different tracks at Willow Springs (including Big Willow)
Lap times, speeds, and what counts as “fast” on track
How movies like Ford v Ferrari used the track for filming
What it costs (and how it works) to rent a racetrack
The return of major events like Willow Springs Reimagined
🚀 Start Your Own Podcast
This episode is brought to you by Podtastic Audio.
Want a professional podcast without the hassle? Chris and his team handle everything—recording, editing, and production.
00:00 🚗 Intro – Welcome to Cool Cars with Chris 00:07 🎥 Audio vs Video Experience (Watch This Episode) 00:22 🏁 Willow Springs Overview + Guest Kevin Hart 00:57 🎙️ Sponsor: Podtastic Audio 01:51 🎧 Interview Begins at Willow Springs 02:24 👨💼 Kevin Hart’s Role at the Racetrack 02:46 🛠️ Daily Operations at Willow Springs Raceway 03:27 📅 Track Schedule & When It’s Open 03:53 🏎️ How to Drive Your Car on the Track (Track Days) 04:23 🔊 Noise Limits & Location Advantages 05:02 🏆 Racing Events & Track Certification Explained 05:47 🗺️ All 6 Tracks at Willow Springs 06:47 ⚡ Lap Times, Speeds & What’s Considered Fast 07:17 🎬 Filming Movies at the Track (Ford v Ferrari) 08:37 🎥 Renting the Track for Productions & YouTubers 08:51 🏁 Quarter Mile Track & Drag Racing History 09:32 🚫 Why Open Testing Has Changed 10:15 🎉 Willow Springs Reimagined Event Details 11:13 🙌 Outro & Wrap-Up
n this episode of Cool Cars with Chris, we explore Willow Springs Raceway, a legendary California racetrack known for track days, racing events, and motorsports history, with an exclusive Kevin Hart interview covering how to drive your car on a racetrack, open track days in California, and what it takes to run a professional racing facility. We break down the Big Willow track layout, lap times, racing speeds, and all six tracks at Willow Springs, while also diving into car culture, automotive content creation, and filming locations like Ford v Ferrari. Whether you’re searching for a car podcast, motorsports podcast, track day driving tips, or how to get on a race track in California, this episode delivers insider knowledge on racing, track rentals, automotive events, and performance driving at one of the most iconic race tracks in the United States.
