Buttonwillow Raceway Circuit
Buttonwillow Raceway Park is a multipurpose Motorsport facility, home to the California Region of the Sports Car Club of America. It's been in operation since 1996 at the town of Buttonwillow, a 30-min drive away from Bakersfield, CA. The club members use the complex to develop their high-performance racing skills on track days open for aspiring racecar drivers. Buttonwillow Raceway Park also hosts regular go-kart competitions and serves as a road testing ground for car manufacturers. The raceway's location in the arid San Joaquin Valley offers good climate conditions year-round, although it may get quite hot in summer. You can bet on the track surface to remain dry, as it rains very little in Buttonwillow, usually in wintertime.
There are three track layouts in Buttonwillow Raceway Park: the 1.86-mile West Loop, the 1.06-mile East loop, and the 3.1-mile combined configuration. These are customizable in 40+ different ways for hosting varied competitions simultaneously. There is also a separate kart track of 0.69 miles and a 250′ x 255′ skidpad. The main straightaway has 3,800 feet and serves as a test drag strip when it's not a part of a race layout. Some turns have negative banking, and others have up to 10% positive banking, and many of them are blind corners because of the frequent elevation changes through the whole race track.
Buttonwillow Raceway Park's Circuit configuration represents the facility's newest standalone road course added to complement the Classic track's 40+ layout variations, located in California's Central Valley agricultural heartland 45 kilometers northwest of Bakersfield. This purpose-built circuit operates independently from the Classic course's modular configuration system, providing dedicated layout unavailable through Classic track's combination options where numbered configurations (#13CW, #25A, etc.) create varied challenges by combining different sections. The Circuit's addition expanded Buttonwillow's total facility offerings beyond the Classic track's technical character, creating alternative experience focused on specific corner types and flow patterns distinct from Classic configurations' emphasis on emulating diverse North American street and road racing characteristics across 40+ possible combinations.
The Circuit configuration's character emerges from standalone design philosophy contrasting Classic track's modular approach. While Classic configurations combine sections into layouts like the popular 4.31-kilometer #13CW featuring 21 turns and Lost Hill's 4.5-meter elevation challenge, the Circuit provides consistent dedicated layout without section-swapping variations. Central Valley's agricultural climate creates extreme seasonal variation—summer track temperatures exceed 60°C while winter sessions operate in moderate conditions, with dust from surrounding farmland affecting grip when winds blow across the facility. Buttonwillow's remote location preserves uncrowded track access compared to coastal Southern California venues, attracting serious track day enthusiasts and time attack competitors seeking affordable seat time. The facility's 40-foot width accommodates multiple racing lines throughout both Classic and Circuit layouts. SCCA, NASA, Super Lap Battle time attack series, and club racing organizations utilize Buttonwillow's multiple configuration options. The Circuit particularly serves events requiring consistent lap-to-lap layout versus Classic configurations that change between events based on organizer preferences, where dedicated Circuit geometry enables direct session-to-session comparison unavailable when Classic track rotates through its 40+ configuration possibilities across California's most versatile club racing facility offering unprecedented layout variety.
