The Stardust International Raceway was an auto racing track in Spring Valley

Spring Valley, Nevada

Spring Valley is an unincorporated town in Clark County, Nevada, United States located two miles west of the Las Vegas Strip. The population was 117,390 at the 2000 census.-Background:...

, near Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

. It featured a flat, 3 miles (4.8 km), 13-turn road course, and a quarter-mile drag strip

Dragstrip

A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile tracks...

. It was built in 1965 by the Stardust Hotel and Casino to attract high roller

High roller

A high roller, also referred to as a whale in the casino industry, is a gambler who wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish "perks" from casinos to lure them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfers, limousine use and use of the casinos' best suites...

s to the hotel. In 1966 it began hosting the season finale of the Can-Am championship. In 1968 the USAC Championship Car series held a race at Stardust. The hotel was sold in 1969, and the new owners largely abandoned the track. Larry Horton, the track's manager, leased the land and ran drag racing

Drag racing

Drag racing is a competition in which specially prepared automobiles or motorcycles compete two at a time to be the first to cross a set finish line, from a standing start, in a straight line, over a measured distance, most commonly a ¼-mile straight track....

 events until 1970. Real estate developers Pardee Homes bought the land and built the Spring Valley community on it.

Sports car

Year	Driver	Entrant	Car	Distance/Duration	Championship	Report
1965	Hap Sharp Hap Sharp James "Hap" Sharp was an American race car driver who drove in six Formula One grands prix. But he was best known as co-owner and driver of the revolutionary Chaparral sports racing cars built by Jim Hall and Sharp in Midland, Texas. In 1962 Jim Hall and Hap Sharp formed Chaparral Cars, Inc...	Chaparral Cars	Chaparral 2A-Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	200 miles (321.9 km)	Non-championship	report
1966	John Cannon		Genie Mk.10-Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	180 miles (289.7 km)	United States Road Racing Championship United States Road Racing Championship The United States Road Racing Championship was created by the Sports Car Club of America in 1962. It was the first SCCA series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series to recover races that had been taken by rival USAC Road Racing...	report
1966	John Surtees John Surtees John Surtees, OBE is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He was 500cc motorcycle World Champion in 1956 and 1958–60, Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels...	Team Surtees John Surtees John Surtees, OBE is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He was 500cc motorcycle World Champion in 1956 and 1958–60, Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels...	Lola T70 Mk.2 Lola T70 The Lola T70 was built for sports car racing, popular in the mid to late 1960s. Developed by Lola Cars in 1965 in Great Britain, the T70 was made for endurance racing... -Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	210 miles (338 km)	Can-Am	report
1967	Mark Donohue Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...	Roger Penske Roger Penske Roger S. Penske is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses. A winning racer in the late 1950s, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated...	Lola T70 Mk.3 Lola T70 The Lola T70 was built for sports car racing, popular in the mid to late 1960s. Developed by Lola Cars in 1965 in Great Britain, the T70 was made for endurance racing... -Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	183 miles (294.5 km)	United States Road Racing Championship United States Road Racing Championship The United States Road Racing Championship was created by the Sports Car Club of America in 1962. It was the first SCCA series for professional racing drivers. SCCA Executive Director John Bishop helped to create the series to recover races that had been taken by rival USAC Road Racing...	report
1967	John Surtees John Surtees John Surtees, OBE is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He was 500cc motorcycle World Champion in 1956 and 1958–60, Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels...	Team Surtees John Surtees John Surtees, OBE is a British former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer and Formula One driver from England. He was 500cc motorcycle World Champion in 1956 and 1958–60, Formula One World Champion in 1964, and remains the only person to have won World Championships on both two and four wheels...	Lola T70 Mk.3 Lola T70 The Lola T70 was built for sports car racing, popular in the mid to late 1960s. Developed by Lola Cars in 1965 in Great Britain, the T70 was made for endurance racing... -Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	210 miles (338 km)	Can-Am	report
1968	Denny Hulme Denny Hulme Denis Clive "Denny" Hulme, OBE was a New Zealand racing driver, the 1967 Formula One World Champion for the Brabham team....	Bruce McLaren Motor Racing	McLaren M8A-Chevrolet Chevrolet Chevrolet , also known as Chevy , is a brand of vehicle produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant on November 3, 1911, General Motors acquired Chevrolet in 1918...	210 miles (338 km)	Can-Am	report

Trans-Am

Year	Driver	Entrant	Car	Distance/Duration	Report
1967	Mark Donohue Mark Donohue Mark Neary Donohue, Jr. , nicknamed "Captain Nice", was an American racecar driver known for his ability to set up his own race car as well as driving it to victories. Donohue is probably best known as the driver of the 1500+ bhp “Can-Am Killer” Porsche 917-30 and as the winner of the 1972...	Roger Penske Roger Penske Roger S. Penske is the owner of the automobile racing team Penske Racing, the Penske Corporation, and other automotive related businesses. A winning racer in the late 1950s, Penske was named 1961's Sports Car Club of America Driver of the Year by Sports Illustrated...	Chevrolet Camaro Chevrolet Camaro The Chevrolet Camaro is an automobile manufactured by General Motors under the Chevrolet brand, classified as a pony car and some versions also as a muscle car. It went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed as a competing model to the Ford Mustang...	350 miles (563.3 km)	report

USAC Champ Car

Season	Date	Race Name	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine	Team	Report
1968	March 31	Stardust 150	Bobby Unser Bobby Unser Robert William "Bobby" Unser is a retired U.S. automobile racer. He is the brother of Al Unser, Jerry Unser and Louie Unser, the father of Robby Unser, and the uncle of Al Unser, Jr. and Johnny Unser...	Eagle	Ford	Leader Cards Racing	report

External links

• Ultimate Racing History: Stardust archive
• Track info and map