Firebird Motorsports Park (Chandler)

History

Charlie Allen built this multimillion-dollar complex, with a state-of-the-art drag strip and a lake for boat drag racing, on land owned by the Gila River Indians. It opened for bracket and grudge racing in late summer 1983. The first big drag event was a funny car race on October 8, 1983, followed by a jet car exhibition on December 3, but in those early months the strip mostly saw bracket and grudge racing. Its first NHRA divisional race was on January 27-29, 1984, with Shirley Muldowney and Don Garlits there for a match race, and Muldowney set a track record of 5.59 at 248.61 mph. Weekly sportsman racing continued with occasional feature shows, but the track needed work before it could hold a major national event. After winning a booked-in race there in September 1984, Garlits said the track was too slick and had bumps at the end. The potential was there, and on October 4-6, 1985, it hosted the NHRA Fallnationals, with Gene Snow winning top fuel and John Collins winning funny car. The Fallnationals stayed at Firebird through 1989. In 1990 NHRA moved its Firebird national event to February as the Arizona Nationals. The complex was renamed Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in 2013. Widening the neighboring Interstate 10 would take part of the complex but not the drag strip. In 2021, though, the Wild Horse Pass Development Authority announced plans for commercial development on the site of the drag strip and boat lake, and NHRA scheduled the last Arizona Nationals for 2023.