12-Year-Old Track Gets New Sponsor

New name, new management, new approach.

The auto racing facility formerly known as Sandia Speedway announced changes aplenty Thursday, with a new name — NAPA Speedway — most notable among them.

The speedway in far west Albuquerque atop Nine Mile Hill will have NAPA Albuquerque as its name sponsor and a new logo adorning all areas of the facility.

“Our customers are race fans,” said Marc Tsutsui, general manager of NAPA Albuquerque. “We realized that this was a perfect match for us.”

Jim Guthrie remains as president and the face of the speedway, but his role is changing significantly. Guthrie, a former Indy-car driver and owner of Car Crafters, has leased the speedway property and is putting together a management team.

“We want to be more customer-centered instead of racer-centered,” Guthrie said. “It’s really a different philosophy aimed at making the track a family entertainment venue.”

NAPA Speedway already offers plenty of variety for racers, with paved and dirt oval tracks, a paved road course, a motorcycle flat track, a motocross course and a radio-controlled track. Guthrie wants the facility to be used for nonracing activities, as well.

“The venue will be open to concerts,” Guthrie said. “We’ve had monster trucks out there; we’re planning a bicycle race. We want to be open to a variety of entertainment activities and attract more families.”

The speedway has been in operation for 12 years and has steadily grown in recent years. Picking up NAPA as a name sponsor will allow for continued improvements, Guthrie said.

“We had been searching for a good fit to work with us to take our tracks to the next level,” he said. “There is no one who could fit better than NAPA, which has been involved in racing for a long time. It’s a natural marriage.”
— This article appeared on page D2 of the Albuquerque Journal