Irwindale Speedway welcomed racing fans for the first time on Saturday, March 27, 1999 with a standing room only crowd of 7,000+ in attendance for USAC competition featuring Silver Crown, midget, and sprint car racing. Renowned racing team owner Roger Penske waved the initial green flag in what would become 13 consecutive years of oval track racing, primarily under sanction by NASCAR, on the progressively banked half and third-mile ovals. USAC, ASA stock cars, Star Mazda Series, Lucas Oil modified and other sanctioning bodies also raced at the state of the art Irwindale Speedway. The year 2012 had no sanctioned racing while the track underwent a financial transformation under new ownership. The oval track hosted LA Racing Experience students during 2012 as usual under current track operator Jim Cohan. The eighth-mile Irwindale Dragstrip also operated in 2012 on Thursday nights.

Irwindale track champions in 1999 were crowned in six racing divisions—super late models, late models, super stocks, mini stocks, Figure 8 and street stocks. Over the years the track added additional track series and Irwindale had ten track champions in 2011. The sponsored series (with number of races run in parenthesis) were: Lucas Oil SLM, (10), Auto Club Late Model (16), Vista Paint Super Stocks (11), Justice Brothers Mini Stocks (10), Echo Equipment Legend Cars (18), King Taco Super Trucks (15), Jan's Towing Bandoleros (27), Langers Juice S-2 Cars (11), Ken Porter Auctions Open Comp (8), and Pick Your Part Figure 8 (8). Other series in 2011 were: K & N Pro West Series, PYP Demolition Derbies, ASA Speed Trucks, Lucas Oil Modifieds, Drive Tech School stock cars, Seidner's Skid Plate Cars, USAC racing, and at times monster trucks, auto soccer, trailer races, all female demo derby, and a celebrity race. D-1 drifting competition also drew fans for an independent promoter.

Two major races have highlighted past Irwindale Speedway seasons. The annual USAC Thanksgiving evening “Turkey Night Midget Grand Prix” ran every year from 1999-2011 and was televised live nationally one year by the SPEED Network. This event attracted NASCAR drivers such as Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman and numerous Indianapolis 500 veteran drivers. The NASCAR Toyota All-Star Showdown became the Daytona 500 for drivers of NASCAR Touring Series when it started in 2003. It was an invitational race for drivers from K & N Pro Series East and West and from the touring regional NASCAR Elite Division Series—Northwest, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast. Elite winners in order were: Ron Breese, Jr, in 2003, Eric Holmes, Auggie Vidovich and Tim Schendel in 2006. Pro Series winners in order were: Austin Cameron in 2003, easterner Mike Johnson, David Gilliland, Matt Kobyluck (2-times), Joey Logano (2007 & 09), and Jason Bowles-2010. The $500,000 total purse included travel money and major purses for both of the main events. The prestigious event was televised each year live on SPEED; the pits were filled, as were the grandstands. The event ran initially in late October when all series had concluded point racing. It switched to late January in 2008. It later became an event open to NASCAR Whelan All-American Series super late model and late model drivers. Those winners were: (SLM)--Greg Pursley-2007, Travis Thirkettle, Rip Michels and Ryan Partridge- 2010; (LM)--Covina's Mike Johnson-2008, Tim Huddleston-2009 and Sean Woodside-2010.

Feature winners at Irwindale Speedway have included NASCAR Sprint Cup three-time champion Tony Stewart, the 2000 TNGP winner, and current Sprint Cup driver Logano. Other nationally known drivers who raced at Irwindale Speedway over the years have included: (Indianapolis 500 drivers)--Ryan Hunter-Reay, Billy Boat, P. J. Jones, Sarah Fisher, Davey Hamilton, Jeff Ward and Ed Carpenter. (NASCAR)--Kurt and Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Josh Wise, J. J. Yeley, Brendan Gaughan, Kerry Earnhardt, Matt Crafton, and Hershel McGriff. In a drifting exhibition Matt Kenseth, Bill Elliott, Robby Gordon and Greg Biffle drove D-1 cars. Other notable drivers who raced in Irwindale super stock car races are: cycle jumper, X-Games star Travis Pastrana and Brian Deegan of Metal Mulisha fame.

Fastest cars at Irwindale have been the unlimited horsepower super-modifieds with off-set chassis. The official one-lap super-modified track record is15.154 (118.781 mph) on April 1, 2000. Drivers with the most Irwindale Speedway main event victories are: Rip Michels (61), Tim Huddleston (44), Tom Landreth (43), Nick Joanides (40), Todd Burns (36), Travis Thirkettle (34), Ron Peterson and Andrew Phipps (31 each), T. K. Karvasek (30), Steve Stewart (29), Bryan Harrell (28), Greg Pursley and Ryan Partridge (27 each), Rod Johnson, Jr. (26) and Daryl Scoggins (25). The 2013 Irwindale Speedway schedule currently has 15 race dates scheduled from April 6 through October 26. Other race dates and racing series may be added later. Be sure to check the Irwindale Event Center website for updates during the year.