One Grand Prix in Moreno Valley

A Southern California road course better known for stock cars and sports cars, Riverside held one World Championship Grand Prix in 1960, and a shopping mall stands there now.

Riverside International Raceway was several racetracks sharing one address. From 1957 to 1989 it stood in Moreno Valley, in California's Riverside County, offering a choice of road courses designed by James E. Peterson, oval configurations and a dragstrip besides. Stock cars, sports cars, Can Am and later the IMSA GT Championship all came to race, and from 1958 sports cars contested a Los Angeles Times Grand Prix that drew crowds year after year.

The gates opened in September 1957, and the money troubles began soon after. Formula One's only championship visit came on 20 November 1960, the last round of the season, when Alec Ulmann promoted a United States Grand Prix there. Jack Brabham was that year's champion, but the day belonged to Stirling Moss, who took pole and won for Lotus, with Innes Ireland second in another Lotus and Bruce McLaren third. Ulmann had counted on 100,000 spectators. The Los Angeles Times reported about 25,000, the kind of gap accountants remember long after the fans have forgotten it, and the race was judged a financial failure. For 1961 the United States Grand Prix moved to Watkins Glen.

Riverside tried more than once to bring Formula One back. A race planned for 1967 became an Indy car event because it cost too much to promote, and a United States Grand Prix West intended for 1972 fell through for want of sponsors. Over the years the circuit also saw many fatal accidents, most of them during the 1960s.

Development finally overtook the track. The last major events took place in 1988 and the final local races in 1989, and in 1992 the Moreno Valley Mall opened on the site. Shops, hotels and homes now cover the ground where Riverside's single championship round was run. Real estate, in the end, won the race that motor racing could not.

Every Grand Prix here

• 1960 United States Grand Prix