In the Arizona desert, a ribbon of tarmac stands out against the featureless landscape. It’s a racetrack that’s lain dormant for about a decade and a half.
Called Competition Ridge Race Ranch, it’s located in Yucca, between Kingman and Lake Havasu. But it’s not the kind of place you’re likely to stumble upon accidentally. It was recently visited by the YouTubers of DZAdventures, who estimate that the track is situated about 30 miles from the nearest paved road. From ground level, fences and “No Trespassing” signs are the only indications that it’s even there. But drone shots show a complete road course.
Built around 2010, Competition Ridge is a failed country club track. According to a DragZine blog post from that time, sports car racer Randy Lyles hoped to sell five-plus-acre plots around the track, where owners could build houses and race shops. They’d then be able to use the track whenever they wanted, an arrangement Lyles believed would be cheaper than making dedicated trips to test. Still, it would be a considerable investment. Around the same time, Lyles posted an asking price of $70,900 (OBO) for a lot on a St. Louis Motor Racing News forum.
According to the DragZine post, Lyles planned to build a 1.7-mile road course, 3/4-mile oval, and 1/4-mile drag strip on the 400-acre site, plus 48 housing lots. Residents would be charged a $100 monthly fee to pay for maintenance, equipment, and staffing, but reportedly would have been allowed to host racing events with non-residents and collected percentages of fees paid by those attendees.
It’s unclear why those plans never came to fruition, but Competition Ridge’s remote location may have been a contributing factor. Racetracks are often far from civilization, owing to their size and the noise and general commotion they generate. Its inaccessibility means you’d have to be pretty dedicated to the racing life to find it appealing.
Keeping a racetrack in business is also tough. The past few years have seen many go bust, from smaller venues like Custom T’s drag strip near Washington, D.C., to the 190-acre Grattan Raceway property in Michigan. Unlike many other tracks, Competition Ridge’s middle-of-nowhere locale could also save it from bought up by real estate developers and demolished. It may just remain in limbo, as a curiosity for overlanders and Google Maps viewers.