You're not hallucinating. Another facility that hosts automotive competition in Southern California has been silenced. This time, a Superior Court judge ordered drag racing halted at Auto Club Dragway in Fontana. Immediately, the complex issued a media release announcing that its Street Legal program scheduled for this Saturday is canceled.

Two observations: First, racing in Southern California as a whole has been ravaged over the past several months by seemingly unstoppable forces, led by evident ennui for the sport among the region's giant population. Drag racing was a small part of the action at Auto Club Speedway, built around its centerpiece 2.0-mile oval. It lost one of its NASCAR Sprint Cup dates because of lagging attendance. The same issues were among those that recently claimed historic Orange Show Speedway in San Bernardino, Victorville Speedway and the showplace half-mile Irwindale Speedway, which also had a drag strip.

The second observation is the larger scope of this whole phenomenon as the region's population has grown unchecked and its economy has transitioned. The welter of automotive and aviation fabrication shops that were once a breeding ground for local racing have been grossly diminished. The San Bernardino Sun compiled a list of drag strips that have closed. They include Saugus, Colton, Fontana, the original Irwindale (no affiliation with the more recently closed speedway), San Gabriel, LIONS in Long Beach, High Desert in Palmdale, San Fernando, Ventura Dragway and Terminal Island, the last opened by "Big Willie" Robinson and his Brotherhood of Street Racers.

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