You can find the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum just next to the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. It’s a museum dedicated to hot-rodding and its associated vehicles, memorabilia, and motorcycles.
Longtime NHRA employees, led by museum founder Wally Parks, established the museum, which was renamed in his honor on the occasion of his ninetieth birthday. Fortunately, the Automobile Club of Southern California stepped in to be the museum’s presenting sponsor. Retired NHRA vice president Steve Gibbs oversaw the team that renovated a WPA-built building on the Fairplex grounds into the museum, which opened to the public in 1998. The building is 28,500 square feet (2,650 square meters).
The Museum has been an autonomous entity since 1998, and its Board of Directors is responsible for setting the Museum’s overall strategic direction, mission, and operational priorities. The Museum is an autonomous cultural institution dedicated to teaching and preservation that operates out of California.
The museum’s goal is to honor the cultural significance of motorsports in the United States. The museum is dedicated to preserving and exhibiting automobiles, stories, and artifacts that illustrate the American fascination with and impact on the evolution of automotive speed and style.
The Museum’s collection chronicles the history of American hot rodding through dragsters, land speed vehicles, race cars, customs, and hot rods, among a rotating roster of one-of-a-kind automobiles. We’re at the Los Angeles County Fairplex, which also houses the Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, in a beautiful Art Deco-style exhibition structure. Since the first event, the Southern California Championships, was held at this drag strip on a weekend in April of 1953, the National Hot Rod Association has maintained a constant presence in this area. The Winternationals and Auto Club Finals, the first and last events of the NHRA season, are both taking place at this venue today.
All year long, visitors can explore the museum’s rotating and permanent displays spread across 30.000 square feet. You can learn more about our annual Hot Rod Reunions in Bowling Green, Kentucky and Bakersfield, California, as well as the other events we host, by browsing this site.