Thunderhill Raceway Park is the kind of place that doesn’t need to brag. Tucked up in the Sacramento Valley near Willows, it’s home to the 25 Hours of Thunderhill, the longest damn car race in America. You think 24 Hours of Le Mans is tough? Try tacking on one more hour while freezing your ass off at 3 a.m. in Northern California fog.
The track itself is a shape-shifter. You’ve got the original 3-mile East course, a 2-mile West loop added later, and when you bolt them together you get a 5-mile monster, the longest road course in the country. Five miles of corners that chew tires and break egos. People call it the “Thunderschleife” as a nod to the Nürburgring, and while it doesn’t have castles or bratwurst, it’ll still bite you if you screw up.
But Thunderhill isn’t just racing. The place will host drifting, karting, autocross, endurance tests, even weddings if you’re the kind of couple who thinks “I do” sounds better over the howl of a V8. Corporate retreats, driver schools, weekend warriors — they all show up here. It’s less country club and more blue-collar motorsport playground.
The San Francisco Region SCCA dreamed this place up in 1993, starting with a scrappy 1.9-mile, 9-turn setup. By ’97 they stretched it to 3 miles, then in 2014 added Thunderhill West. Always evolving, always finding new ways to keep racers busy and corner workers cold.
Thunderhill’s reputation is built on dedication. It’s not glamorous like Laguna or polished like Sonoma, but it’s real. A cornerstone of California motorsport where endurance is king, creativity thrives, and the racing never stops.
