Henry J. Kaiser broke ground on the first integrated steel mill west of the Rockies and was a key provider of steel used in the construction of Liberty ships during the War. Kaiser Steel went bankrupt and on December 31, 1983, the mill was shut down permanently.

In late 1993, Penske Corporation started discussions with Kaiser Ventures, Inc. and a formal agreement was reached in early 1994 to build a superspeedway on the site, which by this time had been listed by the EPA as eligible for Superfund cleanup.

Workers broke ground in late November 1995, and after demolition of remaining structures, in excess of 1 million tons of rubble and thousands of tons of scrap metal removal of scrap metal were removed and recycled wherever possible. Two million cubic yards of earth were moved and graded to shape the track before some 300,000 tons of asphalt were spread and rolled smooth.

Less than two years later, a sold-out crowd of over 90,000 fans watched the green flag drop for the inaugural California 500. Jeff Gordon took the first checkered flag at Auto Club Speedway.

In July 1999, Auto Club Speedway became part of International Speedway Corporation when Penske Motorsports, Inc. merged with ISC.

Lights were added to the track in 2003 and the first races scheduled to finish “Under the Lights” were two Cup Series events at the speedway in 2004; the May 2 Auto Club 500 and the September 5 Pop Secret 500.