Spring Mountain Motor Resort is more than just a Pahrump-area racetrack

Everyone in town knows that Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club has a racetrack and that cars race there. That’s a given, but what else goes on at the track?

According to Todd Crutcher, Director of Marketing at Spring Mountain, the racing is just part of what goes on. Another big portion of the speedway is the school. There is Corvette and a Cadillac driving school.

“We have over over 120 Corvette students per week,” he said. “These classes are subsidized by General Motors. Everyone that buys a Corvette, Chevrolet subsidizes the class. It only costs the owner $1,000 for a two-day school. That is really cheap when you look at tires, brakes, gas, track time and instructor time. It is an affordable and cheap program.”

He added, “Cadillac pays 100 percent of the two days if the owner buys a brand new ATS-V CTS-V.”

Spring Mountain added they get about 12 to 24 Cadillac students per week.

Auto manufacturers test their cars

So there is racing, and classes, and then there is testing of cars too. Testing? What kind of testing? Auto manufacturers come out to the desert to test their vehicles. Sometimes they go out to Death Valley but at times these manufacturers need a safer and more controlled environment.

Spring Mountain Motor Resort and Country Club said it offers car manufacturers, car clubs and automotive brands the ability to test their vehicles on their track. There are multiple track configurations, paddock spaces, and added privacy if needed. At Spring Mountain, clients are able to push their vehicle to its limits in a safe and controlled environment.

Crutcher prefaced his next comment with the fact that “General Motors is their official partner. We are not looking to do anything to upset that,” he said. “Shelby in Vegas is a member and we do track events for all auto manufacturers. Lamborghini comes out here, McLaren is coming out here. We really get everybody. We still are a track for rent. So we have private programs that don’t involve us, meaning we are not doing a school with them.”

The testing is real James Bond stuff, not involving countries, but auto manufacturers.

“We have a lot of spy stuff that goes on with cars,” Crutcher said. “The cars will all be camouflaged and we have a special warehouse with no branding on it for product launches.

“One of the challenges is our expectations. Chevrolet knows, we make sure they are happy and we are not doing anything that conflicts with our contract. We had someone come out here in the night. They wanted to run 24 hours for testing purposes.”

The track is rented and it’s not just rented by auto companies. It is available for individuals to rent too, but it’s tough to rent. One would think that because of the expense to rent that the schedule is wide open. The opposite is the truth.

“There is a major television show, ‘Top Gear America,’ he said. “They wanted to shoot the whole season at our facility, but we are in high demand. If someone wanted to rent out our track they would have to do it six months to a year in advance.”

Things are also changing rapidly at the track.

The track is expanding. At the moment, the track has only four residents but they will soon be joined by nearly 80 more residents as the track continues to grow.

“We are opening up escrow for those who want to be members, they can buy a lot,” Crutcher said. “We are looking for track-minded people. If you want quiet, then this is not the place for you. If you are into motor sports, we have a lot of people who live here because of us. We are the only track in this capacity in the world. We are really creating that environment and that city, the way we are building homes out here, not that we have our own zip code.”

Spring Mountain is a full-service racetrack

The members have everything they need to keep racing. There is even a garage that will maintain their vehicle for them and have their car ready to race.

“We have garages for rent for our members,” Crutcher said. “Everything can be done at our facility. We are a unique ride-and-drive experience. People can show up and their car can be on the line ready to go. They can get in their car and drive all day and then just put it back here and walk away from it. They don’t have to change brakes or tires. They don’t have to worry about the engine. Everything can be maintained to the highest level of service. So that’s what we provide here. And they are hanging out with like-minded people. Then when they are done, they enjoy the evening.”

The growth and expansion will lead to the track actually expanding. Crutcher says the track hopes to be the longest racetrack in the world, which means it would have to be longer than the Nurburgring in Nurburg, Germany, a track that is nearly 17 miles long.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtime.com