With this weekend being NASCAR’s long-awaited race weekend at Naval Air Station North Island, Robby Gordon certainly would’ve liked to bring the Stadium Super Trucks back to the base. Yes, “back”.

NAS North Island’s Runway 36 previously hosted the Coronado Speed Festival from 1997 to 2016. In 2014, SST appeared at the festival as the second half in a Southern California weekend special that began at the Sand Sports Super Show in Costa Mesa.

SST ran the same 1.7-mile course along Runway 36 and its surrounding taxiways as the vintage cars participating in the festival, albeit with a set of jumps added on the final two corners. Gordon went on to win ahead of Sheldon Creed and Keegan Kincaid.

“I’ve always said we were about a decade ahead of our time when we brought Stadium Super Trucks to Coronado during SpeedFest in 2014 and 2015,” Gordon remarked ahead of Sunday’s Cup race. “Back then, we proved that racing trucks on a temporary street circuit in front of packed grandstands could create an incredible show for fans. The jumps, the action, and the accessibility made it something completely different from traditional motorsports.

“Watching this weekend’s event reminds me how much fun it would have been to bring the trucks back and put on another show. I wish NASCAR would have allowed us to come out and play this weekend.

“Sometimes being first means people don’t fully appreciate the vision until years later. Looking back, I still believe we were about ten years ahead of the curve.”

Creed, who’s from the area, was the only driver in any of the three NASCAR races this weekend with prior experience at Coronado. He went on to finish third in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race on Saturday, highlighted by a bizarre incident in which a fan hopped the catchfence to speak to him during a red flag, went back into the fan area, then was arrested by NCIS.

Unlike what the festival used, NASCAR’s Qualcomm Circuit is a sprawling 3.4-mile course around North Island. Runway 36 was also part of the track via “Runway Road”.

Featured image credit: Stadium Super Trucks