April 2026
There will no longer be the familiar roar of race car engines at Sunset Speedway. The sun has set for the last time at the well-known short-track car-racing oval in Innisfil, Ontario, which closed at the end of the 2025 racing season. The property owner, Sunset International Speedway, is seeking Official Plan and zoning-bylaw amendments so they can redevelop their 44-acre property into a self-storage facility and other complementary commercial uses.
Sunset Speedway opened in 1968, producing some of Canada’s top stock car racers including NASCAR drivers Mark Dilley, Peter Gibbons and Kerry Micks.
Ownership changed in 2009, when Brian and Sandra Todish, along with Ernie Rinomato and partners bought the racetrack. Facilities were upgraded, including improvements to the grandstands the track was resurfaced and extended by 50 feet, making it now a 1/3-mile, high-banked oval. A pit road was added for traveling series
With the closure of Barrie Speedway, north of Barrie, in 2015, NASCAR moved its weekly NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. Also in 2015, Brian and Sandra became the sole operators and owners.
At the end of the 2025 racing season, a “Last Dance” event was held to say farewell to 57 years of racing at Sunset Speedway, which had the distinction of being the last of the motorsport tracks in Simcoe County.
However, this will be a temporary absence. Oro Station Motor Circuit, a racetrack and related automotive facilities north of Barrie, is scheduled to open in 2026 as a signature motorsports track for Canada.
Also read: The rise and fall of motor car speedways in Simcoe County – Canadian Military History
Sources: Self-storage facility planned for former Sunset Speedway site – Barrie News, Sunset Speedway (Ontario) – Wikipedia, Barrie Speedway – Wikipedia, Motorsports | Oro Station Motor Circuit | Ontario, Canada.
