Great article...great memories. My brother and I both worked at Malibu Grand Prix in Northridge, CA when we were in high school, back in 1980-1983. I was a Pit Attendant and my bro was the Asst Manager. Working at Malibu Grand Prix when we were in high school was absolutely the best job a teenager could have, especially being we were car guys (even though we only made 2.15 per hour...heck, I would done it for free). I remember strapping in celebrities such as; Christie Brinkley (Yes, I got to tighten up Christie Brinkley's seat belt a few times...and yes, for a 18 boy, it was, well...a very happy day for me, we'll just leave it at that), also Leif Garrett, Adam Rich (Who I also went to school with), Lisa Welchell (from Facts of Life), Scott Baio etc. And a couple weeknights when I wasn't working, Paul Newman and Michael Jackson used to come in.  Now, speaking of Barry Goldstein noted in the article, I want to say that I do remember him. I recall a gent that would come to the track almost every weeknight (I didn't work every weeknight, but every time I did, this gent came in). He would bring his own helmet of course (anyone who took their laps seriously would bring their own helmet and gloves) and our mechanic would pull out the green "7up" car for him, which was the quickest and best handling car we had out of the 12-14 cars. (The Armor All car was a good car as well - wasn't as quick as the 7up car, but it didn't oversteer as much as the 7up car. (I really don't know how I just remembered that, but I vividly do).  Anyway, as for lap time record, again, I do recall the weeknight guy, who I believe may have been Barry Goldstein, being incredibly fast...somewhere around a high 56-57 second lap time. Of course, all of us who worked there had fast lap times as well, being that after closing, we would all get about 50 laps or so each. But even with us working there, knowing which cars were the quickest and best handling, and constantly driving them, we could only turn in 57.5-59 second lap times. (My quickest was about a 57.8'ish seconds if i recall correctly, with the track record about 56.3-56.4)  OK...but who really held the track record? Was it Barry Goldstein? He was fast, but what I do recall, and my brother recalled as well, the track record at Northridge was held by Paul Newman, with a 56.3-56.4 time...at least when we worked there between 1980-1983.  In any event, thank you for article/memories Hagerty/Preston Lerner. Now that you reminded me of Malibu GP, I think I want to find and buy Virage car on eBay. I saw one for sale a few year back which went for about 5k or so...gotta have one. (thankfully, I don't make 2.15 per hour anymore)        ... View more