NMMRA was founded in 1946 in Albuquerque, New Mexico where it became a sanctioning body for Modified, Super Modified and Full Sprint Cars. Rio Grande Speedway soon became the home of NMMRA Rio Grande Speedway was then, located on the very out skirts west of Albuquerque , which is now considered to be the Rio Grande Valley and some mounds of turns 1 and 2 are still standing to this date.
NMMRA also raced at Sandia speedway which was then, still on the out skirts but the east end of Albuquerque. As NMMRA grew, it soon became the club in which legends such as Buddy Taylor Al Unser Sr, Al Unser Jr.,and numerous others became members and sat on the Board of the NMMRA Board of Directors and eventually branched out to other tracks and other divisions of racing.
In 1950 Speedway Park opened on the south end of Albuquerque and became Albuquerque’s only dirt track. Speedway Park was the place to be for Sprint Car Racing. It was required for all in the pits to wear white pants and white shirts and no women were allowed in the Pit area, and today NMMRA now has women drivers.
It was also required that you unhook from your trailer and you were responsible for pushing your own sprint car with your tow vehicle. NMMRA grew and grew and soon the Duke City modifieds were incorporated into the NMMRA Association.
It was then that it became NMMRA Sprints and NMMRA modifieds. The modifieds eventually faded away and some drivers moved up to a Full Sprint car. NMMRA has a family atmosphere, with father and son, of Randy and Ronnie Smith, Bo and Jesse Baker and brothers, Cody and Austin Mansfield as well as the Grady brothers, Jason and Josh and even an Uncle and nephew of Dave Burns and James Hatch competing on a weekly basis.
NMMRA today has 30 registered drivers competing at Albuquerque’s home track at Sandia Speedway located on the West side of Albuquerque. When NMMRA is not at home, it has set it sights on Roadrunner Speedway, in Carlsbad, NM, El Paso Speedway Park in El Paso, Texas and Southern New Mexico Speedway in Las Cruces, NM.