A failed 1956 proposal to build an automotive testing complex near Ontario, San Bernardino County, cleared the way for a rival project in Riverside County. Restaurant owner Rudy Cleye partnered with John Campbell Edgar, who provided the initial $100,000 investment, and the West Coast Automotive Testing Corporation broke ground in December 1956. Grading was complete by January 1957 and paving followed that spring. The facility opened on September 21, 1957, with Chuck Daigh, Richie Ginther, and Ricardo Rodriguez winning the first events; Ginther took the inaugural feature race. An NHRA drag event followed two weeks later, and a USAC stock car race on December 1 saw Jerry Unser Jr. claim the first win of its kind at the track.
The track was designed by James E. Peterson. Its primary Grand Prix road course measured 3.250 miles on opening, extended to 3.300 miles after 1969 renovations reconfigured the ninth turn. A shorter NASCAR oval-bypass layout measured 2.620 miles, and a dragstrip ran 0.250 miles. The 1969 redesign, funded by Lawrence LoPatin, replaced the old Turn 9 with a left-turn kink leading into a banked sweeping right-hander, producing the configuration used for the remainder of the track's life.
The facility passed through multiple owners. Financial difficulties plagued the early years despite the success of the Los Angeles Times Grand Prix, an annual professional sports car race first held in 1958. In 1960 Dean Mears bought the track, but his tenure was brief; by 1962 entertainer Bob Hope joined stockholders Edwin Pauley and Fred Levy as owners. Les Richter, appointed assistant general manager in 1961 and later president, guided the track through two decades of relative stability, expanding grandstand capacity to 16,000 and overseeing a $200,000 renovation in 1966. In 1969 Michigan International Speedway owner Lawrence LoPatin purchased a 47 percent stake and folded the track into American Raceways, Inc. (ARI), but ARI's financial collapse led to the Sunnymead Land Investors group headed by Fritz Duda acquiring 80 percent controlling interest in 1971 for approximately $400,000. Richter's departure in 1983 after philosophical differences with Duda began a period of planning for a replacement facility that never materialized.
The track hosted one Formula One World Championship round, the 1960 United States Grand Prix on November 20, won by Stirling Moss. A second Formula One event was planned for 1967 but was replaced by a USAC Championship Car race, with Richter citing the expense of promoting a Formula One round.
From 1963 to 1988 Riverside held at least one annual NASCAR Cup Series race. The January Motor Trend 500 became a fixture for much of that era. Notable fatalities during NASCAR races included Joe Weatherly, who died at Turn 6 during the 1964 Motor Trend 500, and Bill Spencer, who died during a Late Model Sportsman event in 1975.
The Los Angeles Times Grand Prix ran annually from 1958 to 1973 under various sanctioning bodies, including Can-Am from 1966 to 1973, and was revived under IMSA GT Championship sanction from 1979 to 1987. CART held annual races at Riverside from 1981 to 1983.
Riverside experienced an unusually high number of fatalities, particularly in its first decade. The first occurred on opening weekend, September 22, 1957, when sports car racer John Lawrence died after crashing at Turn 6. Subsequent deaths at Turn 9 prompted the 1963 installation of a retaining wall and ultimately drove the 1969 reconfiguration of that corner. Notable fatalities included Ken Miles, killed in a 1966 testing accident, and IMSA GT driver Rolf Stommelen, who died in April 1983 when his car flipped and caught fire at the Turn 9 entrance. The track's last racing death occurred on July 2, 1989, its final event day.
With the NASCAR Cup race moved to Phoenix Raceway for 1988 and repeated failures to secure a replacement site, Riverside ran its final major NASCAR and IROC weekend in June 1988, with Scott Pruett winning the IROC race and Rusty Wallace taking the NASCAR event. A final off-road SCORE International event followed in August. Demolition began while the 1988 season was still running. A shortened track continued to host club events through July 1989. Initial grading for the Moreno Valley Mall began in September 1989, and the Goodyear observation tower was demolished in August 1990. The mall formally opened on October 14, 1992.
Riverside International Raceway served as a filming location for numerous Hollywood productions including Grand Prix (1966), The Love Bug (1968), and Winning (1969), as well as television series including Knight Rider and The Rockford Files. Its 32-year run made it one of the most significant road racing venues in American motorsport history, hosting the full breadth of disciplines from Formula One to drag racing and off-road events in a single complex.