The land was purchased from the Royal Australian Air Force at public auction in 1961 by a group of enthusiasts seeking to create a replacement for the Port Wakefield Circuit.

[1] The 1961 Australian Grand Prix headlined the circuits second meeting with Lex Davison winning his fourth and last AGP driving a Cooper T51 Coventry Climax FPF.

[7] Mallala served as South Australia's home of motor sport throughout the sixties[5] and it hosted a round of the Australian Drivers' Championship each year from 1961 to 1971.

[3] After the circuit's closure as a motor racing venue, Chrysler Australia, who had their manufacturing base in Adelaide, continued using the Mallala as their test track.

Following the purchase of the Mallala site by South Australia businessman and Sports Sedan racer Clem Smith in 1977, a Supreme Court decision declared the covenant unenforceable.

[11] This was upgraded to an "A" track license in 1984, allowing Mallala to stage Round 5 of the 1984 Australian Formula 2 Championship on 3 June won by Keith McClelland driving a Cheetah Mk 8-VW.

A round of the second tier V8 Supercar Development Series was held at Mallala Motor Sport Park each year from 2000 to 2006 before also moving to the Adelaide Street Circuit in 2007.

Currently the main meetings held annually are the Mallala Historics each Easter and a round of the Shannons Nationals Motor Racing Championships staged shortly afterwards.

Each year from 1960 to 1968 the Australian Touring Car Championship was contested as single race, with Mallala hosting the title in 1963 on its original 3.38 km (2.1 mi) layout.

In 1989 when the ATCC returned to Mallala after an absence of 18 years, the tight and bumpy circuit received mixed reviews from the top touring car drivers.

Some, such as Nissan driver Jim Richards praised the circuit stating that the racing would be closer as it did not allow the all-powerful Ford Sierra RS500's to fully utilise their speed advantage.

To his credit circuit owner Clem Smith would use the profits made from hosting Australia's highest profile race series which would regularly draw a capacity crowd despite not always having good weather, to continually upgrade the facilities at Mallala until the championship moved to Adelaide in 1999.