Charlotte Motor Speedway is a speedway. It is situated in Concord, North Carolina. The speedway is just 13 miles outside Charlotte. The speedway has a 1.5 miles quad-oval track. It is featured in the NASCAR calendar. The track is host to the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, and the Bank of America Roval 400.
The speedway was inaugurated in 1959 by Bruton Smith. The track is often seen as the home track for NASCAR. The reason for this is many racing organizations are situated in the Charlotte region. The track is owned and operated by Speedway Motorsports. Marcus G. Smith is the track president.
The 2,000 acres complex also has a new age quarter-mile racing strip, ZMAX Dragway. It is the lone all-solid, four-path drag strip in the United States. The strip is host to the NHRA races.
A cutting-edge clay oval is also close to the drag strip that hosts soil racing. This includes the famous World of Outlaws finals among other well-known races.
Charlotte Motor Speedway was planned and worked in 1959. It was built by Bruton Smith and his accomplice and driver Curtis Turner. On June 19, 1960, the first World 600 NASCAR race was held at this speedway. Although, the speedway declared financial insolvency notice on December 8, 1961.
The United States District Court for the Western District of North Carolina revamped it under Chapter 10 of the Bankruptcy Act.
A board of significant investors in the speedway was gathered. It was headed by A. C. Goines and furniture storekeeper Richard Howard. Goines, Howard then attempted to get money to keep the speedway running.
By April 1963, $750,000 was paid to the lenders, and the track was running again. Goines was selected as the president of the speedway and Howard was the senior supervisor of the speedway. He was appointed to take care of its everyday activities.
By 1964, Howard become the track's senior supervisor. The speedway's home loan was settled completely on June 1, 1967. Even a public burning of the mortgage happened at the speedway.
In 1992, a $1.7 million, 1,200-fixture permanent lighting system around the track was created. It was done by Musco lighting.
The track was the first superspeedway to host evening racing. It was the biggest speedway with lights until 1998 when lights were introduced around the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) Daytona International Speedway.
Another $1 million, 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) garage region was added in 1994 to the speedway.
Location | 5555 Concord Parkway South Concord, NC, 28027 |
Operator | Speedway Motorsports |
Former Names | Charlotte Motor Speedway (1960–1998, 2010–present) Lowe's Motor Speedway (1999–2009) |
Major Events | NASCAR Cup Series: Coca-Cola 600 Bank of America Roval 400 NASCAR Xfinity Series: Alsco 300 Drive for the Cure 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: North Carolina Education Lottery 200 ARCA Menards Series General Tire 150 |
Length | 1.5 mi (2.4 km) |