California Speedway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Facility statistics
California Speedway

Image:Racetickets californialg.jpg
Location	9300 Cherry Avenue, Fontana, California 92335
Broke ground	1995
Opened	1997
Owner	International Speedway Corporation
Operator	International Speedway Corporation
Construction cost	$100 million USD
Architect	Paxton Waters Architecture Penske Motorsports, Inc.
Former names
None
Major events
NASCAR Nextel Cup Auto Club 500, Sony HD 500 NASCAR Busch Series Stater Brothers 300, Ameriquest 300 <P> NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racetickets.com 200
Seating capacity
91,200 (NASCAR)
Current dimensions
Track shape	D-shaped oval
Track length	2 miles
Track banking	Turns - 14 degrees Frontstretch - 11 degrees Backstretch - 3 degrees

The California Speedway is a two-mile, low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in Fontana, California, similar to that of "sister track" Michigan International Speedway. It is located approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. It is a relatively new race track, opening in early 1997, and has additional configurations and facilities to accommodate "road" races, motorcycle races, vehicle testing, and drag races (Auto Club Dragway), even though the track cannot host NHRA national events, because of International Speedway Corporation's corporatewide deal with Pepsi. (The NHRA has a policy prohibiting certain Pepsi brands to be advertised anywhere at their national events as part of a deal with Coca-Cola.) This racetrack is a stones throw from the old Ontario Motor Speedway and the old Riverside International Raceway. After Riverside's closure in 1988, Southern California did not host a NASCAR race from 1988 to 1997. Then California Speedway was opened, and racing was back in SoCal.

In addition to NASCAR, the raceway has also hosted open-wheel events from both CART and the Indy Racing League. In 1999 Canadian driver Greg Moore was killed in a crash at the track, resulting in a major overhaul of the backstretch for safety (it was discovered Moore's car slid in the grass off Turn 2, allowing the car to overturn, and cause the fatal crash; following that, ISC, which had purchased the track, paved that section of backstretch apron in time for the 2000 NASCAR event to prevent cars from sliding in that section, and to allow for drivers to have control of the cars in an incident); in 2003 the Indy Racing League set the highest average speed for any circuit event in motorsports at the track.

Like many modern oval tracks, Fontana also features an infield road-course, which has been used by the Grand American Road Racing Association and by the Japanese Grand Touring Car Championship, with the JGTC race being unique in the fact it was a night race. The GARRA Rolex Sports Car Series no longer goes to this track.

In 2005, 19 year old Kyle Busch earned his first ever NASCAR Nextel Cup win at California Speedway. He is to date the youngest driver to win a race in the Nextel Cup Series.

The circuit is often used for television commercials. In 2004, portions of Herbie Fully Loaded were filmed at the speedway.

See also: List of NASCAR race tracks

[edit] Current races

[edit] Records

NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying: Kyle Busch, 38.248 sec. (188.245 mph), 2005
NASCAR Nextel Cup Race (500 miles): Jeff Gordon, 3 hrs. 13 min. 32 sec. (155.012 mph), June 22, 1997
NASCAR Busch Series Qualifying: Tony Stewart, 38.722 sec. (185.941 mph), 2005
NASCAR Busch Series Race (300 miles): Hank Parker, Jr., 1 hr. 55 min. 25 sec. (155.957 mph), April 28, 2001
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: David Reutimann, 40.228 sec. (178.980 mph), 2006
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race (200 miles): Ted Musgrave, 1 hr. 22 min. 14 sec. (145.926 mph), September 20, 2003
CART Qualifying (one lap): Gil de Ferran, 241.426 mph, October 28, 2000.
CART Race (500 miles): Jimmy Vasser, 197.995 mph, November 3, 2002.
IRL Qualifying (one lap): Helio Castroneves, 226.757 mph, September 20, 2003.
IRL Race (400 miles): Sam Hornish, Jr., 207.151 mph, September 21, 2003.

[edit] External links

California Speedway Official Site
California Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
GNEXTINC.com: California Speedway Page - Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
Jayski's California Speedway Page - Current and Past California Speedway News
Trackpedia guide to driving this track
Super High Resolution image from Windows Live Local
High Resolution image from Google Maps
Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 34.08858° -117.50000°
- WikiSatellite view at WikiMapia
- Street map from MapQuest or Google Local
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
- Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

Nextel Cup Series
Atlanta - Bristol - Brooklyn, Michigan - Charlotte - Darlington - Daytona - Dover - Fontana, California - Fort Worth - Indianapolis - Joliet, Illinois - Kansas City - Las Vegas - Loudon - Martinsville - Miami - Pocono - Phoenix - Richmond - Sonoma, California - Talladega - Watkins Glen

Busch Series
Atlanta, Bristol, Brooklyn, Michigan, Charlotte, Darlington, Daytona, Dover, Fontana, California, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Joliet, Illinois, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Loudon, Madison, Illinois, Martinsville (1982–1994, 2006), Memphis, Mexico City, Miami, Milwaukee, Montreal (2007), Nashville, Phoenix, Richmond, Sparta, Kentucky, Talladega, Watkins Glen

Craftsman Truck Series
Atlanta - Bristol - Brooklyn, Michigan - Charlotte - Daytona - Dover - Fontana, California - Fort Worth - Indianapolis - Kansas City - Las Vegas - Loudon - Madison, Illinois - Mansfield - Martinsville - Memphis - Miami - Milwaukee - Nashville - Phoenix - Talladega - Sparta, Kentucky