Martinsville Speedway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| View from turn two bleachers | ||
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| Location | 340 Speedway Road, Martinsville, Virginia, 24112 | |
| Time zone | GMT-5 | |
| Capacity | 65,000 | |
| Owner | International Speedway Corporation | |
| Operator | International Speedway Corporation | |
| Opened | 1947 | |
| Major Events | NASCAR Sprint Cup Series NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour |
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| Oval | ||
| Surface | Asphalt/Concrete | |
| Circuit Length | .534 mi (.847 km) | |
| Turns | 4 | |
| Banking | Turns 12° Straights 0° |
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| Lap Record | 0:15.000 (Greg Sacks, , 1986, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour) | |
Martinsville Speedway is an International Speedway Corporation-owned NASCAR stock car racing track located in Martinsville, Virginia. At 0.526 miles (847 meters) in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved "speedways" in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. The track is often referred to as paper clip-shaped and is banked only 12° in the turns. The combination of long straightaways and flat, narrow turns makes hard braking going into turns and smooth acceleration exiting turns a must. The first NASCAR sanctioned event was held on July 4, 1949. In 1951, only 4 cars were running at the finish, the fewest of any race held at the speedway. The track was paved in 1955 and in 1956 it hosted its' first 500 lap event. In 1960, Richard Petty became the youngest winner at Martinsville, at 22 years, 9 months, 8 days, to date Petty has the most wins (15). In 1991, Harry Gant became the oldest winner at 51 years, 8 months, 12 days. It was Gant's fourth win in a row, earning him the nickname Mr. September.
Ownership of the track was a joint venture of brothers Jim and Bill France, Jr., and H. Clay Earles, the majority owner, along with daughters Dorothy Campbell and Mary Weatherford, and Dorothy Campbell's children, Sarah Fain and Clay Campbell. In 2004, the track was sold exclusively to the France family for $192 million as a result of an estate sale following the death of Weatherford.
Plans had existed to add an additional 20,000 seats along the back stretch, boosting capacity to over 85,000 seats. In 2005-2006 the Norfolk Southern railroad behind the track was moved 200 feet to make way for the added seats, but nothing more has been officially mentioned regarding this by track management since the sale of the track to ISC.
From 1982 until 1994, and again in 2006, the speedway hosted Nationwide Series events. This occurred first with 200- and 150-lap features (200 laps for the two races with Whelen Modifieds, 150 laps with the September Winston/Nextel Cup race), then 300 laps from 1992 until 1994 as part of a Late Model/Busch Series doubleheader, and 250 laps in the one-off in 2006. The venue was dropped from the Busch Series schedule for 2007 and a race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal was run on the open date.
Currently, Martinsville hosts two Sprint Cup Series races - the Goody's Cool Orange 500 in April and the Subway 500 (race six in the Chase for the Sprint Cup) in October - along with Craftsman Truck Series, Whelen Modified Tour which is labor day weekend under the lights, and Late Model races. Winners of the Sprint Cup and Whelen Modified Tour events receive a longcase clock as a trophy, a nod to Martinsville's famous furniture industry.
Contents |
[edit] Current Events
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Goody's Cool Orange 500
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series - Subway 500
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Kroger 250
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Kroger 200
- NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour Combination Race -- Whelen Made in America 300 (1 50-lap last chance race, 250-lap feature)
[edit] NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Stats
[edit] NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Records
(As of 10/21/07)
- Most Wins - (15) -Richard Petty
- Most Top 5's - (30) -Richard Petty
- Most Top 10's - (37) -Richard Petty
- Starts - (67) -Richard Petty
- Poles - (8) - Darrell Waltrip
- Laps Led - (3733) - Cale Yarborough
- Avg Start (Minimum 10 starts) - (4.3) - Fred Lorenzen
- Avg Finish (Minimum 10 starts) - (5.5) - Lee Petty
[edit] Records
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying: Tony Stewart, 19.306 sec. (98.084 mph), 2005
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race: Jeff Gordon, 3 hrs. 11 min. 54 sec. (82.223 mph), September 22, 1996
- NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying: Clint Bowyer, 19.735 sec. (95.951 mph), 2006
- NASCAR Nationwide Series Race: Jack Ingram, 1 hr. 42 min. 16 sec. (77.751 mph), March 25, 1984 (250 laps)
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: Jack Sprague, 19.658 sec. (96.327 mph), 2008
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race: Rich Bickle, 1 hr. 47 min. 18 sec. (75.296 mph), September 27, 1997
- NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Qualifying: Greg Sacks, 18.746 sec. (101.014 mph), 1986.
- NASCAR Combined Modified Race: Ted Christopher, 55.773 mph, 2005 (combination races only with 250-lap format)
[edit] Past races
[edit] AAA Championship Car history
(races officially sanctioned by NASCAR)
- 1952 Tex Keene
- 1953 Wayne Alspaugh
[edit] External links
- Martinsville Speedway Official Site
- Martinsville Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
- 2008 Martinsville Speedway Schedule
- Martinsville Speedway is at coordinates Coordinates:
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