Richmond International Raceway
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| Location | Henrico County, Virginia | |
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| Capacity | 112,029 | |
| Owner | International Speedway Corporation | |
| Operator | International Speedway Corporation | |
| Opened | 1946 | |
| Former Names | Richmond Fairgrounds Raceway 1969-1988 Virginia State Fairgrounds 1964-1968 Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds 1955-1963 Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds 1946-1955 |
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| Major Events | NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400 Chevy Rock & Roll 400NASCAR Nationwide Series Circuit City 250 presented by FUNAI Emerson Radio 250Indy Racing League IndyCar Series SunTrust Indy Challenge |
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| D-shaped oval | ||
| Surface | Asphalt | |
| Circuit Length | 0.75 mi (1.2 km) | |
| Banking | 14° in turns 8° on frontstretch 2° on backstretch |
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| Lap Record | 0:15.564 (Helio Castroneves, Penske Racing, 2006, IRL IndyCar Series) | |
Richmond International Raceway (RIR) is a 3/4-mile (1.2 km), D-shaped, asphalt race track located just outside Richmond, Virginia in Henrico County. It hosts the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series and Nationwide Series. "America's Premier Short Track" also hosts the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, and the United States Auto Club Silver Crown and National Sprint Car Series.
Richmond International Raceway is one of a few race tracks to host all of its events under the lights. The track has sold out the last 32 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. [1]
Richmond is also well known for hosting the final race leading up to the start of the Chase for the Sprint Cup.
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[edit] Richmond Raceway Complex
Richmond International Raceway is located at the Richmond Raceway Complex, which is an 1000-acre, multi-purpose facility.
Richmond Raceway Complex also hosts the Intergalactic Bead Show, Virginia Golf Show, Bassarama, Richmond Home and Garden Show, RV and Camping Expo, Richmond Boat Show, Richmond Classic Sports Card Show, East Coast Sawmill and Logging Equipment Expo, Craftsmen Classic Spring and Christmas Shows, Bizarre Bazaar Spring and Christmas Shows and other various arts and craft events.
Outdoor festivals hosted by Richmond Raceway Complex in 2004 included the Virginia State Fair, Richmond Highland Games & Celtic Festival, March of Dimes Bikers for Babies, K95 Country Music Festival, [1] 102.1 The X], ACCA Temple Pork Festival, the VA Food Festival and concerts featuring local and national recording artists.
The former name for RRC was Strawberry Hill until RIR bought out the Virginia State Fairgounds in 1999. The Strawberry Hill Races, which are a series of steeplechase horse races were formerly held the third Saturday of April at the Richmond Raceway Complex. In 2000, the Races were moved to Colonial Downs in New Kent County, Virginia's first Thoroughbred racetrack. [2]
[edit] Statistics
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- October 12, 1946 Driving an open-wheel car, Ted Horn wins the first race at Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds over a ½-mile dirt track.
- April 19, 1953 Lee Petty wins the first NASCAR "Grand National Division" race with an average of 45.535 mph at “Atlantic Rural Exposition Fairgrounds.
- 1955 Paul Sawyer and legendary racer Joe Weatherly buy the property. Track is known as “Atlantic Rural Fairgrounds.”
- March 10, 1964 race run under temporary lights
- The track operated as a 0.5 mile oval through the spring race of 1988. During the spring and summer of 1988, the track was reconfigured to its current layout of 0.75 miles. The first race under the new configuration was in September 1988. Lights were added for the fall 1991 race.
- The track was previously called Strawberry Hill[2], Virginia State Fairgrounds, and Richmond Fairgrounds Speedway, the annual fair made the track a popular venue.
- Richard Petty holds the record of most wins at Richmond with 13 victories, Darrell Waltrip and Rusty Wallace are tied with six.
- Richmond is the site of the famous battle between Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip in 1986. Earnhardt tapped Waltrip in turn 4 and both drivers hit the wall, handing the win to Kyle Petty who avoided the crash and won.
- In 2001 to 2002, the fall event was sponsored the Chevrolet Monte Carlo 400 presented by the Looney Tunes and in 2003, the event was renamed the Chevy Rock and Roll 400.
- Until 2005, RIR was home to a fall Craftsman Truck Series race. Starting with the 2006 schedule, that date was transferred to Talladega Superspeedway.
- RIR hosted an International Race of Champions event in 2004 and 2005, won by Matt Kenseth in 2004 and Mark Martin in 2005. The series has folded as of the 2008 Season
- Site of Kasey Kahne's first career Sprint Cup Series win in 2005.
- Site of Tony Stewart's first career Sprint Cup Series win in 1999.
- Spring Race Sponsor Crown Royal held a promotion in 2007 where the winner would be the Grand Marshal and Louisiana's Jim Stewart was the contest winner.
[edit] Current Races
- Sprint Cup Series - Crown Royal Presents The Dan Lowry 400
- Sprint Cup Series - Chevy Rock and Roll 400
- Nationwide Series - Circuit City 250
- Nationwide Series - Emerson Radio 250
- Indy Racing League - SunTrust Indy Challenge
[edit] Records
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying: Brian Vickers, 20.772 sec. (129.983 mph, 209.187 km/h); 2004
- NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Race: Dale Jarrett, 2 hrs. 45 min. 4 sec. (109.047 mph, 175.494 km/h); 1997
- NASCAR Nationwide Series Qualifying: Kyle Busch, 20.874 sec. (129.348 mph 208.165 km/h); 2004
- NASCAR Nationwide Series Race: Dale Jarrett, 1 hr. 47 min. 13 sec. (104.928 mph, 168.685 km/h); 1995
- Indy Racing League IndyCar Series Qualifying: Helio Castroneves, 15.564 sec. (173.472 mph, 279.176 km/h); 2006
Race Past Winners
1953 Lee Petty1955 Tim Flock1956 Buck Baker1957 Paul Goldsmith1958 Speedy Thompson1959 Tom Pistone1959 Cotton Owens1960 Lee Petty1960 Speedy Thompson1961 Richard Petty1961 Joe Weatherly1962 Rex Wright1962 Joe Weatherly1963 Joe Weatherly1963 Ned Jarrett1964 David Pearson1964 Cotton Owens1965 Junior Johnson1965 David Pearson1966 David Pearson1966 David Pearson1967 Richard Petty1967 Richard Petty1968 David Pearson1968 Richard Petty1969 David Pearson1969 Bobby Allison1970 James Hylton1970 Richard Petty1971 Richard Petty1971 Richard Petty1972 Richard Petty1972 Richard Petty1973 Richard Petty1973 Richard Petty1974 Bobby Allison1974 Richard Petty1975 Richard Petty1975 Darrell Waltrip1976 Dave Marcis1976 Cale Yarborough1977 Cale Yarborough1977 Neil Bonnett1978 Benny Parsons1978 Darrell Waltrip1979 Cale Yarborough1979 Bobby Allison1980 Darrell Waltrip1980 Bobby Allison1981 Darrell Waltrip1981 Benny Parsons1982 Dave Marcis1982 Bobby Allison1983 Bobby Allison1983 Bobby Allison1984 Ricky Rudd1984 Darrell Waltrip1985 Dale Earnhardt1985 Darrell Waltrip1986 Kyle Petty1986 Tim Richmond1987 Dale Earnhardt1987 Dale Earnhardt1988 Neil Bonnett1988 Davey Allison1989 Rusty Wallace1989 Rusty Wallace1990 Mark Martin1990 Dale Earnhardt1991 Dale Earnhardt1991 Harry Gant1992 Bill Elliott1992 Rusty Wallace1993 Davey Allison1993 Rusty Wallace1994 Ernie Irvan1994 Terry Labonte1995 Terry Labonte1995 Rusty Wallace1996 Jeff Gordon1996 Ernie Irvan1997 Rusty Wallace1997 Dale Jarrett1998 Terry Labonte1998 Jeff Burton1999 Dale Jarrett1999 Tony Stewart2000 Dale Earnhardt Jr2000 Jeff Gordon2001 Tony Stewart2001 Ricky Rudd2002 Tony Stewart2002 Matt Kenseth2003 Joe Nemechek2003 Ryan Newman2004 Dale Earnhardt Jr2004 Jeremy Mayfield2005 Kasey Kahne2005 Kurt Busch2006 Dale Earnhardt Jr2006 Kevin Harvick2007 Jimmie Johnson2007 Jimmie Johnson2008 Clint Bowyer
[edit] References
- ^ [ http://www.rir.com/track_info/timeline/
- ^ a b [ http://www.strawberryhillraces.com/2007/tradition.shtml Strawberry Hill Races Traditions
[edit] External links
- Richmond International Raceway Official Site
- Richmond International Raceway Page on NASCAR.com
- RIR visitor's guide
- Richmond Raceway Complex website
- richmond.com article on Strawbery hill
- Winston-Salem Journal Op-ed piece on the history of RIR
- Super High Resolution image from Windows Live Local
- Richmond International Raceway is at coordinates Coordinates:
- Photos from the 2006 IRL Suntrust 250 in Richmond, Virginia
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