'Atlanta Motor Speedway' (formerly Atlanta International Raceway) is a
superspeedway in
Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles (32 km) south of
Atlanta. It is a 1.54-mile (2.48 km) quad-oval track with a
seating capacity of over 125,000. It opened in
1960 as a 1.5 mile standard oval. In 1994, 46
condominiums were built over the northeastern side of the track. In
1997, to standardise the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5 mile ovals, the entire track was almost completely rebuilt. The frontstrech and backstrech were swapped, and the configuration of the track was changed from oval to quad-oval. The project made the track one of the fastest on the
NASCAR circuit.
Other highlights of the facility are a quarter-mile track between the pit road and the main track for Legends racing and a 2.5-mile (4 km)
FIA-approved road course. In 1994, the speedway hosted the Countryfest concert, attracting over 200,000 fans.
For most of the 1990s and 2000s, the track boasted the highest speeds on the NASCAR circuit, with a typical qualifying lap speed of about 193 mph (311 km/h) and a record lap speed of over 197 mph (317 km/h). In
2004 and
2005, the similarly designed
Texas Motor Speedway saw slightly faster qualifying times, but as the tracks' respective racing surfaces have worn, qualifying speeds at Atlanta have again become consistently faster than at Texas (
2005 and
2006).
[1] The circuit has two tracks, the longer
Talladega Superspeedway and
Daytona International Speedway, that were once much faster than Atlanta, with lap speeds usually exceeding 200 mph (322 km/h), but
restrictor plates were mandated for use on those tracks in 1988 after
Bobby Allison's violent crash at Talladega the year before, reducing average lap speeds to about 190 mph (306 km/h). NASCAR does not currently require restrictor plates at Atlanta, which helped lead to the adoption of the track's commercial slogan, "Real Racing. Real Fast."
In early
September 2004, AMS found an unexpected use: as a
shelter for
evacuees from
Florida fleeing
Hurricane Frances. While there were no indoor facilities available, visitors waited out the extremely slow-moving storm parked in their
recreational vehicles, after creeping along for hours in
traffic on nearby
Interstate 75.
In
2005, the speedway received heavy damage on the evening of
July 6, caused by an
F2 tornado spawned from the remains of
Hurricane Cindy.
Roofs and
facades were torn off buildings and the track was covered in
debris from the tornado, which the
National Weather Service confirmed the
next day to have had winds of 120 to 150
MPH (195 to 240
km/h). A 50-foot (15-meter)
scoreboard tower was knocked down, and others were leaning over, as were many tall
lamp posts. Several units at the speedway condominiums were damaged. (Five of the 48 units are regularly occupied.) Everyone managed to get out safely, and there were no injuries reported, in large part because it struck late (9:30
PM) on a non-race night. Officials estimate the complex suffered 40 to 50 million U.S. dollars in damage, which may or may not include the
Tara Field airport next to it. Despite this, it opened in time for the next major race.
[2] [3]
The damage was severe enough for the track, however, to demolish the main Weaver and Ford Grandstands on the backstretch, which were the track's original grandstands when built in 1960. A new 13,000-seat grandstand on the frontstretch, the Winners Grandstand, replaced the lost seats.
Lights were installed for
Indy Racing League races from 1998 until 2001. In 2003, qualifying for the Bass Pro Shops 500 was moved to Friday night, and shortly afterwards both Cup races began featuring night qualifying. In 2006, the Bass Pro Shops 500 start time was adjusted to guarantee a night finish.
The opening scenes of the 1980 movie ''
Smokey and the Bandit II'' were filmed at the track.
''See also:''
List of NASCAR race tracks
Records
★
NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying:
Geoffrey Bodine, 28.074 s (197.478 mph),
1997
★
NASCAR Nextel Cup Race (500 miles):
Dale Earnhardt, 3 h 3 min 3 s (163.633 mph),
November 12,
1995
★
NASCAR Busch Series Qualifying:
Greg Biffle, 28.830 s (192.300 mph),
2003
★
NASCAR Busch Series Race (300 miles):
Mark Martin, 1 h 58 min 55 s (151.751 mph),
March 8,
1997
★
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying:
Rick Crawford, 30.339 s (182.735 mph),
2005
★
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race (200 miles):
Ron Hornaday, 1 h 27 min 35 s (142.424 mph),
March 18,
2005
Past winners
External links
★
Atlanta Motor Speedway official site
★
Atlanta Motor Speedway page on
NASCAR.com
★
GNEXTINC.com: Atlanta Motor Speedway Page - Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
★
Jayski's Atlanta Motor Speedway Page - Current and Past Atlanta Motor Speedway News
★
Trackpedia guide to driving this track
★ High-resolution image from
Google Maps
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