Las Vegas Motor Speedway

From Encyclopedia Jr, free information reference for Kids

Las Vegas Motor Speedway, located at 7000 Las Vegas Boulevard North in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a 1,200 acre (4.9 km²) complex of four different tracks for automobile racing. The complex is owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which is located in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The complex is home to several race teams. Currently, March, 2005, the track is open two nights a week for locals to drag race. This is an effort to get this activity off of local streets and into a safer environment.

The track is used by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as their driver training facility.

In 2006, plans were announced to reconfigure the track after the March 2006 NEXTEL Cup Series Race. This reconfiguration will entail raised banking to increase side by side racing, and the construction of a new fan zone and pit road.

As of August 8th, 2006 the newly reconfigured track reopened to stock cars and 2004 NEXTEL Cup Champion #2 Kurt Busch became to first to drive a stock car on the newly reconfigured track.

[edit] Trivia

• The speedway has often been referred to as "The Blue Oval" because the races have been dominated by Ford drivers in the Nextel Cup Series. Jimmie Johnson (2), Jeff Gordon (1), and Sterling Marlin (1) are the only drivers who have won at the track in the Cup Series not driving a Ford.
• The speedway has also been known as "The House Of Roush" because nearly all of his drivers have had success at the track including Matt Kenseth (2), Mark Martin (1), and Jeff Burton (2).
• The Winston No Bull 5 Million Dollar Bonus was held at the track for several years. Jeff Burton won a million dollars twice and Jeff Gordon won a million in 2001. In 2002, Sterling Marlin won the race, but he was not eligible to win a million dollars so there was no winner.

[edit] Current Events

• Superspeedway, a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) tri-oval hosts:
• NASCAR Nextel Cup - UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400
• NASCAR Busch Series - Sam's Town 300
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Smith's Las Vegas 350
• The quarter-mile (400 m) dirt oval hosts:
• World of Outlaws event
• other dirt-racing events
• The quarter-mile (400 m) drag strip hosts:
• Two NHRA events every year

Champ Car held two races at the speedway in 2004 and 2005, but LVMS is not on the track schedule for 2006.

[edit] Records

• NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying: Kasey Kahne, 30.874 sec. (174.904 mph), 2004
• NASCAR Nextel Cup Race: Mark Martin, 2 hrs. 43 min. 58 sec. (146.554 mph), 1998
• NASCAR Busch Series Qualifying: Mike Bliss, 31.535 sec. (171.238 mph), 2004
• NASCAR Busch Series Race: Jeff Burton, 2 hrs. 13 min. 13 sec. (135.118 mph), 2000
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: Mike Skinner, 30.326 sec. (178.065 mph), 2006
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race: David Starr, 1 hr. 37 min. 3 sec. (135.394 mph), 2002

[edit] Tracks

• The Bullring (a 0.5 mile (800m) paved oval
• Dirt Track 0.5 mile (800 m) clay oval
• The Strip (a drag strip)
• Superspeedway 1.5 mile (2.4 km) tri-oval

[edit] Racing Schools

• 600 Racing Driving Schools[1]
• The Derek Daly Academy[2]
• Drivers Edge[3]
• Mario Andretti Racing School[4]
• Richard Petty Driving Experience[5]
• Freddie Spencer's High Performance Riding School[6]

[edit] External links

• Las Vegas Motor Speedway Official Site
• Las Vegas Motor Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
• Trackpedia guide to driving this track
• GNEXTINC.com: Las Vegas Page - Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
• Jayski's Las Vegas Speedway Page - Current and Past Las Vegas Motor Speedway News
• High Resolution image from Google Maps
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 36.27134° -115.01112°
  • 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