Lowe's Motor Speedway

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Lowe's Motor Speedway
Facility statistics
Location	5555 Concord Parkway South Concord, North Carolina, 28027
Broke ground	1959
Opened	1960
Owner	Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Operator	Speedway Motorsports, Inc.
Construction cost	$1.25 million
Architect	Bruton Smith
Former names
Charlotte Motor Speedway (1960-1998)
Major events
NASCAR Nextel Cup Nextel All-Star Challenge Coca-Cola 600 Bank of America 500 NASCAR Busch Series Carquest Auto Parts 300 Dollar General 300 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Quaker Steak and Lube 200
Seating capacity
167,000
Current dimensions
Track shape	Quad-oval
Track length	1.5 miles
Track banking	Turns - 24 degrees Straightaways - 5 degrees

Lowe's Motor Speedway (formerly Charlotte Motor Speedway) is a superspeedway in Concord, North Carolina, north of Charlotte. It features a 1.5 mile long quad-oval track that seats 167,000 people, with room for 50,000 more spectators in the infield. Constructed in 1959, it was the first speedway to host nighttime superspeedway racing (in 1992) and to offer year-round residences (in 1984) with 52 condominiums now available over turn one. It is presently owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc., which also has its corporate heaquarters at the speedway. The speedway is considered the homebase of NASCAR, with 90% of NASCAR teams being based within 50 miles. In February 1999, Lowe's bought the naming rights to the speedway, making it the first race track in the country with a corporate sponsor.

Along with the main oval, the speedway also has a 2.25 mile road course in the infield, an 0.6 mile kart course in the infield, a quarter-mile oval using part of the front stretch and pit road, and an 0.2 mile oval outside turn three. Also, across U.S. Highway 29 from the speedway is a 0.4 mile dirt track, opened in May 2000.

The surface of the circuit had started to wear from its last paving in mid-1994, resulting in the track's treatment in a diamond-grinding process to smooth out bumps in 2005 and caused major tire problems during both NASCAR Nextel Cup Series events there, with a record 22 cautions at the showcase Coca-Cola 600, making it the first Nextel Cup Series event to go more than five hours (excluding red flags) in 25 years. Speed increases were also a result of the repaving. After the problem with the tires, speedway officials promptly announced that they plan to repave with a new generation asphalt.

[edit] ARCA

The ARCA RE/MAX Series races here, and for several years, an ARCA racer died in either a race or practice. The last person to die at Lowe's Motor Speedway was Eric Martin from Hixson, Tennessee, on October 9, 2002. Martin lost control of the car and Deborah Renshaw plowed into Martin's car at 160 MPH killing him instantly. As a result of this, spotters must be spotting in all practice sessions.

[edit] Additional uses

The facility is considered one of the busiest sports venues in the country, with typically over 380 events a year. Along with many races, the speedway also hosts the Food Lion Auto Fair twice a year, one of the nation's largest car shows. Movies and commercials have been filmed there, notably Days of Thunder, and it is a popular tourist stop and testing grounds.

On May 26, 2006, the Pixar movie Cars premiered at the speedway, on several monster screens.

During a typical race week, Concord can balloon by over 200,000 people, temporarily making it the third largest city in North Carolina.

See also: List of NASCAR race tracks

[edit] Indy Racing League history

Two Indy Racing League races were held at the circuit in 1997 and 1998, with Buddy Lazier and Kenny Brack winning the mid-summer Saturday night 500k (208 lap) races on the circuit. In 1999, the race was moved to the first weekend in May, the last race before the Indianapolis 500. On the 61st lap, a crash led to a car losing a tire, which was then propelled into the stands by another car. Three spectators were killed and eight others were injured in the incident. The race was cancelled after 79 laps, and the IRL did not return.

That incident, and a previous incident in July 1998 in a Champ Car race at Michigan International Speedway which also killed three spectators (but that race was run to its finish), led to new rules requiring cars to have tethers attached to wheel hubs in an effort to prevent such incidents from happening again, and also different types of catch fencing, curved so debris could not sail into the grandstands.

Following the accident, a short series of bombings took place in Lowe's home improvement stores in North Carolina, injuring three, and prompting some to think there may be a link with a relative of one of the victims. When George Rocha was arrested for the bombings, he claimed that he was angry about the crash at the speedway, but he later confessed that it was retribution for being caught shoplifting and an attempt at extortion.

In 2000, an episode of The Simpsons drew the ire of track management because it parodied the incident.

[edit] Indy Racing League results

Season	Date	Race Name	Winning Driver	Chassis	Engine
1997	July 26	VisionAire 500k	Buddy Lazier	Dallara	Oldsmobile
1998	July 25	VisionAire 500k	Kenny Brack	Dallara	Oldsmobile
1999	May 1	VisionAire 500k	Race cancelled after 79 laps

[edit] Current records

Record	Year	Date	Driver	Car Make	Time	Average Speed (mph)
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series
Qualifying	2005	October 13	Elliott Sadler	Ford	27.948	193.216
Race (600 miles)	1995	May 29	Bobby Labonte	Pontiac	3:56:55	151.952
Race (500 miles)	1999	October 10	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	3:07:31	160.306
NASCAR Busch Series
Qualifying	2003		Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	29.277	184.445
Race (300 miles)	1996	May 25	Mark Martin	Ford	1:55:23	155.996
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Qualifying	2005		Mike Skinner	Chevrolet	29.500	183.051
Race (200 miles)	2003	May 16	Ted Musgrave	Ford	1:45:05	114.768

[edit] External links

• Lowe's Motor Speedway Official Site
• Lowe's Motor Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
• Trackpedia guide to driving this track
• GNEXTINC.com: Lowe's Motor Speedway Page - Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
• Jayski's Lowe's Motor Speedway Page - Current and Past Lowe's Motor Speedway Speedway News
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 35.35087° -80.68359°
  • 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