|
California Speedway
In April 1994, the official announcement was made regarding Penske Speedways, Inc. and Kaiser Ventures, Inc. in their joint venture to build a brand new superspeedway in Southern California. The day following the announcement, on April 21, 1994, CART announced a multi-year agreement in which race events would be held at the new facility. Just months later, in July, NASCAR followed with the announcement from William France that Winston Cup (now known as Nextel Cup) events would be held at California Speedway upon it's completion.
From the very beginning, the new track was marked for success. Les Richter, who is also NASCAR's Senior VP of Operations, was appointed as Executive VP for the new California Speedway. November 1995 marked the beginning of construction. Things began to take shape quickly as ABC Sports and ESPN quickly came on board in an agreement to televise the California 500 race.
California Speedway was originally the site of a 475 acre facility, but was expanded to 529 acres in November 1996. This expansion came as a result of the acquisition of Speedway Business Park, which was adjacent to the original existing property. In January 1997, Gregory Penske accepted a presidential and CEO position with California Speedway.
The first NASCAR events were held on the weekend of May 5-7, 1997. Winston Cup, which is now known as Nextel Cup, and the Winston West Series arrived for an open test session at California Speedway. A ribbon cutting ceremony was held on June 20, 1997 in order to commemorate the official grand opening of the new facility. The following day, on June 21, NASCAR's Winston West Series inaugural Auto Club 200 was held with Ken Schrader taking the victory home. The California 500 was held on June 22 with live event coverage by major networks. Jeff Gordon drove to victory as the winner of the inaugural event. Next was the arrival of the first Craftsman Truck event at the new facility. Held October 18, 1997, Mike Bliss took the checkered for the inaugural No Fear Challenge. Rounding out the NASCAR series was the Busch Grand National event. On October 19, 1997, Todd Bodine accepted victory at the inaugural Kenwood Home and Car Audio 300.
With such a growth in activities, California Speedway decided that it was time for a change. On December 8, 1997, an additional 15,777 grandstand seats were added, which provided the facility with a total of 86,439 seats. In May 1999, an additional 28 skyboxes were added above the main grandstand area. In September 2000, a new president was named to California Speedway. William Miller quickly took the reigns and continued to lead an additional expansion on more than 5,000 grandstand seats and an elevator tower. When all was said and done, California Speedway features a 2-mile oval track capable of accommodating both auto and motorcycle racing. The sun isn't the only thing shining in Southern California anymore. The brightest stars in NASCAR are now shining there, as well.
© 2006 Baseballparkonline.com - All rights reserved.
|
