| Kansas Speedway | |
| Location | Kansas City, Kansas |
|---|---|
| Active from | 2001 - |
| Major events | NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: 5-hour Energy 400 Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Nationwide Series: NASCAR Camping World Truck Series: Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series ARCA Racing Series: |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1.500 mi (2.414 km) |
| Turns | 4 |
| Lap record | 24.761 seconds (Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, 2003, IRL IndyCar Series) |
Kansas Speedway
The Kansas Speedway is a 1.5 mile (2.4 km) tri-oval race track in Kansas City, Kansas. The speedway was built in 2001 and currently hosts two annual NASCAR race weekends. The IndyCar Series also raced at the speedway until 2011. The speedway is owned and operated by International Speedway Corporation.
History[]
- See also: List of NASCAR race tracks
International Speedway Corporation began exploring the idea of building a racing facility in the midwest in 1996. Attention was turned towards the Kansas City area in 1997. Officials considered both the Missouri and Kansas side of the city but eventually settled with the Kansas side because of better funding. Architecture firm HNTB, which also designed Chicagoland Speedway, was selected to design the facility, and firm Turner Construction was selected to provide construction management.[1] Construction began on the Template:Convert/acre, 1.5 mile (2.4 km) speedway in May 1999, and in July, preferred tickets went on sale. The demand at the ticket sales prompted ISC officials to expand the planned 32 by an additional 36, expanding capacity from 75,000 to 82,000. Speedway officials were hopeful to have the track completed sometime in 2000, and possibly host a race, but construction was delayed by weather and further complicated by lawsuits from nearby land owners.[2] In May 2000, both IndyCar and NASCAR announced events to be held at the speedway for the 2001 season. Track paving began in September 2000, and construction of the speedway was completed in early 2001.[3]
The building of the speedway has had a significant impact on the nearby area, even before construction was finished. New commercial developments sprung up around the speedway, including a movie theater complex, an outdoor retail mall, and hotels.[4] A 2008 survey by The Washington Economics Group revealed that Kansas Speedway brings $243 million to the state of Kansas each year. It also provides over 5000 jobs, with 4000 jobs coming directly from track operations.[5] Additional seats have been added since initial construction. In 2003, 1,600 seats were added, and in 2005, 1,500 seats plus a 7,000 square feet ( m2) concession and restroom building were added. Both expansions were headed by the track's original contractors, HNTB and Tuner Construction.[1]
In 2011 Kansas Speedway and Richard Petty Driving Experience announced an exclusive agreement where visitors have the opportunity to experience the speedway from a unique point-of-view behind the wheel of a race car.[6]
The front stretch and infield of Kansas Speedway
The speedway constructed the $380-million Penn National Gaming Hollywood Hotel and Casino at the track. The hotel/casino overlooks turn two and opened to the public on February 12, 2012. The state-of-the-art casino features a 100,000 square feet ( m2) gaming floor capacity for 2,300 slot machines, 61 table games and 25 poker tables. It also features 28,000 square feet ( m2) of other amenities including restaurants, clubs and nightlife attractions. The addition of the casino is estimated to bring nearly 440,000 tourists per year and create over 1,000 full-time positions; elevating the state to a first-class, year-round tourist destination. On February 17, 2010, the president of Kansas Speedway announced that Penn National Gaming will sponsor the fall Sprint Cup race for the next ten years in the Hollywood Casino 400.[7]
Lights were recently added to the speedway from mid-2010 to early 2011. This comes along with the addition of a second NASCAR weekend beginning with the 2011 season. All the NASCAR races at the track are scheduled to be run during the day, with the lights being available in case of a rain delay.[8] The first night race at the track was an ARCA race on October 7, 2011.[9] On October 11, 2013, it was announced that Darlington Speedway's lone NASCAR event and Kansas's spring race will swap dates for 2014, with Kansas becoming a night race. The fall race at the track will remain a day event.[10]
In July 2011, the speedway announced that they will reconfigure the speedway following the 2012 STP 400. Some of the changes will be adding a road course in the infield, repaving the oval, and adding variable banking.[11] On August 28–29 the track's reconfiguration of the oval took the checkered flag as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series held a Goodyear Tire test for the upcoming October 21 Hollywood Casino 400. The road course still has a couple of touch-ups to be done, but will be completed by the first week of September. As a result of the project, the banking in the turns was increased from a uniform 15 degrees to a progressively 17–20 degrees, the grass on the inside of the backstretch was paved over for safety reasons, and due to the drought in Kansas, new grass on the front stretch was rolled using sod trucks. In 2013, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series announced they would come to the track for the 2013 season.
Races[]
Current races[]
- 5-hour Energy 400, Hollywood Casino 400
- NASCAR Nationwide Series – Kansas Lottery 300
- NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – SFP 250
- ARCA – Kansas 98.9
- Grand-Am Road Racing- SFP Grand Prix
Former races[]
- IZOD IndyCar Series – RoadRunner Turbo Indy 300 (2001–2010)
- Firestone Indy Lights Series – Kansas Lottery 100
- NASCAR Winston West – Kansas 100 (2001–2002)
- CART Dayton Indy Lights Series – Kansas 100 (2001)
- USAC Silver Crown Series – KansasSpeedway.com 100
Track records[]
| Record | Date | Driver | Time | Speed/Avg. Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||||
| Qualifying | April 19, 2013 | Matt Kenseth | 28.145 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| Race | April 22, 2012 | Denny Hamlin | 2:54:02 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| NASCAR Nationwide Series | |||||
| Qualifying | October 20, 2012 | Joey Logano | 29.522 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| Race | September 29, 2001 | Jeff Green | 2:19:24 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| NASCAR Camping World Truck Series | |||||
| Qualifying | April 20, 2013 | James Buescher | 30.285 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| Race | July 7, 2001 | Ricky Hendrick | 2:00:09 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| IZOD IndyCar Series | |||||
| Qualifying | July 6, 2003 | Scott Dixon | 24.761 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| Race | April 29, 2007 | Dan Wheldon | 1:36:56 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series (road course) | |||||
| Qualifying | August 16, 2013 | Scott Pruett | 1:09.883 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
| Race | August 17, 2013 | Scott Pruett | 1:09.745 | Template:Convert/mi/h | |
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Kansas City Projects". Turner Construction. http://www.turnerconstruction.com/kansascity/content.asp?d=5175&p=5174. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Kansas track facing construction delays". CNN/SI. July 3, 1999. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/motorsports/news/1999/07/03/kansas_track/index.html. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Track History". Kansas Speedway. http://www.kansasspeedway.com/Track-Info/History.aspx. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Speedway seen as powerful economic engine for KCK". cjonline.com. September 3, 2000. http://cjonline.com/stories/090300/bus_morespeedways.shtml. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Kansas Speedway Provides $243 Million Economic Impact to State of Kansas Annually". Paddock Talk. August 8, 2008. http://paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=91402. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ http://www.drivepetty.com/race-tracks/kansas-speedway
- ↑ "Hollywood Casino Gets Green Light". April 30, 2010. http://www.kansasspeedway.com/Articles/2010/04/HC-groundbreaking.aspx. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Second Sprint Cup race at Kansas Speedway is official". The Wichita Eagle. August 11, 2010. http://www.kansas.com/2010/08/11/1441883/second-sprint-cup-race-at-kansas.html. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "ARCA to christen Kansas Speedway lights". Kansas City Star. November 24, 2010. http://www.kansascity.com/2010/11/24/2470058/arca-to-christen-kansas-speedway.html. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
- ↑ "Kansas Speedway lands NASCAR Sprint Cup night race". 11 October 2013. Kansas City Star. http://www.kansascity.com/2013/10/11/4546203/kansas-speedway-lands-nascar-sprint.html. Retrieved October 11, 2013.
- ↑ "Kansas set to undergo renovation project in 2012". 7 July 2011. NASCAR. http://www.nascar.com/news/110707/kansas-renovation-project/index.html. Retrieved July 8, 2011.
- ↑ "Race Results at Kansas Speedway". racing-reference.info. http://www.racing-reference.info/tracks/Kansas_Speedway. Retrieved November 29, 2010.
External links[]
- Kansas Speedway Official Site
- Kansas Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
- Kansas Speedway on RacewayReport.com[dead link] – Local area information, track specs, mapping, news and more.
- Super High Resolution image from Windows Live Local
- High Resolution image from Google Maps
- Richard Petty Driving Experience at Kansas Speedway
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This page uses some content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Kansas Speedway. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Autopedia, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |