Homestead-Miami Speedway

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Homestead-Miami Speedway
File:Homestead Miami Speedway Logo.png
Location 1 Speedway Boulevard
Homestead, Florida 33035
Capacity 65,000[1]
Owner City of Homestead
Operator International Speedway Corporation
Broke ground August 24, 1993
Opened November 5, 1995
Construction cost $70 million
Former names Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex
(1995–1996)
Major events NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Ford EcoBoost 400
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Ford EcoBoost 300
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Ford EcoBoost 200
Oval
Length 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Banking Turns 18–20° (progressive)
Straights 3°
Lap record 0:24.462 (Sam Hornish, Jr., Penske Racing, 2006, Verizon IndyCar Series)
Road Course
Length 2.3 mi (3.7 km)
Turns 11
Lap record 1:13.022 (David Donohue, Brumos Porsche, 2008, Daytona Prototype)

Homestead-Miami Speedway is a motor racing track located in Homestead, Florida. The track, which has several configurations, has promoted several series of racing, including NASCAR, the Verizon IndyCar Series, the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series, and the Championship Cup Series.

Since 2002, Homestead-Miami Speedway has hosted the final race of the season in all three of NASCAR's series: the Sprint Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and the Camping World Truck Series. Ford Motor Company sponsors all three of the season-ending races; the races have the names Ford EcoBoost 400, Ford EcoBoost 300, and Ford EcoBoost 200, respectively, and the weekend is marketed as Ford Championship Weekend. The Xfinity Series (then known as the Busch Series) has held its season-ending races at Homestead since 1995.

History

File:Homestead Miami Speedway.jpg
Sunset at Homestead-Miami Speedway in 2006

The speedway was constructed, with the efforts of promoter Ralph Sanchez, as part of a plan to help Homestead rebound after the devastation caused by Hurricane Andrew. Groundbreaking began August 24, 1993, exactly one year after the hurricane.

It opened in November 1995 with a NASCAR Busch Series (currently the Xfinity Series) race, the last race of that season. The Busch Series would continue to hold its season-ending races at Homestead; in 2002 NASCAR's Winston Cup Series and Craftsman Truck Series would also hold their season-ending races at Homestead as well. Since 2002 NASCAR has marketed the seasons-ending Homestead races as Ford Championship Weekend.

In the spring of 1996, the CART series held its first race there.

The track reflects the art deco district of nearby Miami Beach with its liberal use of colors such as aqua, purple and silver. Though the track itself has been considered to be aesthetically pleasing from the outset, initially the racing at Homestead was not considered very good. The track opened as a four-turn, rectangular-oval, based on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's layout, coincidental considering that circuit and Miami Beach were developed by Carl G. Fisher. However, due to its shorter distance, the track was not able to maintain the racing characteristics of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Instead, the sharp, flat turns and aprons made passing difficult and lowered overall speed. The geometry also created unfavorably severe crash angles. In 1996, track management attempted to correct the problems by widening the aprons of the turns by as much as 24 feet (7.3 m). The movie Super Speedway was shot at the speedway before the track was reconfigured to an oval. In the summer of 1997, an $8.2 million reconfiguration project changed the turns from a rectangle to a traditional, continuous turn oval.

In 2003, the track was reconfigured once again. The turns were changed from mostly flat to steep variable banking. In 2005, lights were installed to allow night racing for the first time. The renovations were praised by fans, and the track has produced a number of close finishes, including 2005's last-lap battle between Greg Biffle and Mark Martin.

On March 26, 2006 Indy Racing League driver Paul Dana suffered fatal injuries in the warmup session before the race when he was involved in a high-speed collision with Ed Carpenter at over 215 mph (346 km/h). Other drivers to suffer fatal injuries at the speedway are John Nemechek in a Craftsman Truck race on March 16, 1997, and Jeff Clinton who died in a Grand Am sports car event at the track in March 2002.

In 2009 Homestead became the home to a total of five season-ending racing series events, with the GAINSCO Auto Insurance Indy 300 finale for the IRL IndyCar Series as well as the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series moving to October from their traditional early season slots. The Indy Car series would discontinue its Homestead race while the Rolex Series later changed its Homestead race to a date earlier in the season.

Behind the main grandstand is the Homestead RC Raceway for radio controlled cars, it was used to host the 2011 IFMAR Worlds for 1:8 IC Track cars.[2]

Track length of paved oval

The CART measured for the inaugural race in 1996 a length of 1.517 miles (2.441 km).[3] This length was referenced to the old rectangular layout. In 1998 was the track length remeasured to 1.502 miles (2.417 km)[4] This length was also used for timing and scoring till last CART race in 2000.[5] This length was referenced to the flat paperclip-layout. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of 1.50 miles (2.41 km).[6] This length was used by IRL between 2001 and 2003, too.[7] Since 2004 the IRL timing and scoring use a remeasured track length of 1.485 miles (2.390 km).[8] This length referenced to the new banked layout. NASCAR still use the 1.5 miles for new banked layout.[9]

Track configurations

All maps use dashed gray lines for the other courses. Solid gray lines represent other pit road options for the shown course.

  • Speedway

  • Homestead-Miami Speedway track map--Main Road Course.svg

    Road course

  • Homestead-Miami Speedway track map--Modified Road Course.svg

    Modified Road Course

Racing events

Current races

Former races

Records

IndyCar

Type Distance
(miles / km)		 Date Driver Chassis / Engine Time Average Speed
(mph / km/h)
Qualifying
(1 lap)		 1.5 / 2.390 March 25, 2006 Sam Hornish, Jr. Dallara / Honda 24.462 218.539 / 351.704
Race
(200 laps)		 300.000 / 477.975 March 26, 2006 Dan Wheldon Dallara / Honda 1:46:15.530 167.730 / 269.935

NASCAR

Record Year Date Driver Car Make Time Average Speed
(mph)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Qualifying 2014 November 14 Brad Keselowski Ford 29.795 181.238
Race (400 miles) 2012 November 14 Jeff Gordon Chevy 2:51:14 142.245
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Qualifying 2004 November 20 Casey Mears Dodge 30.348 177.936
Race (300 miles) 2001 November 10 Joe Nemechek Chevy 2:16:10 132.191 (before reconfiguration)
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Qualifying 2007 November 16 Jon Wood Ford 31.180 173.188
Race (200 miles) 2002 November 15 Ron Hornaday Chevy 1:30:30 133.260 (before reconfiguration)
NASCAR statistics
Most Wins 3 Greg Biffle, Tony Stewart
Most Top 5s 7 Jeff Gordon
Most Top 10s 12 Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick
Starts 16 Jeff Gordon
Poles 2 4 Drivers
Most Laps Completed 3739 Tony Stewart
Most Laps Led 560 Carl Edwards
Avg. Start* 7.8 Kasey Kahne
Avg. Finish* 6.0 Carl Edwards

* from minimum 4 starts. (As of 11/18/12)

References

  1. ↑ http://stadiumzone.weebly.com/
  2. ↑ http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com/Articles/2011/04/IFMAR-RC-Champs.aspx
  3. ↑ 1996 race result on champcarstats.com
  4. ↑ 1998 race result on champcarstats.com
  5. ↑ 2000 race result on champcarstats.com
  6. ↑ 1999 Pennzoil 400 Presented by Kmart race result at racing-reference.info
  7. ↑ 1997 race result on champcarstats.com
  8. ↑ 2004 IndyCar race result at champcarstats.com
  9. ↑ Homestead-Miami Speedway at NASCAR.com

External links

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