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NASCAR tracks, Banked tracks, Superspeedways

Daytona International Speedway

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Template:Infobox Nascar Racetrack Daytona International Speedway is a superspeedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is a 2.5 mile (4 km) tri-oval race track facility with a seating capacity of 168,000 spectators. It hosts races of motor vehicles of various kinds, including go-karts, dirt bikes, motorcycles, sports cars, pickup trucks, and stock cars. The facility also includes a 3.56 mile (5.7 km) road course and a 180-acre infield, including the 29 acre Lake Lloyd. Formula Libre Ran There.

Course historyEdit

NASCAR was founded by William France Sr. at Daytona Beach, Florida in 1947. The original premiere event in the series was held at the Daytona Beach Road Course. France began planning a new track for the premiere event in his fledgling series in 1953. On August 16, 1954 he signed a contract with city officials to create this new track that would become famous as the Daytona International Speedway. Ground was broken on November 25, 1957. The speedway opened on February 22, 1959 to a crowd of 41,000 people.

The NASCAR Championship's most important race, the Daytona 500, is held annually at Daytona International Speedway. It is a 200-lap, 500 mile (805 km) stock car race. The list of Daytona 500 winners is very long dating back to the inaugural race in 1959, and includes "The King" Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt.

NASCAR, the premier stock car organization in the United States, holds some of its most important races on this track. These include competitions in its Camping World Truck Series (where pickup trucks are raced), Nationwide Series (the stock car junior league), and Sprint Cup series. The Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona is also held at Daytona.

The racing season begins at Daytona starting with the testing sessions. The year's racing begins with the 24 Hours of Daytona race in the Grand American Sports Car series. Then the racing begins for the Sprint Cup with the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duel. The Camping World Truck Series begins with the NextEra Energy Resources 250. The Nationwide Series begins with the DRIVE4COPD 300, and then it is back to the Sprint Cup in "The Great American Race," the Daytona 500. The Sprint Cup also features the Coke Zero 400 in July at Daytona.

It also contains an attraction called Daytona USA, where the winning car is placed for a whole year.

See also: List of NASCAR race tracks

Deaths at the speedwayEdit

In the history of the Daytona International Speedway (as of 2005), many people have been killed at the speedway. Marshall Teague became track's first fatality, in a practice crash in 1959. Slick Johnson died from injuries in an ARCA race in 1990. Bruce Jacobi, Ricky Knotts, Friday Hassler and Talmadge Prince were killed in qualifying races. Neil Bonnett and Rodney Orr were killed in practice sessions for the 1994 Daytona 500; Dale Earnhardt — the first person ever to be killed in the Daytona 500 — was killed on the final lap in 2001. Ray Paprota struck and killed track worker Roy Weaver in 2004 during the IPOWER Dash Series 150.

Current racesEdit

Rc19403

Aerial view of Daytona International Speedway (undated), courtesy of the Florida Photographic Collection

List of Winners Edit

see list of Winners at Daytona

RecordsEdit

External linksEdit

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