California Speedway Tickets

California Speedway

California Speedway is a great place to watch a race and experience the thrills of NASCAR. It is one of the premier auto racing venues in the country, hosting six major racing weekends, which includes the largest attended sporting event in the state. The California Speedway was opened in 1997, in Fontana, California, approximately 40 miles east of Los Angeles on the site of the former Kaiser Steel mill. The Kaiser Steel mill was constructed during World War II and it supplied eight West Coast ship yards. The Steel company went bankrupt in 1987. From 1987 until 1994 the site was used by the movie industry as filming location for films such as Mortal Combat, Barb Wire, and Terminator II with future governator Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1994, Penske Motorsports and Kaiser Ventures took over the site and agreed to build the race track. In November 1995, construction begun at the site and it was opened in early 1997 with the inaugural race held in June. The speedway is a two-mile D-shaped oval Superspeedway and has additional configurations and facilities to accommodate "road" races, motorcycle races, vehicle testing, and drag races. The California Speedway's banking is 14 degrees in turns, 11 degrees on the front stretch and three degrees on the back turn. The 535-acre track includes 130 acres in the infield (equivalent to eight baseball stadiums). The California Speedway is owned and managed by the International Speedway Corporation.

The stands can hold up to 92,100 people. On January 10, 1997, Paul Tracy of the Marlboro Team became the first driver to run on California Speedway's new 2-mile oval race track. Gregory W. Penske named as President and CEO of California Speedway in 1997. The California Speedway plays host to the Auto Club 500 (NASCAR Nextel Cup), Pop Secret 500 (NASCAR Nextel Cup), Stater Bros. 300 presented by Gatorade (NASCAR Busch Series), Target House 300 (NASCAR Busch Series), American Racing Wheels 200 (NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series), Toyota Indy 400 (Indy Racing League), California 100 (IRL Infiniti Pro Series), Grand American 250 (Grand-Am Cup) (Grand American Sports Car Series) and the Grand American 400, which is also part of the Grand American Sports Car Series. On the first race day June 21, 1997, in the Auto Club 200 NASCAR Winston West Series race event, Ken Schrader took the flag. The first International Race of Champions (IROC) Series race event was won by Mark Martin. In 1999, the California Speedway became part of International Speedway Corporation when Penske Motorsports Inc. is merged with ISC.

Records made at the California Speedway include the NASCAR qualifying record winner Ryan Newman, at the speed of 187.432 mph, in 2002 and Dale Earnhardt, Jr., at the speed of 173.561 mph, in the NASCAR race on October 29, 1999. The first Winston Cup California 500, held at the California Speedway was won by driver Jeff Gordon. On June 13, 2003, NASCAR President Mike Helton sanctioned two Winston Cup Series events at California Speedway for 2004: the May 2nd Auto Club 500 and the September 5th Pop Secret 500, which will be the first race at the speedway scheduled to finish "Under the Lights." California Speedway's new Midway opened on Labor Day weekend 2006. It features Wolfgang Puck's Apex restaurant, a concert stage, shade features and tons of extra fan amenities. For more information on NASCAR visit (www.nascar.com) and for information on California Speedway visit (www.californiaspeedway.com).