Lowes Motor SpeedwayWhere fans finish first!
Lowes Motor Speedway Races:5/16/09 Sprint All-Star Race 8:30 p.m. SPEED Winner: Kasey Kahne#12 5/24/09 Coca-Cola 600 5:00 p.m. FOX Winner: Kasey Kahne #31 10/17/09 Bank of America 500 7:00 p.m. ABC Winner: Jeff Burton
Lowes Motor Speedway was built in 1959 by its current owner and chairman, O.Bruton Smith, alongside stock car racer Curtis Turner. Lowe’s Motor Speedway has been thrilling NASCAR fans for almost half a century now. From the first World 600 race debuting there in 1960 to its ongoing improvements as a racetrack, Lowe’s is one of the elder statesmen in the world of NASCAR racing. Despite its brush with bankruptcy and reorganization through Chapter 11 just one year after the inaugural World 600 race, Lowes Motor Speedway showed the same fighting spirit as its two owners had in both the business and racing world, and came back stronger than ever. Seeing that the racetrack needed to be improved to try to avoid the same fate again, Smith employed today’s General Manager, H.A. “Humpy” Wheeler, and the race track began to take shape into its existing layout today. Originally known as the Charlotte Motor Speedway the name was changed in 1999 when Lowes Home Improvement paid for the rights to rename the speedway. As the tour guide said during a recent tour if someone paid you $30 million dollars you probably would change your name too! Perhaps the real difference with Lowe’s, and one of the reasons the track saw such excellent ticket sales shortly after almost going out of business, is that all the improvements were done to make the experience even better for the fans, and not just as a corporate way to make more money. A new grandstand and concession stands as well as an increased number of restrooms were the order of the day, and to this day Lowe’s remains one of the continuously evolving speedways in the US.
Recent Coca-Cola 600 Winners2008 Kasey Kahne2007 Casey Mears 2006 Kasey Kahne 2005 Jimmie Johnson 2004 Jimmie Johnson Recent Bank of America 500 Winners2008 Jeff Burton2007 Jeff Gordon 2006 Kasey Kahne 2005 Jimmie Johnson 2004 Jimmie Johnson Lowes Motor Speedway – The TrackAlthough certainly not one of the biggest NASCAR tracks in the NASCAR Cup Series Calendar, Lowes Motor Speedway can certainly attest to being one of the most popular. In fact, on race day itself, the 180,000 attending fans turn the speedway into the 4th largest city in North Carolina, beat only by Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh. The track itself isn’t the biggest in NASCAR, coming in at more than a mile shorter in length than the Talladega Superspeedway, but that doesn’t mean that Lowe’s is less impressive – far from it. Measuring 1.5 miles in total, the front stretch of the track comes in at 1,980 feet, with an opposing back stretch of exactly 1,500 feet. The corners at both ends of the track have a banking of 24 degrees, while the front and back straights are banked of 5 degrees, making for a continuously challenging race. The actual road on the inner perimeter is named after Darrell Waltrip, who not only is a three-time Cup Series champion, but has also won Lowe’s Coca Cola 600 race a total of five times.
Lowes Motor Speedway – The DifferenceAlthough Lowe’s is an excellent racetrack in its own right, it’s the additional things that the owners have built, both in and around the track, that help it stand out. For example, in 1984 40 condominiums were built above turn one of the racetrack, and this made Lowe’s the first racetrack track to offer full, everyday living opportunities all year at a racetrack (12 extra condos were built in 1991). Also a state-of-the-art lighting system was installed a year later in 1992, at a cost of a cool $1.7 million. These lights gave Lowe’s the distinction of being the first superspeedway to allow nighttime racing, which offered a whole new experience for both driver and fan. You can even drive your own car an the track with a $25 donation to the
Speedway Children's Charities
during the Souvenir and Race Ticket Blowout every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Lowes Motor Speedway – The RacingLowes Motor Speedway hosts the longest race on the NASCAR Schedule The Coca Cola 600. Its a 600 mile race that starts during the day and ends at night. The track changes so much from day to night that unless the crew chiefs keep up with the changes on the track the cars that are good during the daylight are usually junk by the end of the night. Lowe’s continues to draw crowds from the non-racing fraternity due to its willingness to look outside the sport when it comes to entertainment, including hosting the premiere of the movie 'Cars' as well as the stars of the blockbuster movie “Transformers” making an appearance (and by the stars, that’s the cars and NOT the actors!). By putting the fans first Lowes Motor Speedway continues to grow, and even if it’s not the biggest or best track in NASCAR racing today, there’s no doubting that it’s one of the most popular, and will continue to innovate when it comes to both racing and entertainment.
Return from Lowes Motor Speedway to Speedway Guide
|
