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Atlanta Motor Speedway |
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Location: Hampton, GA
Shape: Quad-Oval
Distance: 1.54-miles
Banking, Turns: 24 degrees
Front Straight: 1,415 Feet
Banking, Straightaways: 5 degrees
Back Straight: 1,320 feet
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| Atlanta Motor Speedway has added three new grandstands in the past few years. |
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Atlanta Motor Speedway is an ultra-modern, multi-purpose venue that has raised the bar of excellence.
Since being purchased by Bruton Smith in 1990, Atlanta has received over $100 million from the parent company. One of the new features is the luxurious 1500 Tara Place. This nine-story structure houses the corporate offices of AMS as well as 46 luxury condominiums. In addition, the clubhouse, workout room, swimming pool and championship tennis courts provide an atmosphere equal to many upscale condominium communities country club.
Other changes include the addition of 330 acres for additional facilities and parking, bringing the total speedway grounds to 870 acres. Recent additions also include over 53,000 permanent seats, a road course, a four-color electronic message center, a new ticket office and gift shop.
The track features a 1.5-mile superspeedway, a 2.5-mile FIA-approved road course, a 4,000-foot drag strip, paved and dirt short tracks, motocross circuits, stadium truck racing facilities, go-kart and Legends cars layouts as well as a Junior Drag racing strip.
Atlanta is a very versatile venue. It is often used for automobile testing. Motion pictures, as well as television commercials have been made at the speedway. Additionally, corporate promotions and civic events are often held here as well. In 1994, Atlanta hosted the Countryfest concert which attracted over 200,000 spectators. In June of 1999, the Hard Rock Cafe's Rockfest, a one-day music festival drew over 100,000 fans.
Television and radio personalities as well as musicians and movie stars often attend events at Atlanta. In March of 1999 the celebrity list was headlined by former Good Morning America host Joan Lunden and Goldberg from World Championship Wrestling.
Of course, there is racing. NASCAR has three races every year, two NASCAR Winston Cup Series and one NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division race, at Atlanta. The Cracker Barrell Old Country Store 500 takes place in March along with the Aaron's 312 and the NAPA 500 takes place in November. The NAPA 500, the largest single-day sporting event in Georgia, is an important event for NASCAR. It is the last points race of each season and the championship is decided by the race. Unlike many other sports that move their championships to different cities every year, NASCAR has kept its last points race at Atlanta for years.
Atlanta is a part of Speedway Motorsports Inc. This publicly traded company was formed in 1995 and includes Lowe's Motor Speedway (Charlotte, N.C.), Texas Motor Speedway (Ft. Worth), Sears Point Raceway (Sonoma, Calif.), Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
Location: Less than 30 miles south of downtown Atlanta on U.S. Highway 19-41 South in Hampton, Ga.
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RACE RECORDS |
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NASCAR Series |
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Driver |
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Speed |
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Date |
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Winston Cup
Series |
D. Earnhardt |
163.633 |
11/12/95 |
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Busch Grand
National Division
Series |
M. Martin |
151.751 |
3/8/97 |
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QUALIFYING RECORDS |
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NASCAR Series |
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Driver |
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Speed |
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Time |
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Date |
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Winston Cup
Series |
G. Bodine |
197.478 |
28.074 |
11/16/97 |
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Busch Grand
National Division
Series |
D. Blaney |
186.755 |
29.686 |
3/13/99 |
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