Homestead Miami Speedway
Address: |
|
|
Homestead , Florida , USA | ||
Route type: | permanent race track | |
---|---|---|
Owner: | International Speedway Corporation | |
Operator: | International Speedway Corporation | |
Building-costs: | 70 million US dollars | |
Start of building: | August 24, 1993 | |
Opening: | November 5, 1995 | |
Speedway oval | ||
oval | ||
Route data | ||
Important events: |
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Ford EcoBoost 400 |
|
Route length: | 2.406 km (1.5 mi ) | |
Curves: | Curves: 20 °, straight lines: 3 ° |
|
Audience capacity: | 65,000 | |
Street course | ||
Road course | ||
Route data | ||
Route length: | 3.7 km (2.3 mi ) | |
http://www.homesteadmiamispeedway.com |
Coordinates: 25 ° 27 ′ 6 ″ N , 80 ° 24 ′ 31 ″ W.
The Homestead-Miami Speedway is a racetrack in Homestead in the US state of Florida , southwest of Miami . The Ford Championship Weekend takes place there, the last races of the season of the NASCAR Sprint Cup , the Xfinity Series and the Camping World Truck Series . Since these are all sponsored by Ford , the races are accordingly called Ford 400 , Ford 300 and Ford 200 .
The speedway was constructed with the help of promoter Ralph Sanchez as part of Homestead's rebuilding plan after being destroyed by Hurricane Andrew . Construction began on August 24, 1993, less than a year after the hurricane. It opened in November 1995 with a NASCAR Nationwide Series race. In the spring of 1996, the Champ Car series held its first race on this track.
The facility is considered one of the most beautiful in the USA. Though southwest of Miami, the circuit reflects the Art Deco district of Miami with the generous use of colors such as cyan, purple, and silver.
Still, the races at Homestead weren't very good at the beginning. When it opened, its layout was the same as that of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with its four corners and a rectangular oval. The tight, flat bends and the base of the bends made overtaking difficult and reduced speeds. The route geometry also made for unfavorable and serious steering angles in the event of an accident. In 1996 the management tried to correct these problems by widening the curves and bases by about 8 meters. In the summer of 1997, the entire route layout was reconfigured for 8.2 million US dollars, in which the quad oval was changed into a traditional, continuous oval.
In 2003 the route was reconfigured again. The very flat curves have been converted into steep curves with a variable superelevation. A short time later, lighting was added that allowed night races. The conversion and renovation work was well received by the fans and resulted in some tight race decisions. Due to the variable elevation, the ideal line is right next to the wall when the tires are falling, which, in view of the championship decision of the three NASCAR series taking place here, leads to a conflict of interests between fast time and the risk of damaging the car if it hits the wall.
On March 26, 2006, IndyCar Series pilot Paul Dana had a serious accident during warm-up training at the start of the season when he collided with Ed Carpenter at over 346 km / h . His death was the first in about two and a half years when Tony Renna was killed at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in October 2003 . Previously, John Nemechek had died in a Craftsman truck race in March 1997 and Jeff Clinton in a Grand Am sports car in March 2002 on the speedway.
Available courses
Solid gray lines represent an alternative route, broken gray lines represent other courses.
Records
record | year | date | driver | Manufacturer | time | Average speed ( mph ) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
NASCAR Sprint Cup | ||||||
Qualifying | 2003 | Jamie McMurray | Dodge | 29.816 | 181.111 | |
Race (400 miles) | 1999 | 14th November | Tony Stewart | Pontiac | 2:51:14 | 140,335 (before reconfiguration) |
NASCAR Xfinity Series | ||||||
Qualifying | 2004 | Casey Mears | 30,348 | 177.936 | ||
Race (300 miles) | 2001 | November 10th | Joe Nemechek | 2:16:10 | 132,191 (before reconfiguration) | |
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series | ||||||
Qualifying | 2007 | Jon Wood | 31,180 | 173.188 | ||
Race (200 miles) | 2002 | 15th of November | Ron Hornaday Jr. | 1:30:30 | 133,260 (before reconfiguration) | |
IZOD IndyCar Series | ||||||
Qualifying | 2006 | 25th March | Sam Hornish Junior | Dallara / Honda | 24,462 | 218,539 |
Race (300 miles) | 2006 | 26th of March | Dan Wheldon | Dallara / Honda | 1: 46: 15.530 | 167.730 |