The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
NEXT RACE: SHRINER’S 500
Phoenix Raceway 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, FOX
• 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. PHOENIX HISTORY
JANUARY 1964 - Construction on Phoenix Raceway is completed. Scottsdale, Arizona builder Richard Hogue, an amateur sports car racer, designs the track at the foothills of the Estrella Mountains to be known as the “Indianapolis of the West” as it is the only one of its kind outside of Daytona Beach and the only road racing course between the Mississippi and California. The new track includes a uniquely-shaped one-mile oval, a quarter-mile drag strip and a meandering 2.5-mile road course.
JANUARY 1968 - Don White wins the first stock car race staged at Phoenix, a 250-mile chase on the road course. OCTOBER 1970 - Hollywood giant Steve Mcqueen wins the 17 lap ‘Winter Sprint’ sports car race on the track’s road course in Porsche 908 from pole position, setting a new lap record of 1:41.09.
NOV. 27, 1977 - Cale Yarborough drives to Victory Lane in the first NASCAR Winston West Series race at Phoenix. OCTOBER 1988 - Construction of a three-story suite building is completed outside Turn 1. Reserved seating capacity is increased to 30,000.
FEB. 5, 1995 - The Supertruck Series (now Camping World Truck Series) debuts. Mike Skinner is the series’ first winner, taking the Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic.
OCT. 25, 1998 - A race at Phoenix is shortened due to rain for the first time in history, giving Rusty Wallace his first Winston Cup Series win at Phoenix after 10 years of attempts.
APRIL 20, 2006 - The new Bobby Allison Grandstand debuts, giving fans a sweeping view of the track from outside of Turns 1 and 2. The next day, Phoenix Raceway unveils Octane, the unique and exclusive lounge positioned six stories above Turn 1.
APRIL 21, 2007 - Jeff Gordon opens the 20th season of Cup action at Phoenix with a victory over Tony Stewart in the SUBWAY Fresh Fit 500. The victory is Gordon’s first in 17 tries in the desert and the first by a driver from the pole position. It is Gordon’s 76th win, tying him for sixth all-time with Dale Earnhardt on the Cup Series career wins list. Gordon celebrated by holding a “3” flag out of driver’s side window to commemorate the late Earnhardt’s great career.