WoO: New Lowe's Short Track Facility to Feature Pennzoil World of Outlaws
11 August 1999
New Lowe's Short Track Facility to Feature Pennzoil World of Outlaws
CONCORD, N.C., Aug. 11 -- The fifth most popular form of
American motorsports, the Pennzoil World of Outlaws sprint car series, will be
the anchor attraction of a new 4/10-mile clay track being constructed at
Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Speedway President H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler was joined by Pennzoil World of
Outlaws Founder and President Ted Johnson and 15-time series champion Steve
Kinser in making the announcement today.
The facility will debut with the Pennzoil World of Outlaws Series next May
25 & 26, in conjunction with Coca-Cola 600 Week activities. The series will
return for an encore two-night program on October 5 & 6 during UAW-GM Quality
500 Week activities. The multi-day programs are expected to attract more than
60,000 spectators and a national television audience on TNN.
Utilizing the same famous North Carolina clay on which NASCAR racing was
founded in the 1940s, the track layout will feature 70-foot-wide straightaways
with approximately eight-degree banking and 80-foot-wide turns with
approximately 12-degree banking. A permanent grandstand structure will seat
approximately 12,500 and include eight corporate suites and a control tower.
A new, television-quality Musco lighting system will be installed. Additional
temporary seating can be added for events as needed.
Speedway officials are exploring other attractions for the venue,
including Supercross, flat track motorcycles, monster trucks and dirt-style
late models.
"After watching the success of the Pennzoil World of Outlaws at our Las
Vegas facility earlier this year, we decided to put this project on the front
burner," said Wheeler. "This is an exciting form of motorsports, and this
will complement our major event schedule here at the speedway. We have tens
of thousands of race fans on site for our Winston Cup events, and this will
offer us the opportunity to provide more motorsports entertainment."
"Running in conjunction with NASCAR Winston Cup events at great facilities
like Lowe's Motor Speedway is going to take the World of Outlaws to another
level," said Johnson. "Joining forces with TNN Motorsports several years ago
took us to a higher level. Now, with Speedway Motorsports building new
facilities to accommodate us, we'll go to a new plateau."
Established in 1978 by Johnson, the Pennzoil World of Outlaws attracted
nearly 1.7 million spectators last year, the fifth-highest attendance in U.S.
Motorsports behind only NASCAR Winston Cup & Busch Series, CART and NHRA
according to the Goodyear Motorsports Attendance Survey. The series features
top drivers such as Steve Kinser, Sammy Swindell, Mark Kinser, Jeff Swindell
and Danny Lasoski. Several drivers competing in NASCAR have raced in World of
Outlaws events. The drivers include Jeff Gordon, Dave Blaney, Ken Schrader,
Tony Stewart and Kenny Irwin.
Featuring 800-horsepower/410-cubic-inch engines, the open-wheeled sprint
cars are capable of nearly 160 mph. The cars, which weigh approximately
1,200 pounds and are based on a chrome-moly chassis, also feature a
25-square-foot top wing that acts as a giant airfoil.
The additional track will continue to make Lowe's Motor Speedway one of
the country's most multi-faceted motorsports facilities. The motorsports
complex also includes a 1.5-mile superspeedway, a 2.25-mile road course, a
1/4-mile Legends car oval, 1/5-mile dirt and asphalt ovals for go karts and
Legends and a 6/10-mile FIA-approved karting road course.
Tickets for the Pennzoil World of Outlaws series events at Lowe's Motor
Speedway will go on sale soon. Details will be announced at a later date.