Pocono Raceway

Pocono Raceway (formerly Pocono International Raceway) is a NASCAR sanctioned superspeedway located in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania at Long Pond.

It is the site of two annual NASCAR Nextel Cup races held just weeks apart in June and July.

Pocono Is Like No Other NASCAR Track

Pocono Raceway has a unique design. Each turn is modeled after turns at 3 different tracks. Turn One was modeled after the now defunct Trenton Speedway, Turn Two is like Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Turn 3 is similar to The Milwaukee Mile.

It could be said to be a tri-oval, but the turns are much more severe than those of a more typical tri-oval such as Daytona and the track is really nearly a triangle. They have been likened somewhat to the hairpin-style turns of road courses. An additional complication is that none of the three turns are identical, nor are any of the three straights identical in length. The long frontstrech often requires a gear change due to the high RPMs attained.

The banking of each turn is considerably less than on many other long ovals. Although the track is long (2.5 miles) the sharp nature of the turns tends to make the overall speeds much lower than at other tracks of similar lengths thus restrictor plates are not needed here.

The odd design makes the setup of the car and the crews' ability to make chassis adjustments even more crucial here than at many other tracks. Often it is the difference between a winning performance and near-disaster. Drivers tend to either love the track or hate it, largely depending on how well it suits their driving style and their crews' abilities.

500 Miles Too Long?

Many fans and drivers contend that the 500-mile races at Pocono take too long, and that they would like to see them shortened to 400 miles. Some fans would not mind seeing the track disappear from the schedule altogether, or at least reduced to one race. Others have called for a Busch Series or Craftsman Truck Series support race to be held at Pocono, since it is one of only two Nextel Cup oval tracks (along with Indianapolis Motor Speedway) that is not on either the Busch or Craftsman Truck schedule. The only support event at Pocono is the ARCA series.

Pocono Raceway Ownership

Pocono is one of a very few NASCAR tracks not owned by either Speedway Motorsports, Inc. or International Speedway Corporation, the dominant track owners in NASCAR. It is owned by the Mattioli family, which also owns South Boston Speedway in South Boston, Virginia, and administers the Music City Motorplex (formerly Nashville Speedway USA) at the Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville, Tennessee.

Other Pocono Race Events

From 1971 to 1989, the CART series held a 500-mile race at Pocono. In 1989, Emerson Fittipaldi set a qualifying track record of 211.715 mph. However, after the 1989 race, the track was criticized for its roughness and lack of safety features, and was removed from the CART schedule.

Outside of the NASCAR races, Pocono is used throughout the year by sports car and motorcycle clubs as well as racing schools. The tri-oval also has three separate infield sections of racetrack - North Course, East Course and South Course. Each of these infield sections use a separate portion of the tri-oval to complete the track.

During regular non-race weekends, multiple clubs can use the track by running on different infield sections. Also some of the infield sections can be run in either direction, or multiple infield sections can be put together - such as running the North Course and the South Course and using the tri-oval to connect the two. This is the typical configuration for the Formula USA (FUSA) motorcycle race that is run on the track.

Pocono Gets The SAFER Barrier

Prior to the installation of the SAFER barrier in 2004, the track's walls were made of boilerplate steel. Occasionally cars would punch holes into the wall. This caused a red flag period until a new section of boilerplate could be welded into place.

It has been heavily rumored that Bruton Smith, the owner of Speedway Motorsports Inc., is attempting to purchase Pocono Raceway. He would do so to obtain a second race for Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Pocono Raceway Notables

Some notable moments in recent NASCAR racing history at Pocono: in 2000, Jeremy Mayfield knocked the late Dale Earnhardt out of the way to score his second career Winston Cup win.

2002: Steve Park and Dale Earnhardt Jr. become entangled exiting turn one, and both cars slam into the inside wall, causing Park's no. 1 Pennzoil Chevy to go airborne over the hood of Earnhardt's no. 8 car and barrel roll. The incident resulted in a lengthy red flag to repair the old fashioned highway barrier that lined the inside of the track in that area. Soon afterward, all outdated barriers at the track were replaced with sturdier walls. SAFER barriers now line the outside walls of the track also.

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Trivia

June 14, 1987: Tim Richmond makes his first start of the season and wins the Miller High Life 500 at Pocono. The seriously ill Richmond finishes just in front of runner-up Bill Elliott.

June 19, 1988: Geoff Bodine scampers to an eight-second victory over Michael Waltrip after Bobby Allison is critically injured in an opening-lap crash in Pocono's Miller High Life 500. Allison's Buick suffers a flat tire and spins in the "tunnel turn," then is hit in the driver's door by Jocko Maggiacomo.

July 23, 1989: Bill Elliott recovers from an unscheduled pit stop in the opening laps, hustles back into contention, and wins the AC Spark Plug 500 at Pocono International Raceway.

June 13, 1993: Kyle Petty runs away from his rivals and dodges a spectator who runs onto the track during green-flag conditions to win the Champion Spark Plug 500 at Pocono. Sixth-place finisher Davey Allison radios to his crew when he notices the dazed spectator on the speedway surface, "Guys, you ain't gonna believe this. There is some nut standing out here on the racetrack."

June 12, 1994: Rusty Wallace charges past Dale Earnhardt on the final lap and holds on to win at Pocono. A late caution flag sets up the final one-lap dash.

June 16, 1996: Jeff Gordon rolls to his fifth win of the season at Pocono. Dale Earnhardt finishes 32nd, but still leads the championship race by 52 points over Terry Labonte.

June 8, 1997: Jeff Gordon passes Ted Musgrave with 16 laps remaining and sprints to a narrow victory over Jeff Burton, registering his 6th triumph of the season in the Pocono 500 in Pennsylvania. With the win, Gordon ties winless Terry Labonte for the lead in the NASCAR Winston Cup points standings.

June 21, 1998: Jeremy Mayfield holds off Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett in a stirring finish to bag his first career Winston Cup win in the Pocono 500. Mayfield leads 122 of the 200 laps on the triangular 2.5 mile speedway and the win comes in his 125th career start.

June 19, 2000: Jeremy Mayfield rubs Dale Earnhardt out of the way on the final lap and speeds to victory in the Pocono 500. It is Mayfield's third career NASCAR Winston Cup win.

June 17, 2001: Ricky Rudd outruns Jeff Gordon in the final laps to win the Pocono 500. It is Rudd's first victory in three years and his first with the powerful Robert Yates Ford team.

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