Nestled in the brown mountains of the Arizona desert sits Phoenix International Raceway, once a top venue for open-wheel racing, the track is now known for its NASCAR dates.

Construction on the 1-mile tri-oval, with a dogleg on the backstretch, was completed early in 1964 along with a 2.5-mile road course.

Early in the track’s history, some of the biggest names in open-wheel racing including Foyt and Mears made headlines. Stock cars and sports cars slowly made their way to PIR which brought more famous names to the new track like actor Steve McQueen who won a sports car race on the road course in 1970.

It was not until twenty years after the first stock car race at Phoenix that NASCAR brought its premier series to the Arizona track. Alan Kulwicki won the first NASCAR Winston Cup Series race, the Checker 500, at PIR which was also Kulwicki’s first career win.

The road course was rebuilt in 1991 and is now 1.51 miles long.

After NASCAR’s appearance, including the debut of the Camping World Truck Series at PIR in 1995, stock cars, sports cars and open-wheel series all ran at Phoenix throughout the year.

IndyCar legend Arie Luyendyk set a world record for speed on a one-mile oval track with a fast lap of 183.599mph in 1996.

Over the years, after PIR was purchased by International Speedway Corporation in 1997, continuous improvements have been made to the facility which now has seating for 76,800 fans.

Turn two was reconstructed in 2003 due to safety reasons and a tunnel was added underneath turn four. The following year, lights were added to the racetrack three years later the Bobby Allison Grandstand was expanded.

The track has also added new venues for fans to gather including Octane, an exclusive lounge above turn one, and the SPEED Cantina, a bar-and-grill near turn two.

Phoenix International Raceway is a place where fans of every type of racing can converge throughout the year and truly enjoy their racing experience, while the drivers who are competing enjoy the challenge of the unusual design of the oval track with its backstretch dogleg or the 11 turn winding road course.

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