Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about 50 mi (80 km) north of Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race in NASCAR as well as its season opening event. The venue also hosts the 24 Hours of Daytona, one of three IMSA races that make up the Triple Crown of endurance racing. In addition to NASCAR and IMSA, the track also hosts races of ARCA, AMA Superbike, SCCA, and AMA Supercross. The track features multiple layouts including the primary 2.500 mi (4.023 km) high-speed tri-oval, a 3.560 mi (5.729 km) sports car course, a 2.950 mi (4.748 km) motorcycle course, and a 1,320 ft (400 m) karting and motorcycle flat-track. The track's 180-acre (73 ha) infield includes the 29-acre (12 ha) Lake Lloyd, which has hosted powerboat racing.
The track was built in 1959 by NASCAR founder William "Bill" France Sr. to host racing that was held at the former Daytona Beach Road Course. His banked design permitted higher speeds and gave fans a better view of the cars. The speedway is operated by NASCAR pursuant to a lease with the City of Daytona Beach on the property that runs until 2054.[1][4] The venue describes itself as the "World Center of Racing".[5]
Lights were installed around the track in 1998, and today it is the third-largest single-lit outdoor sports facility. The speedway has been renovated four times, with the infield renovated in 2004 and the track repaved in 1978 and 2010. On January 22, 2013, the fourth speedway renovation was unveiled. On July 5, 2013, ground was broken on "Daytona Rising" to remove backstretch seating and completely redevelop the frontstretch seating. The renovation was by design-builder Barton Malow Company in partnership with Rossetti Architects. The project was completed in January 2016, and cost US $400 million. It emphasized improved fan experience with five expanded and redesigned fan entrances (called "injectors"), as well as wider and more comfortable seats, and more restrooms and concession stands. After the renovations were complete, the track's grandstands had 101,500[6] permanent seats with the ability to increase permanent seating to 125,000.[7][8] The project was finished before the start of Speedweeks in 2016.
NASCAR founder William France Sr. began planning for the track in 1953 as a way to promote the series, which at the time was racing on the Daytona Beach Road Course.[9] France met with Daytona Beach engineer Charles Moneypenny to discuss his plans for the speedway. He wanted the track to have the highest banking possible to allow the cars to reach high speeds and to give fans a better view of the cars on track. Moneypenny traveled to Detroit, Michigan to visit the Ford Proving Grounds which had a high-speed test track with banked corners. Ford shared their engineering design of the track with Moneypenny, providing the needed details of how to transition the pavement from a flat straightaway to a banked corner. France took the plans to the Daytona Beach city commission, who supported his idea and formed the Daytona Beach Speedway Authority.[10]
The city commission agreed to lease the 447-acre (180.9 ha) parcel of land adjacent to Daytona Beach Municipal Airport to France's corporation for $10,000 a year over a 50-year period. France then began working on building funding for the project and found support from a Texas oil millionaire, Clint Murchison, Sr. Murchison lent France $600,000 along with the construction equipment necessary to build the track. France also secured funding from Pepsi-Cola, General Motors designer Harley Earl, a second mortgage on his home and selling 300,000 stock shares to local residents. Ground broke on construction of the 2.500 mi (4.023 km) speedway on November 25, 1957.[10]
To build the high banking, crews had to excavate over a million square yards of soil from the track's infield.[11] Because of the high water table in the area, the excavated hole filled with water to form what is now known as Lake Lloyd, named after Joseph "Sax" Lloyd, one of the original six members of the Daytona Beach Speedway Authority. (The lake was stocked with 65,000 fish, and France arranged speedboat races on it.)[12] 22 tons of lime mortar had to be brought in to form the track's binding base, over which asphalt was laid. Because of the extreme degree of banking, Moneypenny had to come up with a way to pave the incline. He connected the paving equipment to bulldozers anchored at the top of the banking. This allowed the paving equipment to pave the banking without slipping or rolling down the incline. Moneypenny subsequently patented his construction method[citation needed] and later designed Talladega Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway. By December 1958, France had begun to run out of money and relied on race ticket sales to complete construction.[10] He also received a substantial sum of money from the Pepsi company after attempting to obtain the money to finish construction from the Coca-Cola Company and being turned down. For years from when the track opened to France's death, France never allowed Coca-Cola to be sold as a concession at any of the tracks he owned as a result.
The first practice run on the new track was on February 6, 1959. On February 22, 1959, 42,000 people attended the inaugural Daytona 500.[10] Its finish was as startling as the track itself: Lee Petty beat Johnny Beauchamp in a photo finish that took three days to adjudicate.[13] When the track opened it was the fastest race track to host a stock car race, until Talladega Superspeedway opened 10 years later.[citation needed] On April 4, it hosted a 100 mi (160.9 km) Champ Car event which saw Jim Rathmann beat Dick Rathmann and Rodger Ward, at an average speed of 170.26 mph (274.01 km/h), at the time the fastest motor race ever.[13] It was the occasion of Daytona's first fatality: George Amick, attempting to overtake for third late in the race, hit a wall and was killed.[13] April 5, a scheduled 1,000 km (620 mi) sports car event (shortened to 560 mi (900 km) by darkness) was won by Roberto Mieres and Fritz d'Orey, who shared a Porsche RSK, which proved more durable than more potent competition.[13]
Lights were installed around the track in 1998 to run NASCAR's July race, the Coke Zero 400 at night. The track was the world's largest single lighted outdoor sports facility until being surpassed by Losail International Circuit in 2008.[citation needed] Musco Lighting installed the lighting system, which took into account glare and visibility for aircraft arriving and departing nearby Daytona Beach International Airport, and costs about $240 per hour when in operation.[14]
Daytona's tri-oval is 2.500 mi (4.023 km) long with 31° banking in the turns and 18° banking at the start/finish line. The front straight is 3,800 ft (1,200 m) long and the back straight (or "superstretch") is 3,000 ft (910 m) long. The tri-oval shape was revolutionary at the time as it greatly improved sight lines for fans. It is one of the three tracks on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit that are considered "drafting tracks", the others being Talladega Superspeedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway.[15]
On July 15, 2010, repaving of the track began. This came almost a year earlier than planned due to the track coming apart during the