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#Race
#11 :
Nashville Superspeedway:
Firestone Indy 200
Sunday
July 14th
Nashville, Tenessee
4847 Mccreary Rd # F
Lebanon, TN 37090
(615) 547-7500
2006 Winner:
Scott Dixon
Distance:
200 laps/266 miles
TV:
7:30 p.m. on ESPN
Ticket
Info
Race
Track Website
IRL
Announcement (with track photo)
The
Race :
The
Firestone Indy 200 is an Indy Racing League IndyCar Series
race held at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tennessee.
In 2001, it marked the first American open wheel event in
the Nashville area. It is currently held as a Saturday night
race.
2001's
Harrah's Indy 200 marked the first time the Indy Racing Series
had visited Nashville Superspeedway. The event also marked
the first Indy-style race in Tennessee. This is only the second
concrete track on which
Indy Racing has competed. Races took place in 1998 and 1999 on the 1-mile
concrete oval at Dover Downs International Speedway in Dover. The Firestone
Indy 200 will be the 80th IRL IndyCar Series event since the series' inaugural
race in 1996.
In the 79 previous events, 16,106 laps of competition have been
completed. In 2003 Gil de Ferran captured the Firestone Indy 200 defeating
Scott Dixon while the cars were under caution. The victory was de Ferran's
second of the season and fourth of his IndyCar career. The 2003 Indianapolis
500 winner took the lead for good on lap 173 while most of the leaders were on
pit lane getting fuel. The Brazilian went the final 69 laps without pitting.
He had held off Dixon on two restarts over the final 25 laps and was two laps
from the finish when Buddy Lazier crashed to end any chance of an exciting
finish.
As is a Nashville metropolitan tradition, specially-designed Gibson
Les Paul guitars are presented to race winners in place of conventional trophies.
The track also has a reputation for producing many first-time winners.
Backstory:
Since
the debut of the Nashville Superspeedway in April 2001, Nashville
and Middle Tennessee have experienced racing on an entirely
different level. Combining excellent NASCAR and INDYCAR Series
events with top entertainers in the Country Music Industry,
Nashville Superspeedway has become known as “A
Racing and Entertainment Experience!”
In the short six-year history names like Greg Biffle, Michael
Waltrip, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Kevin Harvick, Sam
Hornish, Dario Franchitti, Gil de Ferran, David Green, Ken
Schrader, and Carl Edwards have taken home the coveted Sam
Bass designed Gibson Les Paul trophy guitar. Entertainers
like Brad Paisley, Wynonna, Trace Adkins, Craig Morgan, and
Jo Dee Messina, among many others, have provided high-quality
pre and post race concerts during race weekend.
Located
30 minutes east of Downtown Nashville and the Country Music
Hall of Fame, the Nashville Superspeedway sits on 1,200
acres with free parking for an estimated 15,000 vehicles.
The superspeedway is a 1.33-mile “D”-shaped oval
concrete track (one of only three concrete tracks in the
country). A 1.8-mile road course is situated in the infield
for motorcycle and car club events.
Corporate America has taken notice. In 2006 every race weekend
was sponsored with multi-year deals. The Pepsi 300 NASCAR
Busch Series race, the Federated Auto Parts 300 NASCAR Busch
Series race, the Firestone Indy 200 INDYCAR Series race,
and the Toyota Tundra 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race
all experienced capacity crowds. Toyota Motorsports USA continues
to bring 10,000 team members to the Toyota Tundra 200 NCTS
pre race hospitality and for the third year in a row it was
the largest corporate hospitality in the history of NASCAR.
Many
of the roads around the track are appropriately named Darrell
Waltrip Drive, Bobby Hamilton Drive, Sterling Marlin Drive, “Uncle Bob” Harmon
Drive, and Marty Robbins Drive. Nashville Superspeedway
is surrounded by a rich racing history in Nashville and
Middle Tennessee; and after six years the track is making
some history of its own.
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