Martinsville Speedway

"The Pretty Paperclip"
Location	340 Speedway Road, Martinsville, Virginia, 24112
Time zone	GMT-5
Capacity	65,000
Owner	International Speedway Corporation
Operator	International Speedway Corporation
Opened	1947
Major events	NASCAR NEXTEL Cup NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Oval
Surface	Asphalt/Concrete
Circuit Length	.526 miles (.847 kilometres)
Turns	4
Banking	Turns 12° Straights 0°
Lap Record	0:18.746 (Greg Sacks, , 1986, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour)

Martinsville Speedway is an International Speedway Corporation-owned NASCAR stock car racing track located in Martinsville, Virginia. At 0.526 miles in length, it is the shortest track in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. The track was also one of the first paved "superspeedways" in NASCAR, being built in 1947 by H. Clay Earles. The track is often referred to as paper clip-shaped and is banked only 12° in the turns. The combination of long straightaways and flat, narrow turns makes hard braking going into turns and smooth acceleration exiting turns a must. The first NASCAR sanctioned event was held on July 4, 1949. In 1951, only 4 cars were running at the finish, the fewest of any race held at the speedway. The track was paved in 1955 and in 1956 it hosted its' first 500 lap event. In 1960, Richard Petty became the youngest winner at Martinsville, at 22 years, 9 months, 8 days, to date Petty has the most wins (15). In 1991, Harry Gant became the oldest winner at 51 years, 8 months, 12 days. It was Gant's fourth win in a row, earning him the nickhame Mr. September.

Ownership of the track was a joint venture of brothers Jim and Bill France, Jr., and H. Clay Earles, the majority owner, along with daughters Dorothy Campbell and Mary Weatherford, and Dorothy Campbell's children, Sarah Fain and Clay Campbell. In 2004, the track was sold exclusively to the France family for $192 million as a result of an estate sale following the death of Weatherford.

Plans existed to add an additional 20,000 seats along the back stretch, boosting capacity to over 85,000 seats, but nothing more has been officially mentioned regarding this by track management since the sale of the track to ISC.

From 1982 until 1994, and again in a one-off in 2006, the speedway hosted Busch Series events. This occurred first with 200- and 150-lap features (200 laps for the two races with Whelen Modifieds, 150 laps with the September Winston/Nextel Cup race), then 300 laps from 1992 until 1994 as part of a Late Model/Busch Series doubleheader, and 250 laps in the one-off in 2006. The venue was dropped from the Busch Series schedule for 2007 and a race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal was run on the open date.

Currently, Martinsville hosts two Nextel Cup races - the Goody's Cool Orange 500 in April and the Subway 500 (round six of the Chase for the Cup) in October - along with Craftsman Truck Series, Whelen Modified Tour which is labor day weekend under the lights, and Late Model races. Winners of the Nextel Cup and Whelen Modified Tour events receive a longcase clock as a trophy, a nod to Martinsville's famous furniture industry.

Current Events

• NASCAR Nextel Cup - Goody's Cool Orange 500
• NASCAR Nextel Cup - Subway 500
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Kroger 250
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Kroger 200
• NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and Whelen Southern Modified Tour Combination Race -- Whelen Made in America 300 (1 50-lap last chance race, 250-lap feature)

Records

• NASCAR Nextel Cup Qualifying: Tony Stewart, 19.306 sec. (98.084 mph), 2005
• NASCAR Nextel Cup Race: Jeff Gordon, 3 hrs. 11 min. 54 sec. (82.223 mph), September 22, 1996
• NASCAR Busch Series Qualifying: Clint Bowyer, 19.735 sec. (95.951 mph), 2006
• NASCAR Busch Series Race: Jack Ingram, 1 hr. 42 min. 16 sec. (77.751 mph), March 25, 1984 (250 laps)
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: Mike Skinner, 19.728 sec. (95.985 mph), 2007
• NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race: Rich Bickle, 1 hr. 47 min. 18 sec. (75.296 mph), September 27, 1997
• NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Qualifying: Greg Sacks, 18.746 sec. (101.014 mph), 1986.
• NASCAR Combined Modified Race: Ted Christopher, 55.773 mph, 2005 (combination races only with 250-lap format)

Past races

AAA Championship Car history

(races officially sanctioned by NASCAR)

• 1952 Tex Keene
• 1953 Wayne Alspaugh

External links

• Martinsville Speedway Official Site
• Martinsville Speedway Page on NASCAR.com
• Coordinates:
• WikiSatellite view at
• Street map from MapQuest or Google Local
• Topographic map from TopoZone
• Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
• Satellite image from Google Maps or Microsoft Virtual Earth

•  • [ e] Current NASCAR Nextel Cup Series racetracks
ISC Tracks Chicagoland - Darlington - Daytona - Fontana - Homestead - Kansas City - Martinsville - Michigan - Phoenix - Richmond - Talladega - Watkins Glen SMI Tracks Atlanta - Bristol - Charlotte - Fort Worth - Las Vegas - Sonoma Other tracks Dover - Indianapolis - Loudon - Pocono

Current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racetracks
Atlanta - Bristol - Brooklyn, Michigan - Charlotte - Daytona - Dover - Fontana, California - Fort Worth - Indianapolis (ORP) - Kansas City - Las Vegas - Loudon - Madison, Illinois - Mansfield - Martinsville - Memphis - Miami - Milwaukee - Nashville - Phoenix - Talladega - Sparta, Kentucky