Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets

Atlanta Motor Speedway
Atlanta Motor Speedway is 1.54-mile quad-oval track. It is situated in Hampton, Georgia, twenty miles south of Atlanta. The track is formerly known as Atlanta International Raceway. It was envisioned in 1958, by Walker Jackson, Lloyd Smith, Garland Bagley, Ralph Sceiano and Ike Supporter, and it finally took shape in 1960 as a 1.5 mile standard oval, and became the seventh superspeedway to host a Cup race.

In 1997, the Atlanta Motor Speedway was completely rebuilt to standardize the track with Speedway Motorsports' other two 1.5 mile ovals. Now the track was changed from oval to quad-oval.

It has a seating capacity of over 125,000, and is one of the fastest tracks on the NASCAR circuit. The total construction cost of track was $1.8million. The architects behind this amazing track are, Dr. Warren Gremmel, Bill Boyd, Jack Black, and Garland Bagley.

Atlanta Motor Speedway is one of the most fan-friendly tracks on the circuit as it has amazing tailgating, plenty of features of three-wide-racing and a great seating arrangement. Today, the track is one of NASCAR"s most desirable destinations.

In 1996, Atlanta Motor Speedway hosted the Countryfest concert, attracting over 200,000 fans and for most of the 1990s and 2000s, the track boasted the highest speeds on the NASCAR circuit.

However, in 2005, the speedway received heavy damage on the 6th of July, due to an F2 tornado that generated from the remains of Hurricane Cindy. Roofs and facades were torn off buildings, a 50-foot scoreboard tower was knocked down and the track was covered in debris from the tornado.

Several units at the speedway condominiums were damaged and luckily there were no injuries reported, as it struck late in the evening, on a non-race night.

The complex suffered $40 to 50 million US in damage. Despite all this, the track was miraculously more than ready for that October race, and it went off without any restraint.

In 2006, more than 13,000 seats were added with the building of Winners Grandstand in Turn 1, as well as new luxury seating called Club One and the East Turn grandstand was renamed the Elliott grandstand.

Additionally, more than 90 motor-coach parking spaces were added along the backstretch, strengthening the fan-centric atmosphere of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Some of the amazing facts of this track include- the former US President, Jimmy Carter, once worked as a ticket taker at the track; NASCAR President Mike Helton was once the track's General Manager; the opening scenes of the 1980 movie "Smokey and the Bandit II" were filmed at the track; in 2007, it was announced that Duke Fest 2008 will be held at the track on June 28-29, 2008. Ed Clark is the current President and CEO of the track.

The Track"s major events include, NASCAR Sprint Cup Series- Kobalt Tools 500 and Pep Boys Auto 500; NASCAR Nationwide Series- DeWalt Tools 300; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series- American Commercial Lines 200, EasyCare Vehicle Service, and Contracts 200; IROC.

In the coming March, 2009, Atlanta Motor Speedway would be hosting the Kobalt Tools 500 event, and in September, The Pep Boys Auto 500 event.