Kentucky Speedway
| Information Location: Sparta, Kentucky | Track Specifics
Type: Oval | Races
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| Current Track Layout This track has been used with the permission of www.etracksonline.co.uk |
Kentucky Speedway is a 1.5 mile motor speedway located in north-central Kentucky, near the community of Sparta, Kentucky approximately halfway between Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, and is additionally 70 miles from Lexington, Kentucky. The track was designed to host a NASCAR Nextel Cup race and has hosted NASCAR Busch Series and Craftsman Truck series races, as well as IRL races. However, NASCAR officials have refused any discussion of a Nextel Cup race being moved there.
In July 2005, Kentucky Speedway filed a lawsuit against NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation (ISC), claiming that they violated federal antitrust laws by not allowing tracks to bid for NASCAR races, be it they meet the necessary requirements. This lawsuit was filed a year after Francis Ferko, a Speedway Motorsports shareholder, successfully sued NASCAR and ISC, forcing NASCAR to eliminate the prestigious Southern 500 in Darlington, SC, in favour of a second race at Texas Motor Speedway, as demanded by the terms of the lawsuit. Track officials used the Ferko case as precedent for the lawsuit.
NASCAR asked that the suit be dismissed or moved to Florida, home of NASCAR headquarters, but instead the Federal Court decided the case should procede in Kentucky courts. Hearings on the issue are expected in 2006.
In response to the Kentucky Speedway's lawsuit, NASCAR fans and union members of UNITE HERE and Teamsters, gathered over 40,000 signitures asking NASCAR to severe ties with the Kentucky Speedway while the lawsuit proceeds. The petition rasies concerns that if the lawsuit is sucessful, than the competetive bidding process it advocates could cause ticket prices to rise and smaller tracks could lose their races.
There has also been talk that Kentucky Speedway owners might purchase Pocono Raceway and move one of its Nextel Cup races to Kentucky. However, the Mattioli family, which owns both Pocono Raceway and South Boston Speedway, and manages the Music City Motorplex, has so far shown no interest in selling that superspeedway.
Both of Kentucky's major 300-mile races (IndyCar, Busch Series) are sponsored by Meijer.
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Belle Isle -
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Edmonton -
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Indianapolis -
Infineon -
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Kentucky -
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