Evergreen Speedway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Evergreen Speedway is an automobile racetrack located within the confines of the Evergreen State Fairgrounds in Monroe, Washington. The stadium can accommodate up to 7500 spectators in the covered grandstand and an additional 7500 in the uncovered modular grandstands. The layout of the track is unique in that it incorporates a 5/8-mile paved outer oval, a 3/8-mile paved inner oval, a 1/5-mile paved inner oval, a 1/4-mile dragstrip, and a figure-eight track located roughly within the 1/5-mile oval.
[edit] History
Originally an unpaved horse track, in 1954 Jimmie Collier convinced Snohomish County officials to allow him to convert the track for use in racing his Ford Model T roadster. The track was paved in the early 1960's and in 1967 the original bleachers were demolished and the current grandstands built.
Through the years the track played host to a wide variety of racing events including Sprint Cars, Roadsters, Midgets, Figure Eights, Foreign Stock, Modified, Hobby Stocks, Jalopies, Limited Sportsmen, Demolition, Grand National, Winston West, NASCAR Northwest Tour, Super Stocks, Mini Stocks, Stinger-8, Hornets and Bombers. Evergreen Speedway also hosted the "500," the richest and most prestigious race in the west.
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ran an event at Evergreen Speedway once per year from 1995 to 2000.
[edit] Evergreen Speedway Today
Today Evergreen Speedway hosts a number of events for local as well as regional racing series'. Some of the classes that can currently be seen are Super Stocks, Bombers, Mini Stocks, Super Figure-Eight, Extreme Contact Figure-Eight, Northwest Legends, Bump-to-Pass, Stinger-8, Hornets, School Bus Races, Demolition Derbies, Drifting, Autocross, Drag Racing and others.
[edit] Trivia
- Evergreen Speedway was featured as one of the playable tracks in 1999's "NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Racing" video game for the PC.
- Was nicknamed "The Superspeedway of the West" by NASCAR racing legend David Pearson.
- Some of the more notable drivers to have raced at Evergreen include: Bill Elliott, Geoff Bodine, Sterling Marlin, Harry Gant, Ken Schrader, Derrike Cope, Davey Allison, Greg Biffle, Ron Hornaday Jr., Kevin Harvick, Michael Waltrip and Mike Skinner.
