Pikes Peak International Raceway

Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR) is a racetrack in a Colorado Springs annexed area of the Fountain, Colorado, postal zone that by October 12, 1997, was "the fastest 1-mile paved oval anywhere". The speedway hosted races in several series including the Indy Racing League and 2 NASCAR series (Busch and Truck) until operations were suspended 2005-8. A wide variety of amateur racing groups use PPIR for racing and training, and many NASCAR teams use PPIR for testing (the design is similar to Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the California Speedway in Fontana.)

History
Racing in the Pikes Peak Region included 19th century horse tracks (e.g., to the west of Colorado Springs' Palmer House along Fountain Creek by 1882 and to the north by 1903, the "Roswell Racing Park"), and the annual Pikes Peak International Hill Climb started in 1916 on the 1915 Pikes Peak Highway. In 1938, a track was north of the Alexander Aircraft factory and c. World War II another was to the factory's southeast at the south end of the Nichols Field taxiway. On the Pike's Peak Ocean-to-Occan Highway west of the city was the end of the 1951 Colorado sports car rally (terminus at the Crystola Inn), a 1953 dirt dragstrip "some four miles east of Colorado Springs" was used for "the first statewide drag race", and a stock car track was along Powers Road in the early 1960s. The "last local track" for auto racing east of the city through the late 1970s was the Colorado Springs International Speedway which "had crowds in the 3,000-4,000 range on summer weekends". The Platte Avenue go-kart track closed c. 1990, the greyhound track closed c. 2005 and is now an off track betting facility, and the Olympic velodrome in Memorial Park is a remaining racing venue within the city.

Pikes Peak Meadows
Pikes Peak Meadows was a dirt horse racing track facility opened in 1964 20 mi south of Colorado Springs and 25 mi north of Pueblo, Colorado, with a large, blue, covered grandstand on the west. The facility was annexed by the City of Colorado Springs c. 1985 and after its horse racing ended in 1993, the city "approved the speedway in January 1996". C. C. Myers "announced plans in May 1996 to build a major auto racing facility" at Pikes Peak Meadows.

Speedway development
In 1997, "Apollo Real Estate Advisors LP formed a joint venture January 30 with Raceway Associates, a partnership headed by California contractor and developer C.C. Myers Inc, to own and run the 1,300-acre" speedway complex. The asphalt track was constructed 6 ft below the "normal ground level", C.C. Myers planned "to get a big-time NASCAR race in 1998", and the facility had an open house for the local community on May 31, 1997. The first race's attendance (June 8) was 16,810, the Richard Petty Driving Experience used PPIR July 2–17, the first IRL Series race on June 28 was televised, and a Winston West 500K race was held in July 1997.

International Speedway Corporation
Earlier in 1996, a competing track near Denver in Adams County, Colorado was attempted by Penske Motorsports Inc which merged in 1999 with the International Speedway Corporation. In 2002 ISC gained "the right of first refusal should PPIR owners decide to sell their 1,200-acre complex" and in October 2005 for $11 million, "bought out the owners of Pikes Peak International Raceway" (racing operations were suspended and the scoreboard was moved to Texas Motor Speedway.)  In 2006, meetings "between attorneys representing [Commerce City, near Denver] and International Speedway Corporation" were conducted before ISC "announced in February [1997] that it was eyeing land in Commerce City as well as eastern Aurora for the track. It envision[ed] a $360 million to $400 million track and stadium that could hold 75,000 to 80,000 fans." A new opposition group, Commerce City Citizens and Business Alliance, endorsed anti-raceway candidates which won local elections, and in May 1997 "ISC executive Wesley Harris said the 1,300-acre parcel the company was considering near Denver International Airport was not compatible with its needs". ISC sold PPIR in November 2006 (the purchase closed in the first quarter of 2007), and PPIR operations resumed in 2008.

Current races
On December 6, 2012, USAC announced that PPIR will be on the 2013 USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series schedule. Pikes Peak International Raceway will host the richest event in SRL Southwest Tour history as announced on April 23, 2013.