Mobile International Speedway is a 1/2-mile paved oval track along

U.S. Highway 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. With the exception of a short-lived ...

in Irvington, Mobile County, Alabama, United States. It was built by Walter "Skip" Wetjen, and opened in 1965.

History

During the golden age of

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

, the track held races with the likes of

Gene Tapia Eugene "Gene" H. Tapia (March 16, 1925 – April 12, 2005) was an American race car driver from Mobile, Alabama. He competed in four NASCAR Grand National Series races, but he is best known for racing in the #327 supermodified. He was nicknam ...

, Wayne Niedecken Sr., Phil Wendt, and other NASCAR drivers. Longtime stock car driver Red Farmer won his 500th feature race at the track. From 1966 to 1968 the track hosted open-wheel racing and held the annual World 300 race for

Supermodified racing Supermodifieds are a class of Open wheel car, open wheel race car that compete on paved Short track motor racing, short tracks throughout the United States of America and Canada. The class was founded in the 1950s and is especially popular in the ...

, which attracted competitors that included notable drivers such as Bobby Allison, Dale Hammac and Armond Holley. In the 1980s, the track hosted races sanctioned by All Pro Stock, ASA, NASCAR Grand American, NASCAR All-American Challenge Series, and NASCAR All Pro Stock Car. They included drivers Donnie Allison, Rusty Wallace, Dave Mader III, Ronnie Sanders, Mike Cope, Freddy Fryar, Junior Niedecken, Jody Ridley and others. More recently, the track has been home to a number of rising NASCAR and ARCA drivers including Rick Crawford,

Kevin Swindell Kevin Swindell (born February 21, 1989) is an American racing driver and entrepreneur, who has competed in USAC and NASCAR competition. He has won 77 races in various dirt racing series including the Chili Bowl Nationals. Swindell is the son of ...

(a development driver for

Ray Evernham Raymond Donald Evernham Jr. (born August 26, 1957) is an American consultant for Hendrick Companies, formerly an auto racing crew chief for Bill Davis Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, owner of his own team Evernham Motorsports from 2001 to 2 ...

Bubba Pollard Andrew "Bubba" Pollard (born March 16, 1987) is an American stock car racing driver. He currently competes in super late model racing, driving the No. 26 Ford for his own team, and part-time in the ARCA Menards Series East, driving the No. 17 ...

(of Roush Racing: Driver X),

Cale Gale Cale Gale (born March 5, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and crew chief. Karting Gale's racing career began when his father placed him on a go-kart at age 4. In 1989 at the age of five years, he began racing competitive ...

and Grant Enfinger. Kevin Swindell holds the all-time track record. The ARCA Menards Series held the

ARCA Mobile 200 The ARCA Mobile 200 was an ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards race held at the Mobile International Speedway Mobile International Speedway is a 1/2-mile paved oval track along U.S. Highway 90 in Irvington, Mobile County, Alabama, Unite ...

at the track from 2012 to 2015, all of them won by local drivers: 1 win for Cale Gale and 3 for Enfinger. The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East held the

Mobile 150 The Mobile 150 presented by Sports Authority was a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race held at Mobile International Speedway in Irvington, Alabama. The race was in distance. History A. J. McCarron served as grand marshal for the inaugural race. Tyl ...

there in 2016. Also, the NASCAR Southeast Series hosted 9 races at Mobile International Speedway, between 1991 and 2001. The CARS Hooters Pro Cup Series also had run three races at the facility, between 1998 and 1999.

Current races

* Southern Super Series ** TBA

Film and television

Opening scenes from the 2009 film '' The Final Destination'' were shot at the track.See, Starling, Bill, The Final Destination shoot scenes at Mobile International Speedway, ''Mobile Register'', August 27, 2009, found online at http://photos.al.com/mobile-press-register/2009/08/final_destination_4_shoot_scen_9.html

Notes

External links

Official Speedway WebsiteMobile International Speedway archive
at Racing-Reference {{CARS Pro Cup racetracks NASCAR tracks ARCA Menards Series tracks Motorsport venues in Alabama Sports venues in Mobile, Alabama Tourist attractions in Mobile County, Alabama Sports venues completed in 1965 1965 establishments in Alabama