Memphis International Raceway
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Memphis International Raceway (formerly known as Memphis Motorsports Park) was an
auto racing Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. Auto racing has existed since the invention of the automobile. Races of various sorts were organise ...
park located near the
Loosahatchie River The Loosahatchie River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 3, 2011 stream in southwestern Tennessee. Except for a few miles near its head, its mouth, and near the ...
in
Shelby County, Tennessee Shelby County is the westernmost county in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 929,744. It is the largest of the state's List of counties in Tennessee, 95 counties, both in terms of p ...
, United States, just approximately ten miles south of Millington, and a few miles north of the city of
Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Memp ...
.


History

The Memphis International Raceway (more commonly known as MIR) was founded in 1986 by Ed Gatlin, who along with a group of investors, bought a 400-acre tract of land within the northeastern section of Shelby County, and built a drag strip with an adjacent road course, including a dirt track and a go-kart track. The facility opened in 1987 with a drag strip and 1.8-mile (2.9 km) road course. It includes a 3/4-mile tri-oval short track, built in 1998, which once hosted the
NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
and
Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
, as well as an
ASA Late Model Series The ASA Late Model Series is an American stock car racing series. Founded by Ron Varney in 2003 as the "USPRO Cup Series", it was renamed "ASA Late Model Series" when it was purchased by the American Speed Association in 2004. After financial di ...
race. The drag strip hosts events such as International Hot Rod Association (IHRA) World Finals and Nitro Jam, Professional Drag Racers Association (PDRA), HOT ROD Power Tour, Super Chevy Show, Fun Ford Series and Mega Mopar Action Series. The entire facility was purchased by the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach in 1996, and in 1997, a ¾-mile paved tri-oval was added on the site of the old dirt track, while a new dirt track was built on the site of the former go-kart track. The name of the facility was also changed to Memphis Motorsports Park and the tri-oval opened on June 5, 1998. The following month, Memphis Motorsports Park was acquired by Dover Motorsports, Inc. in connection with its purchase of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. Memphis Motorsports Park closed October 30, 2009 due to lack of finances. Its parent company, Dover Motorsports, Inc. announced that it was ceasing all operations at Memphis Motorsports Park and that it would not be promoting any events in Memphis in 2010. The Memphis facility was under an agreement of sale to Gulf Coast Entertainment but Gulf Coast was unable to secure financing. The track's Camping World Truck Series date was moved to
Nashville Superspeedway Nashville Superspeedway is a motor racing complex located in Gladeville, Tennessee, United States (though the track has a Lebanon postal address), about southeast of Nashville. The track was built in 2001 and is currently hosting the Ally 400, ...
and its Nationwide Series date to
Gateway International Raceway World Wide Technology Raceway (formerly Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park) is a motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri, United States, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a o ...
, and later abandoned after a year. Dover Motorsports, Inc. auctioned off the complex on December 14, 2010 to
Palm Beach International Raceway Palm Beach International Raceway (stylized as PBIR and formerly Moroso Motorsports Park) was a motorsports facility located west of Jupiter, Florida. The facility had a quarter-mile drag strip, a road course, 7/10-mile kart track as well as mud ...
for $1.9 million. It was announced on January 31, 2011 that the deal between Palm Beach International and Dover Motorsports was finalized, and the track re-opened in April 2011. The track was also renamed to ''Memphis International Raceway,'' and a new logo was created to reflected the change which adopted a similar theme with its sister track in Palm Beach. The track became sanctioned with IHRA, which has held the IHRA Nitro Jam finale at Memphis since 2011.


2013

In 2013, MIR gained more events for the park, including the 2nd annual Ford Fun Weekend at Memphis (was hosted at MIR in 2012 as well), and the Mega Mopar Action Series. This was the first year where the three major domestic manufacturers (
Chevy Chevrolet ( ), colloquially referred to as Chevy and formally the Chevrolet Motor Division of General Motors Company, is an American automobile division of the American manufacturer General Motors (GM). Louis Chevrolet (1878–1941) and oust ...
,
Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...
, and
Dodge Dodge is an American brand of automobiles and a division of Stellantis, based in Auburn Hills, Michigan. Dodge vehicles have historically included performance cars, and for much of its existence Dodge was Chrysler's mid-priced brand above P ...
) held an event at Memphis in the same year under the new owners. The track also drew attention to the Mid South Region of
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
, which uses the road course for track events featuring High Performance Driving Events (HPDEs), Time Trial, Wheel to Wheel Racing, and NASA-X autocross events. Retired NASCAR driver,
Rusty Wallace Russell William "Rusty" Wallace Jr. (born August 14, 1956) is an American former NASCAR racing driver. He has won the 1984 NASCAR Cup series Rookie of the Year and the 1989 NASCAR Winston Cup Championship. Over the course of his successful care ...
opened up his driving experience and go kart facility on the NASCAR Oval in May 2013. MIR also picked up the Xtreme Xperience Supercar venue which allows anyone to drive vehicles such as Ferrari's, Lamborghini's, and Audi's around the track for a fee. Its first event was February 9 and 10, but the event was prematurely canceled on the 10th due to weather. A make-up event was rescheduled for a Sunday run on October 20, 2013. The ARCA series also made a return to the oval, making it the first racing event held on the oval since the new ownership in 2011. The Memphis 250 was held on October 26 with Brian Campbell being the race winner.


Closing 2022

The track was sold sometime around March 2022, and held its last event on June 17, 2022.


Tracks


Drag strip

The drag strip immediately drew the attention of the NHRA and was awarded a sanction in 1988 as the host site of the Mid-South Nationals. While the NHRA has 140 member tracks, Memphis was one of only 23 to host a national event. It also was the section of the complex used by other events such as the Mid-South
SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional r ...
events and the Super Chevy Show. The last NHRA race at Memphis, ''O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals'', was to be hosted on October 4, 2009, but a rain delay postponed the event to October 5, 2009. In the winner's circle were Jeff Arend (Funny Car), Morgan Lucas (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Michael Phillips (Pro Stock Motorcycle). The strip will host IHRA events with its new owner, including a Nitro Jam event, as their sister track in Palm Beach is also affiliated with IHRA. The ''American Drag Racing League'' announced, on March 3, 2011, that they would hold an event during the weekend of May 20, 2011, at MIR. The IHRA Nitro Jam series continues to race at Memphis, and have set up another finale event for 2014.


Paved oval

On September 13, 1998, before a sold-out crowd and a national television audience, the facility hosted its first NASCAR event—the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Memphis 200 The MemphisTravel.com 200 was a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race that took place at Memphis Motorsports Park from 1998 to 2009. Past winners *2005: First race run at night with temporary lights. *2005–2006 & 2008–2009: Race extended ...
. NASCAR returned every year since with two events—the Truck Series in the summer, and the Nationwide Series in the fall. Ron Hornaday took home his second consecutive Elvis trophy in the last MemphisTravel.com 200 Camping World Truck Series race held at the oval. A late caution forced a green-white-checkered finish which gave Hornaday the edge on the restart to beat Brian Scott. On October 24, 2009, Brad Keselowski won the race at the oval by holding off Kyle Busch to the finish line on the 11th and final annual racing event, for both the Nationwide Series and the oval, as the track would not carry any racing events in 2010, when Dover Motorsports, Inc. announced the closure of Memphis Motorsports Park, a week after that race.


Records

*Top Fuel and Funny Car based on records under current NHRA regulations. Pro Stock and Pro Stock Motorcycle are still .


Series hosted


Current

* IHRA 2011–present *
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
2011–present


Former

*
ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three national ...
2017–2020 *
Camping World Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...
, MemphisTravel.com 200, 1998–2009 *
Nationwide Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
,
Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 The Kroger On Track for the Cure 250 presented by the Southern Dodge Dealers was a NASCAR Nationwide Series stock car race that took place at Memphis International Raceway in Memphis, Tennessee, from 1999 to 2009. The 2007 race had twenty-five ...
, 1999–2009 *
NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series The NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series is a drag racing series organized by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). It is the top competition series of the NHRA, comprising competition in four classes, including Top Fuel Dragster, Funny Ca ...
1988–2009 *
ASA Late Model Series The ASA Late Model Series is an American stock car racing series. Founded by Ron Varney in 2003 as the "USPRO Cup Series", it was renamed "ASA Late Model Series" when it was purchased by the American Speed Association in 2004. After financial di ...
?–2009 *AMA Dragbike ?–2009


See also

*
List of NASCAR race tracks This is a list of tracks which have hosted a NASCAR race from 1948 to present. Various forms of race track have been used throughout the history of NASCAR, including purpose-built race tracks such as Daytona. NASCAR National series race tracks ...


References


External links


Memphis International Raceway SiteTrackpedia guide to driving this track
{{World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series race venues NASCAR tracks ARCA Menards Series tracks Sports venues in Memphis, Tennessee Motorsport venues in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Shelby County, Tennessee Tourist attractions in Shelby County, Tennessee NASCAR races at Memphis International Raceway