The Resurrection of Pocono Raceway
- As I stated at the outset, we made a lot of mistakes in building
Pocono Raceway and the only way we could achieve what we wanted was to
tear down everything and rebuild it from the ground up. We started with
a blank piece of paper and drew and designed what we felt, after 25
years of mistakes and trial and errors, were what the participants and
the fans would like. So in 1990, very quietly and very slowly, we began
to build Pocono Raceway all over again. Over a ten-year period we spent
approximately $3 million every year.
New crash walls, completely new
paving, removed all the old garages and ¾ mile track, completely
re-graded and cut and filled the old Garage Area. Built a one of a kind
new Garage Area completely different and second to none. Built a
150-site motor home park for the participants, 124 of which have water,
sewer and electricity, the only NEXTEL Cup track to have all this except
for Talladega. Built the biggest and most fan friendly Paddock Area so
that fans are only 56 feet away from the cars.
Built the most beautiful
of all Press Rooms on the circuit. Removed all of the old 375 toilets
and replaced them all with Long John, the biggest toilet facility in the
world, with 1000 stalls, so that we would be assured we would have no
lines. Built the largest and most beautiful Midway with fourteen 40'
Blue Spruce, 200 picnic tables and gazebos all over. Today we feel that
we have achieved our goal. Pocono PFC - Pocono Pretty, Friendly, Clean.
We have no illusion of becoming the biggest or the richest or the most
famous racetrack in the world. All we want to be is the Prettiest,
Friendliest, and Cleanest and to have fun along the way with all of our
loyal fans these past 32 years.
Ahead to the Future - Most people don't realize all of the unusual
facets that Pocono has concerning its location and its structure. Pocono
is in the Magic Triangle - New York, Philadelphia and Pocono Raceway are
all 90 miles away from each other - with New York as the #1 TV market
and Philadelphia as the #4 TV market. Pocono is within 200 miles of 60
million people and when you consider that the average NASCAR NEXTEL Cup
fan travels 300 miles, we are in the highest population density of any
other NEXTEL Cup track.
Our unusual triangular configuration is
conducive to many lead changes especially with the longest straightaway
and the widest main straight with the longest and widest Pit Road. All
of these features give Pocono uniqueness - a very enjoyable difference.
Back to the Good Old Days - In the early 1900's auto racing began by
racing automobiles around horse racing tracks at fairgrounds, along with
all the ambiance of the state fairs, all kinds of food, picnics, clowns,
jugglers, acrobats, bands with lots of different music - that's what
you'll see at Pocono with our Back to the Good Old Days motto. We thank
all of you who have helped us to arrive at this point, especially Bill
France Sr. and Annie B., who convinced us to stay the course.