Portland International Raceway

Motorsport venue
Name = Portland International Raceway


Location = Portland, Oregon, United States
Coordinates =
Time = GMT -7
Capacity = 86,000
Owner = City of Portland
Operator = Mark Wigginton
Broke_ground =
Opened = 1960
Closed =
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Surface = Asphalt/Concrete
Miles_first = True
Length_km = 3.17
Length_mi = 1.967
Turns = 12
Banking =
Record_time = 0:57.597
Record_driver = Justin Wilson
Record_team = RuSPORT
Record_year = 2006
Record_class = Champ Car
Layout2 =
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Portland International Raceway (PIR) is located in Portland, Oregon's Delta Park complex on the former site of Vanport, just south of the Columbia River.

The track hosts a Champ Car race every year and ICSCC and SCCA road racing and autocross events. The facility includes a drag strip and a motocross track.

The road course is almost perfectly flat and runs clockwise. Two track configurations are possible. One includes a hard chicane at the end of the front straight and involves twelve turns at length of 1.967 miles (3.17 km). Without the chicane, the track has nine turns and a lap length of 1.915 miles (3.08 km).

It is just west of a light rail station and less than a mile west of Interstate 5.

The City of Portland is working to establish the track as carbon neutral. [ [http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto_News/Daily_Auto_News/Raceway_Seeks_Carbon-Neutral_Status.S173.A12221.html Raceway Seeks Carbon-Neutral Status - The Car Connection ] ]

History

PIR is built on the former location of Vanport, Oregon, which was destroyed on Memorial Day, May 30th, 1948, when a dike on the Columbia River broke and flooded the city. After the flood had wiped out the city of Vanport, all that remained were the paved streets and concrete foundations of the destroyed homes and buildings.

The first races took place on these old city streets in 1961 during the Portland Rose Festival. Since then, the Rose Cup has become an annual event. Racing at "West Delta Park" [ [http://www.portlandraceway.com/history.asp Portland International Raceway Offical Site - History] ] , as PIR was known back then, was quite dangerous. Racers leaving the track unexpectedly could collide with leftover concrete foundations or fall into ponds.

Under the threat of losing the Rose Cup races, since many of the sanctioning racing bodies would no longer sanction races due to the deteriorating roads and dangerous obstacles, the track was finally paved in the 1970s. [ [http://www.portlandraceway.com/history.asp Portland International Raceway Offical Site - History] ]

Each year from 1996 through 2000 the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series ran a race at Portland International Raceway.

At the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, PIR went through a track renovation. The track was repaved with new asphalt and some minor changes were made to the track layout. Turns 4 through 7 were widened. The fence on the inside of turn 6 was moved to provide a better sightline through the corner. And turn 7 was sharpened to slow down racers prior to entering the back straight. Formula One-style curbs were also installed on the track. [ [http://www.portlandtribune.com/sports/story.php?story_id=120302810218974400 Portland Tribune Article - Track debuts smooth moves] ] The track reopened on February 23rd, 2008, with a ribbon cutting ceremony.

Champ Car race history

See Main article Grand Prix of Portland

References

External links

* [http://www.portlandraceway.com/ Portland International Raceway Official Site]
* [http://www.trackpedia.com/wiki/Portland_International_Raceway Trackpedia guide to driving this track]
* [http://www.friendsofpir.com/ Friends of PIR]
* [http://www.omrra.com/ Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association]
* [http://www.omrra.org/ Oregon Motorcycle Road Racing Association (OMMRA)]
* [http://www.supercarsunlimited.com/pirbrackets/history/history.htm Unofficial History of PIR]