New Pikes Peak track ready

Friday, May 16, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

In a matter of months, mounds of dirt have been transformed by bulldozers and cranes into Pikes Peak International Raceway, a state-of-the-art facility that promises to bring world-class auto racing back to the Rockies.

Construction crews have been racing to meet a Thursday deadline for completion, which raceway general manager Lex Dudas (the former operations manager at Las Vegas Motor Speedway) called "a realistic target, although there will still be some minor work left to be done. We will, however, be ready for sure by our first race."

Pikes Peak International Raceway has six dates on its inaugural-season schedule, starting with USAC races for short-track and midget cars June 7-9.

The highlight of the season will be a stop by the Indy Racing League on June 29, a month after the same drivers go in the Indianapolis 500.

IRL drivers Scott Goodyear and Arie Luyendyk took several test laps on the new track in late March and predicted qualifying speeds of 180-185 mph for the race. That would make PPIR the fastest one-mile track in the country.

Those speeds are possible because of the smoothness of the track and the fact that both turns and straightaways are banked.

"It's one of the smoothest tracks I've been on," Goodyear said.

Goodyear also said the D-shaped oval is "going to be very challenging. It's got a real neat 1-2 turn combination because you go in there and it starts to bank on you. It's very wide and there's a lot of room for racing. The fans are going to see a great show."

Another new track, the glittering, 150,000-seat Texas Motor Speedway north of Fort Worth, was criticized by NASCAR drivers at a race earlier this year. They said the track was too narrow, making passing difficult and dangerous.

Amenities at the Texas speedway, however, drew rave reviews, and that's also a goal of PPIR.

"We've worked with the best race-track architects in the industry to make our concession stands, restrooms and retail facilities as user-friendly as possible," Dudas said.

For fans, the view of the race track is unparalleled. The infield is five feet lower than the track surface, and the first row of the grandstands is 16 feet above the track, ensuring that fans can see every inch of the track, even with 36 garages in the infield.

Thirty-two luxury boxes sit atop the grandstand.

The $44 million facility is the brainchild of construction magnate C.C. Myers, who rebuilt the earthquake-ravaged Santa Monica Freeway 74 days ahead of schedule.

Despite the demise of the Denver Grand Prix, which went bankrupt in 1991 after two races through the streets of downtown Denver, Myers saw the potential for racing in the Rockies.

PPIR's only real competition is Colorado National Speedway, although Dudas insists he wants to work with CNS. CNS and NASCAR have long-time ties, which could prevent PPIR from getting some NASCAR races.

Pikes Peak will be the site of a NASCAR Winston West 500-kilometer race on July 27 -- but only because CNS didn't want the event. Winston West is a West Coast version of NASCAR, and such drivers as Kenny Schrader and Michael Waltrip are committed to competing here.

Other races on PPIR's calendar this year are AMA superbikes, SCCA Trans-Am and Pro SportsCar, the former IMSA series.