PRESENTED BY
NASCAR HOME TRACKS
Alaska Raceway Park Alaska Raceway Park, a one-third-mile asphalt oval in Palmer, Alaska, has been hosting NASCAR-sanctioned auto racing since 2016. “We are the only NASCAR track in Alaska and we have people who travel from all over the state to come down here to race and to spectate,” said Michelle Lackey Maynor, the track’s general manager. “Everybody has such a good time and they all play a unique role in the facility, whether they are fans, racers or employees. The family aspect of what we are doing – the community we are growing – is the most rewarding thing for me.” Opened in 1964, Alaska Raceway Park originally featured only a quarter-mile drag strip. The facility was purchased by Earl and Karen Lackey in 1997, and they eventually carved the oval track from land adjacent to the NHRA-sanctioned drag strip. The oval track’s schedule features 10 points races between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
PICTURESQUE SETTING
LOTS OF DAYLIGHT
FAMILY AFFAIR
ALASKA RACEWAY PARK IS LOCATED IN THE
ALASKA’S LONG SUMMER DAYS CREATE A
EARL AND KAREN LACKEY MOVED THEIR
shadow of Pioneer Peak, a 6,398-foot mountain
unique situation for Alaska Raceway Park.
family to Alaska during the early 1980s.
that provides one of the most unique backdrops in motorsports. “Across the country we have a lot of people
“We don’t have to have lights,” Maynor
“My older brother, Jimmy, started drag racing
noted. “I walked over to the race track last
at the track around 1986 and we’ve grown
night (8/2) and I think sunset was about
up at the track,” said Maynor. “When we lived
who follow us on social media just because it is
10:30. Heat races start at 6 and we aim to
in Wisconsin back in the day, my dad used to
such a picturesque race track,” Maynor said. “You
be finished around 9. The very last race of
race at Road America, so he’s been involved in
drive into turn three and your headed straight for
the season, depending on cloud cover, we
motorsports his whole life. It’s something he
Pioneer Peak, and it’s a view no other track – that
sometimes have to shut down early because
passed down to us and now we are passing it on
I’m aware of – has.”
it gets a little bit dark.”
to our kids.”
12
POLE POSITION 2021
WORDS: KEITH WALTZ PHOTOGRAPHY: ALASKA RACEWAY PARK
