NASCAR HOME TRACKS
Tucson Speedway
Fun and sun are the two ingredients that make Tucson Speedway, a three-eighths-mile asphalt oval located at the Pima County Fairgrounds south of Tucson, Arizona, a popular destination for NASCAR-sanctioned racing with a schedule that starts in January and then runs from March to November. “It’s pretty much predictable that we are going to have 352 sunny days a year,” said John Lashley, who has managed Tucson Speedway since 2012. “When we are racing here, people are warm – the fans are warm, the drivers are warm. You’ve got a happy crew chief because he’s warm. All in all, it really is the sun. It’s why I moved to Tucson – to get warm.” Tucson Speedway is the only track in the state that’s part of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series. “My goal is to provide a racing platform for the people in the state of Arizona and surrounding areas,” Lashley noted.
TUCSON’S REGULAR SEASON OPENER WILL BE RUN ON SATURDAY, MARCH 12 STORIED HISTORY
REFURBISHED
THE CHILLY WILLY
BUILT AS A DIRT TRACK IN 1968, THE
“NASCAR LEFT IN 1999 AND THE TRACK
TUCSON SPEEDWAY OPENED ITS 2022
fairgrounds facility was leased in 1990 by
was leased to a variety of people and many of
season in January with a three-day event
International Speedway Corp., which is now
them were underfunded or didn’t have a long-
known as the Chilly Willy. “Chilly Willy is our
owned by NASCAR, and the race track was paved
term vision of what the track might be,” Lashley
track mascot. Some people think he’s a
in 1992. It hosted the second NASCAR Camping
explained. “When I got the track, which was in
cucumber. Some people think he’s a string bean,
World Truck Series race – won by Ron Hornaday Jr.
2012, the weeds were three-feet tall. There
but he’s really a saguaro cactus,” Lashley said.
– on April 8, 1995, and was home to the televised
were cracks in the banked corners. We started
“This marquee event is 150 laps on our three-
Winter Heat Series, which introduced several
from the rooftops. We redid the whole place
eighths-mile track and it’s always a good race.
future NASCAR stars including Kurt Busch, Greg
from the rooftops to the track surface. It was
Again, it’s because of the sun. No one else is
Biffle and Matt Crafton.
a big project.”
racing in late January.”
18
POLE POSITION 2022
WORDS: KEITH WALTZ, PHOTOGRAPHY: TIFFANY O’NEALL/TUCSON SPEEDWAY
