Memphis Motorsports Park History

Memphis International Motorsports Park was founded in 1986 by Ed Gatlin who, along with a group of investors, bought a 400-acre tract of land in northeast Shelby County, Tenn., and built a drag strip with an adjacent road course, a dirt track and go-kart track. The drag strip drew the attention of the NHRA and was awarded a sanction in 1988 as the host site of the Mid-South Nationals. While the NHRA has 140 member tracks, Memphis is one of only 23 to host a national event, and one of only two to host night racing.

The entire facility was purchased by the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach in 1996, and in 1997, a ¾-mile paved tri-oval was added on the site of the old dirt track, while a new dirt track was built on the site of the former go-kart track. The name of the facility was also changed-to Memphis Motorsports Park-and the tri-oval opened on June 5, 1998.

The following month, Memphis Motorsports Park was acquired by Dover Motorsports, Inc. in connection with its purchase of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach. On September 13, 1998, before a sold-out crowd and a national television audience, the facility hosted its first NASCAR event-the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Memphis 200.

From those humble beginnings, Memphis Motorsports Park has established itself as one of the most popular and versatile racing facilities in the country, playing host to more than 200 events a year, including the best that NASCAR and NHRA have to offer.

Dover Motorsports Inc.

Hundreds of events. Thousands of fans. Just four tracks.

Auto racing is no ordinary sport. It takes an abundance of courage, an understanding of mechanics and a burning desire to win in order to be successful. While the average person can learn how to run and throw on their own, it takes years of commitment and development for a driver to learn how to live life in the fast lane.

These “fast lanes” come in the form of race tracks. From asphalt to concrete, banked turns to tricky apexes, race tracks are built as unique as the people and various types of series that race on them. Dover Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE:DVD) is proud to operate four of the country’s premier motorsports facilities – Dover International Speedway, Gateway International Raceway, Memphis Motorsports Park and Nashville Superspeedway. The four facilities collectively host more than 500 motorsports events each season and serve major markets in the Northeast, Mid-West and Southern regions of the United States.

Affectionately known as the “Monster Mile,” Dover International Speedway is a one-mile, high-banked superspeedway in Dover, Del. Dover has been a fixture on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule since its inception in 1969 and will celebrate its 40th anniversary season in 2008. Coinciding with its special anniversary, Dover is also in the midst of the “Monster Makeover,” a multi-year capital improvement project that will bring new fan amenities and renovations to the 135,000-seat motorsports facility.

Dover is one of only seven racetracks to host a true NASCAR tripleheader consisting of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, scheduled for May 30 – June 1, 2008. Just 16 weeks separate the two race weekends in Dover as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series returns to the Monster Mile in the heat of the “Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup,” along with the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Series East on Sept. 19 – 21, 2008.

On the bank of the mighty Mississippi is Gateway International Raceway, an all-purpose racing facility hosting the NHRA O'Reilly Midwest Nationals on its 1/4-mile drag strip and the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on its 1.25-mile oval. Gateway is the site of more than 250 racing events throughout the season. The facility hosts everything from local drag racing and drifting to the United Black Drag Racers' Association's "Black Sunday," the largest African-American motorsports event in the country. Gateway boasts a challenging 1.6-mile road course utilized by the Sports Car Club of America and a number of local, regional, and national racing clubs. In 2008, the track will begin its 12th season of providing intense racing action for the thousands of fans in St. Louis and the surrounding areas.

Just minutes from Graceland and world-famous Beale Street, Memphis Motorsports Park is one of the nation’s most versatile racing facilities. The multi-track complex features a 3/4-mile NASCAR oval and a 1/4-mile NHRA championship drag strip. After celebrating both the 20th anniversary of the O’Reilly NHRA Mid-South Nationals and the 10th anniversary of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O’Reilly 200 in 2007, the track observes another milestone in 2008 with the 10th annual running of the NASCAR Nationwide Series. The Major League of Monster Trucks will return to Memphis in 2008 after a successful inaugural event last year. The facility also includes a 1.77-mile road course and annually hosts more than 200 events at its three distinct tracks within the complex. Located in the “Home of the Blues, Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Memphis Motorsports Park continues to excel as a sports entertainment destination and is consistently ranked as one of Tennessee’s Top 10 Attractions by the Tennessee Department of Tourist Development.

Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn., houses a 1.33-mile, fully lighted, “D” shaped, concrete track and grandstands with future capabilities of accommodating more than 150,000 fans. The facility also boasts a 1.8-mile road course that is host to numerous motorcycle and road course events. Built by Dover Motorsports, Inc. in April 2001, Nashville Superspeedway continues to provide “Music City, U.S.A.” with top-notch IRL IndyCar Series, NASCAR Nationwide Series, and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racing events. The Major League of Monster Trucks was added to the schedule in 2007 and will return to Nashville Superspeedway in 2008.

From the time the green flag waves on the Dover Motorsports season at Nashville Superspeedway on March 22, 2008 until the checkered flag falls at Memphis Motorsports Park on October 25, 2008, hundreds of thousands of racing aficionados will enter the grandstands and experience great racing at four of the finest motorsports facilities in the country.