Five Flags Speedway

Five Flags Speedway is a paved half mile (0.8 km) auto racing oval in Pensacola, Florida.[1] It opened in 1953 and is located on Pine Forest Road.[2] It is christened after the nickname of Pensacola—“City of Five Flags.”[3]

It runs several local classes during the regular racing season (March – October). These classes include Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Super Stocks, Sportsman, and Bombers. The races are usual held on Friday nights bi-weekly. The track has also hosted many regional touring series.[4][5]

Five Flags hosted a Grand National (now Sprint Cup) race the year that the track opened. The race was won by Herb Thomas driving his Fabulous Hudson Hornet.[2][4] Other national tours that it has hosted included ARCA races from 1992 to 1996, an ASA date in 2002, and the CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series from 2001 to 2003.[4]

The track’s signature event is the Snowball Derby, run every December since 1968.[6][7] ESPN said that the "Snowball Derby is one of the premier late-model stock-car races in the country, attracting some of the top drivers."[8]

Due to the track lay-out and the highly banked turns, Five Flags is an extremely fast track. The current track record for Super Late Models of 16.335 seconds was set by Cale Gale in 2010 Snowball Derby qualifying.[9]

Five Flags is also well known for having an abrasive surface that quickly wears tires. This characteristic rewards drivers who do not abuse their tires and is considered by many to be part of the appeal of the track.[10]

Coordinates: 30°30′14″N 87°18′30″W / 30.50389°N 87.30833°W / 30.50389; -87.30833

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. 1 2 https://web.archive.org/web/20100129161703/http://5flagsspeedway.com/trackhistory.php. Archived from the original on January 29, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ↑ Archived December 1, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 3 "NASCAR results at Five Flags Speedway". Racing Reference. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  5. ↑ Archived March 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "5 Flags Speedway". 5 Flags Speedway. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20101125075348/http://5flagsspeedway.com/sbpastwinners.php. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ Bernstein, Viv. "Danica Patrick's possible impact hard to gauge". ESPN. Retrieved July 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Gale wins pole for DErby". Onj.com. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  10. ↑ Archived July 16, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
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