 The Maverick Late Models get...  The Maverick Late Models get off to a good start in front of a sold-out crowd at Rocky Mountain Raceways. |
 When the boys from the NASCAR...  When the boys from the NASCAR Winston West Series come to RMR, there is not a seat available in the house. Here, 2000 NWWS Champion Brendan Gaughan (16) pushes his way through the pack. |
 Two tires and a splash of...  Two tires and a splash of fuelNWWS Pit crews prepare to take care of their drivers on the next pit stop. |
 Rocky the Racing Racoon revs...  Rocky the Racing Racoon revs up the crowd for some action at Rocky Mountain Raceways. |
 The PPG Modifieds are the...  The PPG Modifieds are the featured class at RMR. Oval-track action takes place every Saturday, while the dragstrip is used on Friday nights. |
Nestled in the valley of the Wasatch Mountains of Utah is a relatively new racetrack that caters to just about all types of asphalt racing. Sure, when we think of Utah, we think of the storied history of the Bonneville Salt Flatsland speed records broken by the second on the flat, salty terrain. However, when you want to see some great oval track racing, or even drag racing, Rocky Mountain Raceways near Salt Lake City is the place to be.
Automotive racing enthusiast Spencer Young purchased what was once Bonneville Raceway in the winter of 1996. By late May of 1997 he had successfully bulldozed the old track and rebuilt a state-of-the-art facility on more than 82 acres that has often been compared to Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California. The facility features a 3/8-mile progressively banked asphalt, NASCAR-sanctioned oval track.
The oval track is extremely smooth, extremely fast, and is a good-quality two-groove track, says Doug Binstock, general manager. The progression of the banking starts at five degrees in the straightaways; it is seven degrees on the bottom of the corners and goes up to 11 degrees on the top.
The track also contains a quarter-mile dragstrip sanctioned by the NHRA, glass VIP suites, concrete grandstands, and television-quality track lighting. Along with the oval and dragstrip, Rocky Mountain Raceways also boasts one of the few figure-eight tracks in the United States. In fact, Rocky Mountain Race-ways is the only track to host a figure-eight Monster truck show.
Every weekend the track pulls in about 4,000 spectators for races at both the oval track and the dragstrip. We alternate every other Friday night on the dragstrip with street-legal racing and Summit ET racing, says Callie Birdsall, director of public relations. Every Saturday we have oval track racing with our featured class, the PPG Modifieds. The Modifieds and the Super Stocks run just about every week.
Along with those classes, the track also hosts USAC Western States Sprint Cars, Late Models, and the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest touring series. And dont forget about the figure-eight trains.
The crowd loves the trains, exclaims Birdsall. The figure-eight trains feature three cars chained together; the first car in line has the steering capabilities and the engine, while the last car has the brakes.
Rocky Mountain Raceway also hosts the NHRA divisionals drag race, he continues. This is a national race for points, and it draws about 300 to 400 different entry cars. The raceway set its first 300 mph on the quarter-mile dragstrip with Bob Vandergriff Jr.
We also host Top Fuel jets, motorcycles, blown alcohol, basically the whole gamut, says Binstock.
As for the oval track, the 6,000 seating capacity grandstands are full when the NASCAR Winston West Series comes to town. This is our biggest oval event, Binstock says. We also get a great crowd with the USAC sprint cars. Rocky Mountain Raceways runs one of the largest USAC shows in the country. We get great car counts.
Track Facts
3/8-mile progressively banked asphalt oval
¼-mile dragstrip
Figure-eight track