Charlotte racetrack celebrates season 50

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — It took Bruton Smith more than a year to build his first race track, a frustrating project filled with financing issues, weather delays and too many setbacks to count.

When the gates finally opened at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the fledgling track operator worked 48 hours straight to prepare for the June 19, 1960, inaugural race.

Smith desperately needed the event to reach the halfway point — the mark that made it an official race and ensured he wouldn’t have to issue any refunds — and was eager to stage an exciting show.

At the critical 300-mile mark of the World 600, his job was done.

“Once we got past the halfway point, I went to sleep. I really did,” Smith said. “I slept the rest of the race on a stool because I felt such relief. We couldn’t afford to give the money back, and getting to that point had been such a drawn out effort to build this speedway. Trials and tribulations you would not believe.”

That was 50 years ago, when Smith simply wanted to introduce stock car racing to the public through an impressive 1.5-mile speedway.

He had no idea he had created a race that would grow into one of the crown jewels of the NASCAR schedule.

He’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of his first race today, one of the biggest days in motorsports. The Indianapolis 500 and Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix precede the race now known as the Coca-Cola 600 at the renamed Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

It’s the longest race on the schedule and after the grueling 600 miles in conditions that change dramatically from the daytime start to the nighttime finish four-plus hours later.

The winner will claim the lion’s share of the record $6.7 million purse and a 225-pound crystal and marble trophy that commemorates the 50 years of racing at LMS.

More important, though, is the title as Coca-Cola 600 winner.

“To me the Daytona 500, the Southern 500, the Coke 600 and the Brickyard 400 are the four big races,” veteran Jeff Burton said. “I like going back and looking at the old pictures.

“This is a really, really cool race track, a difficult race track and it keeps changing. The history of it is special. That to me makes it one of the crown jewels.”

A two-time Coca-Cola 600 winner, Burton treasures his 1999 victory over Bobby Labonte that many race fans didn’t have a chance to properly enjoy.

“It was an incredible race that TV did no justice to whatsoever,” Burton said. “They went away on break. We had a race off pit road and we passed each other like three times and they never showed it. It was a great race.”

Jeff Gordon earned the first of his 82 career victories in the 1994 running of the race, beating Rusty Wallace and shedding tears of joy in Victory Lane.

On his first trip into North Carolina several years earlier, he made a detour after landing at the Charlotte airport to pass the track on his way to a driving school in Rockingham.

“I was blown away,” Gordon said. “I never even went inside. I just saw it from the outside and thought it was incredible. I couldn’t wait to drive a stock car and couldn’t wait to get to Lowe’s Motor Speedway.”