Track Profile: Michigan International Speedway

The ARCA Menards Series’ annual visit to Michigan International Speedway never fails to deliver what such a massive venue promises: pure, unapologetic speed.

Located in Brooklyn, Michigan, on more than 1,400 acres in the Irish Hills of the southeastern part of the state, the two-mile asphalt oval with its wide surface and steep corner banking almost always produces the highest average speed among tracks on the series’ schedule.

The ARCA Menards Series ran its first pair of races at Michigan in 1980 before a decade-long hiatus. The series returned in 1990 and has raced at Michigan at least once a year every season since. The 2021 event will mark the track’s 40th ARCA Menards Series race.

Below is everything to know about Michigan International Speedway, a staple on the ARCA schedule.

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Track Profile: Michigan International Speedway

Michigan International Speedway’s D-shaped oval was designed by Charles Moneypenny, the same man who designed the similarly configured but larger and higher-banked Daytona International Speedway several years prior.

Michigan’s original layout as it was completed in 1968 included infield and exterior roads, which could be combined to form a 3.1-mile road course or divided into separate, 1.9-mile interior/exterior road courses. These road courses were designed by Formula One great Stirling Moss and are still used on a limited basis for passenger car testing by area law enforcement agencies.

Michigan’s last interior road course race was held in 1984, and the last time the exterior road course was used was in 1973.

 

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In 1973, entrepreneur and racer Roger Penske purchased the speedway and put it through a series of improvements. Penske continued to invest in Michigan for more than 25 years before International Speedway Corp. purchased Penske Motorsports, Inc.

The track’s evolution did not stop there. In 2000, the venue unveiled a new logo and announced it would add “International” back to its name. (It had been changed to Michigan Speedway in 1996 to align itself with three other Penske-owned facilities: California, Nazareth and North Carolina.)

In 2010, Michigan unveiled its new suite/media center building along pit road, which features state-of-the-art accommodations for its suite customers and visiting media members.

More about Michigan International Speedway.

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ARCA Menards Series races at Michigan International Speedway