Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 10, 1995 TAG: 9508100061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: HOMESTEAD, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
The 1 1/2-mile track at the Homestead Motorsports Complex will open the weekend of Nov.3 with the Jiffy Lube Miami 300, the season-ending race for NASCAR's Busch Grand National Series.
The City of Homestead is building and will own the $59 million speedway.
On one side of the oval, a media horde, politicians, representatives from cigarette and tire companies, a couple of race car drivers, a few racing groupies and a sprinkling of millionaires gathered under an awning atop one of the infield buildings and sipped champagne and ate doughnuts.
Chad Little of Charlotte, N.C., then christened the track when turned a few laps at a poke-along speed of 160 mph.
Little, drenched in sweat and looking like he just had a close encounter with a microwave, finished his inaugural laps and climbed out to field questions from the media. The temperature was a sweltering 93 degrees, the heat index 115 degrees.
Little, who races a Ford and is in second place in NASCAR's Busch Grand National Series standings behind Johnny Benson, said the track was ``very, very smooth'' and that the ``transition going around the turns is very, very nice.''
He also said it is going to require a lot of braking in comparison to other tracks, such as Charlotte Motor Speedway.
The track was designed to be slower than Charlotte and Daytona, to keep racing from heading for a high-speed disaster, said Ralph Sanchez, the Miami millionaire who came up with the idea for the speedway, complete with an interior road course and a drag-racing strip, eight years ago.
Sanchez said that he wanted a fast track, but with stock-car speeds now reaching 210 mph, drivers lobbied for a slower one. Sanchez said Emerson Fittipaldi, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner and South Florida resident, persuaded him to build the slower track.
``Fittipaldi designed this track,'' Sanchez said.
Fittipaldi took a spin around the track in a Mercedes-Benz convertible packed with politicians.
``I race all over the world, and we should be very proud of this track,'' said the native Brazilian.
For Sanchez, the bean field near Homestead about 35 miles south of Miami is his field of dreams.
A Cuban who moved to Miami in 1961 at 13, he became wealthy in the construction business and generated the Miami Grand Prix in 1983. The race, run through the streets of downtown Miami, was rained out that first year, and Sanchez lost $1.2 million.
Sanchez was in an orphanage after he came to Miami as a child. Monsignor Bryan Walsh, who had been in charge of that orphanage, blessed the track with a prayer during Tuesday's ceremonies.
Among those on hand was multimillionaire Wayne Huizenga. He took a bow when he was thanked by Sanchez for backing a $20 million loan ``with a phone call and a handshake'' to complete the speedway.
Huizenga is the owner of the Florida Marlins baseball team, the Miami Dolphins football team and the Florida Panthers hockey team.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB