Mickey's racetrack heading nowhere fast
Five years ago this month, the checkered flag fell for winner Robbie Buhl at the Delphi Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway.
The race was over, but so was racing at the track, though no one knew it at the time.
In June of 2000, the Indy Racing League announced that it would not return to the track that it built on Disney property, carved out of a piece of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. The problem: Disney and the Indy Racing League couldn't agree on a suitable race date. Disney wanted to continue with the January race because this is a relatively quiet time at the park, and the point of the race was to fill up hotel rooms.
The Indy Racing League teams found the January date unworkable. The regular IRL season ends in October and doesn't start again until March, and having to gear up for one race midway through the off-season was an expensive distraction. Some teams didn't have next season's cars ready, and had to run leftovers from the previous year.
It was the same thing with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, which made a few visits to the track. Everyone wanted to race in Orlando, but not in January.
A shame, says Eddie Cheever, former IRL driver and current team owner, and winner of the 1998 Indianapolis 500. "It's a great track," Cheever says. "Of course, I'm biased -- I live in Orlando, and I won two races at the track, and should have won three." Cheever won in 1997, beating future NASCAR champ Tony Stewart, and again in 1999. He was leading on lap 199 of the 200-lap race in 2000 when modified driver Doug Didero, a rookie in the IRL and several laps behind, blocked Cheever long enough for Buhl to squeeze by.
Disney World Speedway -- nicknamed the "Mickyard," after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's "Brickyard" -- was completed in just 10 months at a bargain-basement cost of $6 million. It was dedicated in November 1995, with an appearance by Cheever, former Indy 500 champ Arie Luyendyk and several other drivers. The one-mile oval track is a "trioval," like the bigger Daytona International Speedway -- rather than a simple oval, a trioval is more of a streamlined triangle.
Disney and the IRL saved money by erecting temporary aluminum grandstands holding 51,072 fans, rather than building permanent seating, and by eliminating a tunnel that would allow for infield access during a race. A narrow, one-vehicle tunnel was added after that first IRL race.
Despite the cost-cutting, the track itself is a gem -- a very smooth, very challenging circuit. The one-mile length -- the same as Phoenix International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, North Carolina Speedway, New Hampshire International Speedway and Pikes Peak International Raceway -- allows for ample speed, but up-close action.
It could also be brutal. Accidents at Disney World were responsible for multiple serious injuries, the worst being the January 2000 testing crash of IRL driver Sam Schmidt, then 35, who was paralyzed from the chest down.
"It's a complex track. There are three distinct turns. Turn one, you have to slow down a lot to make it. Turn two, there's a really challenging change in camber. Turn three you could take flat-out," if you're brave enough, Cheever says. "To pass a car, you really had to work on them for several laps."
Another fan of the track is Ron Hornaday, former NASCAR Craftsman Truck champion, who won the Chevy Tracks Challenge 200 at Disney World in 1998. Hornaday was back at the speedway for a publicity stop last month, in relation to the NASCAR Busch Series awards banquet, which took place in Orlando. "It's a great track," Hornaday says. "It reminds me a little of Nazareth" -- a one-mile oval in Pennsylvania -- "but Disney has its own personality. It really makes you work. I loved it -- we could race there one day, then take the kids to Disney World the next day. I wish we could go back."
That seems unlikely. Although the track and infield are in near-perfect shape, those temporary grandstands are gone, apparently for good. The IRL already is racing twice in Florida this year -- March 6 at the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and April 3 on the street course in St. Petersburg, the first ever non-oval race for the IRL. The NASCAR Craftsman truck series opens its season at Daytona, ends it at Homestead. Few series are looking for more places to race in Florida.
But the fact that Disney has invested in upgrading the Richard Petty Driving Experience facilities suggests that the track, at least, will be around for a while.
That's a good thing. But a racetrack with no racing -- well, it's a little sad.
Five years ago this month, the checkered flag fell for winner Robbie Buhl at the Delphi Indy 200 at Walt Disney World Speedway.
The race was over, but so was racing at the track, though no one knew it at the time.
In June of 2000, the Indy Racing League announced that it would not return to the track that it built on Disney property, carved out of a piece of the Magic Kingdom parking lot. The problem: Disney and the Indy Racing League couldn't agree on a suitable race date. Disney wanted to continue with the January race because this is a relatively quiet time at the park, and the point of the race was to fill up hotel rooms.
The Indy Racing League teams found the January date unworkable. The regular IRL season ends in October and doesn't start again until March, and having to gear up for one race midway through the off-season was an expensive distraction. Some teams didn't have next season's cars ready, and had to run leftovers from the previous year.
It was the same thing with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck series, which made a few visits to the track. Everyone wanted to race in Orlando, but not in January.
A shame, says Eddie Cheever, former IRL driver and current team owner, and winner of the 1998 Indianapolis 500. "It's a great track," Cheever says. "Of course, I'm biased -- I live in Orlando, and I won two races at the track, and should have won three." Cheever won in 1997, beating future NASCAR champ Tony Stewart, and again in 1999. He was leading on lap 199 of the 200-lap race in 2000 when modified driver Doug Didero, a rookie in the IRL and several laps behind, blocked Cheever long enough for Buhl to squeeze by.
Disney World Speedway -- nicknamed the "Mickyard," after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's "Brickyard" -- was completed in just 10 months at a bargain-basement cost of $6 million. It was dedicated in November 1995, with an appearance by Cheever, former Indy 500 champ Arie Luyendyk and several other drivers. The one-mile oval track is a "trioval," like the bigger Daytona International Speedway -- rather than a simple oval, a trioval is more of a streamlined triangle.
Disney and the IRL saved money by erecting temporary aluminum grandstands holding 51,072 fans, rather than building permanent seating, and by eliminating a tunnel that would allow for infield access during a race. A narrow, one-vehicle tunnel was added after that first IRL race.
Despite the cost-cutting, the track itself is a gem -- a very smooth, very challenging circuit. The one-mile length -- the same as Phoenix International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, North Carolina Speedway, New Hampshire International Speedway and Pikes Peak International Raceway -- allows for ample speed, but up-close action.
It could also be brutal. Accidents at Disney World were responsible for multiple serious injuries, the worst being the January 2000 testing crash of IRL driver Sam Schmidt, then 35, who was paralyzed from the chest down.
"It's a complex track. There are three distinct turns. Turn one, you have to slow down a lot to make it. Turn two, there's a really challenging change in camber. Turn three you could take flat-out," if you're brave enough, Cheever says. "To pass a car, you really had to work on them for several laps."
Another fan of the track is Ron Hornaday, former NASCAR Craftsman Truck champion, who won the Chevy Tracks Challenge 200 at Disney World in 1998. Hornaday was back at the speedway for a publicity stop last month, in relation to the NASCAR Busch Series awards banquet, which took place in Orlando. "It's a great track," Hornaday says. "It reminds me a little of Nazareth" -- a one-mile oval in Pennsylvania -- "but Disney has its own personality. It really makes you work. I loved it -- we could race there one day, then take the kids to Disney World the next day. I wish we could go back."
That seems unlikely. Although the track and infield are in near-perfect shape, those temporary grandstands are gone, apparently for good. The IRL already is racing twice in Florida this year -- March 6 at the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway, and April 3 on the street course in St. Petersburg, the first ever non-oval race for the IRL. The NASCAR Craftsman truck series opens its season at Daytona, ends it at Homestead. Few series are looking for more places to race in Florida.
But the fact that Disney has invested in upgrading the Richard Petty Driving Experience facilities suggests that the track, at least, will be around for a while.
That's a good thing. But a racetrack with no racing -- well, it's a little sad.
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