In 1985, Emmett "Buddy" Jobe bought Phoenix International Raceway and its surrounding property from Dennis Wood as a land investment.
He began making improvements with a goal of luring NASCAR's elite, the Winston Cup Series.
If you build it, they will come, he believed.
In April 1987, PIR's main grandstand was struck by lightning. Most of it burned to the ground.
But with work starting on a three-story suite along Turn 1 and reconstruction of the main grandstands, along with plans to build a $12.8 million, five-lane bridge over the Gila River at 115th Avenue to improve traffic flow, NASCAR came knocking.
In July 1987, NASCAR awarded PIR a Winston Cup Series race, setting Nov. 6, 1988, for the inaugural stop at the one-mile oval.
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But Phoenix was Indy country, where racers named Andretti, Unser and Foyt were revered. Indy-style cars were what opened the track in 1964, and were firmly entrenched as favorites.
Would fans watch Dale Earnhardt, Bill Elliott, Rusty Wallace and Terry Labonte compete in stock cars?
A crowd of 60,000 — the most ever for a race in Arizona at the time — showed up for that first race, won by Wisconsin's Alan Kulwicki.
The previous attendance record was 45,000, set by the Indy race that spring.
That successful first race helped plant the roots for NASCAR's westward movement.
And it was the first chapter of two decades of memorable NASCAR Cup racing in the area.
Time line
● July 1987 — NASCAR announces that PIR has been awarded an annual Winston Cup race.
● Nov. 6, 1988 — Alan Kulwicki wins the inaugural Checker 500 before 60,000 fans.
● Oct. 28, 1995 — Trucks Series comes to PIR.
● Oct. 29, 1995 — Attendance breaks 100,000 for first time as Ricky Rudd wins Winston Cup race.
● April 1997 — International Speedway Corp. purchases PIR from Emmett "Buddy" Jobe for $46.1 million, plus tax considerations that push the deal to more than $60 million.
● Nov. 6, 1999 — Busch Series comes to PIR.
● Summer 2003 — Turn 2 is widened and Turn 4 is repaved.
● May 14, 2004 — NASCAR announces realignment of 2005 schedule, which adds a second race at Phoenix, to be run on April 23, 2005.
● March 30, 2005 — PIR flips on its new $6 million lighting system for a test, with NASCAR Nextel Cup Series cars, on loan from the Richard Petty Driving Experience, on the track.
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