Homestead Miami Speedway

The old saying, "it's an ill wind that blows no good," could be appropriately applied to Homestead-Miami Speedway. In the wake of Hurricane Andrew in August, 1992, South Florida racing promoter Ralph Sanchez began organizing construction of the region's first major-league motorsports facility as part of the reconstruction of the devastated Homestead community. Ground-breaking took place the following August and on Aug. 24, 1993, the first event, a NASCAR Xfinity Series race, was won by Dale Jarrett.

Longtime host to NASCARs season finale for the top three series, the 1.5-mile variable-banked Homestead-Miami oval has also hosted Indycar and IMSA events. SCCA amateur races and CSS motorcycle races also take place on the road circuit.

With more than a thousand palm trees and a Caribbean color scheme, the facility projects a South Beach flavor that distinguishes Homestead-Miami from other major race tracks in America. It took a while longer to get the right combination for the racing surface. In its first iteration, the track had four separate low-banked corners - that configuration failed to promote good racing, and unfortunately also provided bad crash angles. Widening the aprons failed to correct either of these problems.

A major reconfiguration of the track during the summer of 1997 brought a more conventional layout - sweeping 180-degree corners at either end of the oval. Close, but still no cigar. But the most recent work on the track, during which the track assumed variable banking - up to 20 degrees in the corners, flattening to 3 degrees on the straightaways - has done the trick. Everyone agrees, at Homestead-Miami, the beauty is now more than skin deep.