Track in Washington makes sense financially

On Nov. 1, 1993, Roger Penske met with officials of Kaiser Ventures, Inc. in Detroit to discuss building California Speedway.

It was the first step toward bringing major-league auto racing back to southern California after the failed experiment that was Ontario Motor Speedway. And despite the initial optimism that the meeting engendered, there was plenty of road left to hoe once the decision was made to build the 2-mile oval track.

Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images

Greg Biffle

There is a lot of controversy regarding the construction of a new racetrack in Bremerton, Washington with many voicing their thoughts. From driver and Washington native Greg Biffle, to legend Richard Petty, to representatives from the state, everyone has an opinion.

• Biffle wants supporters in Washington to speak up
• Rep. Seaquist opposes ISC track deal, not NASCAR
• Petty, Biffle talk with Wash. lawmakers about racetrack

After that meeting, Penske and Kaiser had to wait nearly five months to make the announcement they were going to build California, and when they did, the first of many obstacles crept up: remediation of the land the speedway was going to sit on.

That's where the folks in Washington State find themselves right now: at the first of the hurdles Penske and Kaiser Ventures had to negotiate through to get a new superspeedway built.

It wasn't until April 26, 1995 that the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors approved the construction project, and another six months passed before the California EPA Department of Toxic Substances Control approved Kaiser's remediation of the property, which was the site of an old Kaiser coke plant.

Coke is the raw material that keeps steel mills, like the one that sits across from the front gate at California, running smoothly. It was the environmental impact of the old plant that caused such difficulty in the first place in getting the ground prepared and the site ready to be worked.

It was June of 1997 before cars actually raced at California Speedway. The winner of the inaugural event was Ken Schrader, and ever since, California Speedway has been a staple of NASCAR's commitment to the West Coast motorsports scene.

International Speedway Corp. purchased Penske Speedways in 1999, and California Speedway changed hands to its current owners.

In 2006, it was announced that California Speedway brought $220 million to the local economy.

The difference between Penske's building of California Speedway and ISC's proposed $368 million track in Bremerton, Wash. is one of perception on the one hand and execution on the other.

Penske Speedways consisted of Michigan International Speedway and Pennsylvania International Raceway in Nazareth before building California. It later added partial ownership of North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham before merging with ISC. (Continued)