History
In the late 1940s, the dirt-surfaced Breckenridge Oval opened on the site. In 1952, the oval was shortened and paved as a 1/4 mile asphalt oval, and the facility was renamed Speedway Park. The oval had seating for 8,000.
In 1967, the 1/4 mile drag strip opened, and had a full length of 4,350 feet (1,326 m). The following year in 1968, the road course opened in time for the first Can-Am race. Over the years, the facility also hosted Formula Atlantic, Formula 1600, Formula 5000, Trans-Am, as well as NHRA-sanctioned drag racing.
Qualico Developments was the track owner in the latter years, and closed the track in 1982 to convert the land to housing. Edmonton would be without any form of professional racing until Capital City Raceway Park opened in 1991.
David Cronenberg's 1979 movie Fast Company was primarily filmed at Edmonton International Speedway.
Read more about this topic: Edmonton International Speedway
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Both place and time were changed, and I dwelt nearer to those parts of the universe and to those eras in history which had most attracted me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Anything in history or nature that can be described as changing steadily can be seen as heading toward catastrophe.”
—Susan Sontag (b. 1933)