Fuji From

The Japan NASCAR Company, established in December 1963, initiated the project after entering an agreement with NASCAR founder Bill France in January 1964 to build a 2.5-mile high-banked superspeedway. Oyama at the foot of Mount Fuji was selected as the site, and Charles Moneypenny, designer of Daytona International Speedway, was invited to oversee the layout. Moneypenny quickly concluded that the steep terrain was unsuitable for a superspeedway, and Stirling Moss was engaged as a consultant. Inspecting the site in August 1964, Moss dismissed a Daytona-style oval as impractical and proposed a European-style road course instead.

Following funding problems, management was restructured in January 1965, the NASCAR agreement was terminated, and the company was renamed Fuji International Speedway Corporation. The project continued as a road course, but retained one characteristic of the original superspeedway concept: a 30-degree banked first turn. Mitsubishi Estate stepped in to take over management as construction neared completion in October 1965, and the circuit opened in January 1966.

The banked turn proved lethal in practice. Vic Elford, who tested at Fuji in 1969 for Toyota, described the circuit's signature hazard: cars crested a blind hill at nearly 200 mph before dropping into the banking, unlike circuits such as Daytona or Montlhery where cars climb into the banking. The death toll from this corner was, in Elford's words, "horrendous," and large prototype cars were subsequently banned in Japan, preventing Toyota and Nissan from competing in CanAm.

In 1966 and 1967, the circuit hosted the Japanese Motorcycle Grand Prix as the final round of the FIM Road Racing World Championship. The Honda works team declined to participate in 1966 due to safety concerns; in 1967 the race was moved to a shorter 4.3 km layout bypassing the banked section. In 1966, a USAC Indy Car non-championship race was held at the circuit, won by Jackie Stewart.

A fatal accident in 1974 in which drivers Hiroshi Kazato and Seiichi Suzuki were both killed in a fiery crash on the Daiichi banking prompted reconstruction. A new track section was inserted to bypass the banking, producing a 4.359 km layout that also eliminated five other fast corners.

The circuit brought Formula One to Japan for the first time in October 1976, providing the setting for a climactic World Championship battle between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. Racing in heavy rain, Lauda withdrew citing the dangerous conditions while Hunt finished third, scoring enough points to win the Drivers' Championship by one point. Mario Andretti won the race itself. The following year, 1977, Gilles Villeneuve was involved in a crash that killed two spectators, prompting Formula One to leave Fuji Speedway. When Japan returned to the F1 calendar a decade later, the race went to Suzuka.

Through the 1980s and 1990s, Fuji remained a significant venue for the FIA World Sportscar Championship, which visited between 1982 and 1988, and for Japanese national series. Two chicanes were added to manage speeds: one after the first hairpin, one at the entry to the wide 300R final turn. The main straight nonetheless remained approximately 1.5 km, one of the longest in all of motorsport.

The drag strip aspect of the facility was also used periodically — NHRA exhibitions ran in 1989, and in 1993 drag racing legend Shirley Muldowney ran a 5.30 on the quarter-mile at Fuji.

Toyota acquired a majority interest in the track from Mitsubishi Estate in autumn 2000 as part of its expanding motor racing ambitions.

In 2003 the circuit closed for a major redesign by Hermann Tilke. The renovated track reopened on April 10, 2005, and hosted its first Formula One race in 29 years on September 30, 2007. In circumstances echoing the 1976 Grand Prix, the race ran in heavy rain and mist; the opening 19 laps were run under the safety car before Lewis Hamilton took victory. The 2008 Japanese Grand Prix was also held at Fuji, with attendance capped at 110,000 (down from 140,000 in 2007) and spectator facilities improved in response to significant logistical problems the previous year. After 2008, the Japanese Grand Prix returned permanently to Suzuka.

The current 4.563 km layout, in use since 2005, comprises twelve corners. The pit straight measures 1.475 km — one of the longest in international motorsport — and feeds into a tight first turn designated TGR Corner (27R). Signature corners include the Coca-Cola Corner, Advan Corner, and the sweeping 300R, plus a Dunlop hairpin that varies in configuration between the full circuit and shorter GT course layouts.

Regular events include the Super GT Fuji 500 km race on Golden Week in May, the FIA World Endurance Championship 6 Hours of Fuji in September, Super Formula rounds, and the Super Taikyu 24-hour race. The circuit has hosted the D1 Grand Prix drifting series since 2003, uniquely running in reverse direction at Fuji because circuit designer Keiichi Tsuchiya felt the standard layout reduced entry speeds for drift cars.

In 2022, Toyota announced the Fuji Motorsports Forest project, a broader redevelopment of the surrounding area including the Fuji Speedway Hotel (operated under the Hyatt brand) and the Fuji Motorsports Museum, both opened in October 2022.

During the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics (held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Fuji Speedway hosted the road cycling events. Richard Carapaz won the men's road race, Anna Kiesenhofer took the women's road race in a surprise result, and Primoz Roglic and Annemiek van Vleuten won the respective time trials.

Fuji Speedway has been represented in numerous racing games and simulators, including Gran Turismo 4 through Gran Turismo 7, Project CARS 2, iRacing (paid DLC), TOCA Race Driver, Grid Legends, and the classic arcade title Pole Position and its sequel Pole Position II.