Pocono Raceway

In 1957, Racing, Inc. was formed by Pennsylvania fans who criticised the poor quality of racing facilities in the state. On April 6, 1962, the Pocono Record reported that the company, led by David Montgomery, had begun purchasing land near Blakeslee — over 1,025 acres at a price "in excess of $114,000" (adjusted for inflation, $1,213,366) — to build a facility initially known as the "Pocono Mountains International Raceway." The track layout was confirmed as a 2.5-mile oval. January 1963 saw the first events on an improvised circuit; organisers planned further races "every two to three weeks."

Developers began clearing land on November 9, 1964. By April 1965 plans had expanded to include a ¾-mile oval, a 3-mile road course using parts of the oval, a 3,740 ft dragstrip, and a 1.5-mile road course. Groundbreaking on the renamed Pocono International Raceway (PIR) took place on July 8, 1965, with an opening planned for September 5; rain pushed that back to spring 1966.

A $176,219 lien (adjusted for inflation, $1,748,635) was filed by contractor Schartz and Baker in December 1966 for alleged unpaid dues. Racing, Inc. disputed the claim and filed a counter-lawsuit; the lien was dismissed on August 23, 1967 and the lawsuit settled on May 25, 1968, both in Racing, Inc.'s favour. The legal battle halted all construction for nearly two years.

PIR officially opened on May 4, 1969, with a supermodified programme on the ¾-mile oval won by Jim Shampine. The event was marked by the track's first fatality: Troy Ruttman Jr. suffered a fractured skull after crashing during the feature event. The venue's short road course, measured at 1.8 miles, opened approximately four months later.

Montgomery resigned as CEO in late 1970. Joseph Mattioli — a former Philadelphia dentist who had helped finance the facility during construction — was named his replacement at the start of 1971. Paving of the 2.5-mile tri-oval was completed in late October 1970, with test runs conducted on November 2 by Jim McElreath, Jim Hurtubise, and Al Loquasto. Seating capacity was increased from 10,000 to "more than 69,000." According to a June 1971 interview, the entire facility cost $6 million (adjusted for inflation, $47,699,260).

An official ribbon-cutting ceremony for the tri-oval was held on June 19, 1971. The first race on the tri-oval was held on July 3, 1971, won by Mark Donohue in a 500-mile USAC-sanctioned event. PIR held its first major stock car race on September 25, 1971, a 500-mile USAC-sanctioned event won by Butch Hartman.

In 1973 the track's 2.8-mile road course held its first race. After USAC's stock car racing contract expired that year, the facility entered heavy financial turmoil. Mattioli considered selling the track but was persuaded otherwise by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., who gave him a business card carrying an inspirational quote from American politician Adlai Stevenson II. The venue hosted its first NASCAR Cup Series event on August 4, 1974, won by Richard Petty.

The main track in its current form measures 2.5 miles with 14° of banking in turn one, 8° in turn two, and 6° in turn three — the only NASCAR track with three turns. Designer and two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rodger Ward based each turn on an existing circuit: turn one on Trenton Speedway, turn two on Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and turn three on the Milwaukee Mile. The venue also features infield road course layouts.

In 1979, the track suffered multiple financial blows simultaneously: Schaefer Beer ended eight years of title sponsorship of the Pocono 500, numerous CART-affiliated drivers boycotted the USAC-sanctioned event, and the 1970s energy crisis deepened the downturn. PIR sued CART in an antitrust action for $6.3 million (adjusted for inflation, $27,947,043). The following year, Indianapolis Motor Speedway leased the venue for one year to help stabilise its finances.

After a chaotic 1981 Pocono 500 saw a further CART boycott, PIR filed a second lawsuit against the organisation for $9 million. In May 1982 CART settled out of court, agreeing to a five-year contract. By 1983, Mattioli declared the facility was no longer for sale, and later credited adding a second annual Cup Series weekend — encouraged by Bill France Sr. and Bill France Jr. — as having "saved our ass."

In 1984 the frontstretch and pit road were repaved alongside a new victory lane. By 1987 attendance and sponsorship had stabilised. In 1990 a beautification project added a concrete wall in the first and second turns, planted 500 trees, and improved the sewer system. Two new grandstands — 5,000 seats in 1991 and 5,100 seats in 1992 — were added. A $5 million, three-year improvement project completed in 1995 revamped the garages. In 1996 the tri-oval was fully repaved for the first time since its opening; the same year Mattioli declared in the Times Leader: "The raceway is in trust to my grandchildren, and that's written in stone." Seating additions of 15,000 and 17,000 seats were constructed in 1997 and 1999 respectively; the 1999 expansion also included a $7 million garage renovation. From 1990 to 2000, Mattioli spent an average of $3 million annually on the venue.

SAFER barriers were installed around the outside perimeter of the tri-oval in 2004 following Dale Earnhardt's death at the 2001 Daytona 500. After a near-miss in the 2010 Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 when Kasey Kahne's car almost cleared the barriers, more than 5,500 ft of SAFER barriers and 6,100 ft of catchfence were added from turn one to turn three.

In 2009, groundbreaking began on a 25-acre solar panel farm to power the track with alternative energy; it was completed the following year. Cracks in the third turn led to a 2008 repave ahead of that year's Pennsylvania 500, and the entire track was repaved again in 2012 ahead of the Pocono 400.

On August 5, 2011, Mattioli announced his retirement as CEO, succeeded by his grandson Brandon Igdalsky. In August 2017, Brandon resigned to take a role in NASCAR; his younger brother Nick was named CEO.

The track's second fatality occurred in 2015 when IndyCar driver Justin Wilson was struck in the head by a flying nose cone. Following that incident and a 2018 crash that paralysed driver Robert Wickens, IndyCar dropped the track from its schedule from 2020 onwards. Two years after IndyCar's departure, NASCAR dropped one of its two annual races beginning in 2022.

In August 2012, one fan was killed and nine others were injured when struck by lightning during a thunderstorm at the Pennsylvania 400.

Pocono's first major open-wheel event was the July 3, 1971, 500-mile USAC race on the tri-oval. CART took control of the event in 1982, but dropped the race from 1990 due to safety complaints. Open-wheel racing returned after a 22-year absence with the IndyCar Series in 2013, before departing again after 2019.

The track hosted annual Trans-Am Series races from 1975 to 1976 and annual IMSA GT Championship races from 1981 to 1985. Pocono Raceway currently hosts one annual NASCAR Cup Series race known as the Great American Getaway 400. In 2020, NASCAR ran its first multi-series tripleheader at the venue, with all three races on the same day following a rain delay to the Truck Series race.

In 1972, the venue hosted Concert 10, a two-day rock music festival with an estimated attendance of 200,000. Since 2022, Pocono Raceway has hosted the Elements Music Festival, an EDM music and arts festival.

This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.