Could this be Iowa Speedway’s Lou Gehrig-Wally Pipp moment?
Wally once sat out a 1925 Yankees game and was replaced at first base by Lou, who death-gripped the position for 14 years without missing a single game.
This spot on the schedule was supposed to go to Montreal, which would give NASCAR its coveted international presence. But it didn’t work out for typical reasons — details, details, details.
Instead, NASCAR plugged Iowa into the 2024 schedule — not many details to iron out, since NASCAR owns the track. Delivering a quality race would go a long way in keeping Iowa in play for future scheduling.
Iowa Speedway is surrounded by miles of cornfields, but you probably assumed that, given the state’s reputation for being “all ears.” But there might be some other things you didn’t know about the unique facility in Newton, Iowa.
∎ Though new to the Cup Series, Iowa Speedway has been host to NASCAR’s Xfinity and Truck Series in recent years. Of the four Xfinity races there — two in both 2018 and ’19 — Chase Briscoe won one and Christopher Bell won two. The IndyCar Series has raced at Iowa since 2007.
∎ Its 30,000-seat capacity is small by Cup Series standards, so it was no big surprise that the inaugural Cup race was an announced sellout weeks ago. So was the Saturday Xfinity race, by the way.
∎ Iowa Speedway is NASCAR’s only host track measuring seven-eighths of a mile (0.875). The turns on the D-shaped oval are banked at 12-to-14 degrees.
∎ Not sure why no one has put this issue to rest, but IndyCar actually lists Iowa Speedway at .894 miles, about 35 yards longer than NASCAR’s measurement.
∎ Financial issues plagued the speedway through much of its early years, and in 2013 NASCAR added Iowa Speedway to its track portfolio at the relatively bargain-bin price of $10 million.
∎ For the gray-beards, Newton might occupy a nook in the deep recesses of the memory bank. Newton is where the small plane carrying Rocky Marciano crashed in 1969. The champ was on his way to an event in Des Moines, flying from Chicago, where earlier that evening he had dinner with STP chief Andy Granatelli.
∎ On a happier aeronautical note, Newton was home to the first “business aircraft,” a Travel Air 6000 owned by washing machine magnate Harry Ogg. In 1929, Ogg outfitted the plane with hookups for four washers and would travel the Midwest demonstrating his goods. His Automatic Washing Machine Company would eventually become Maytag and serve as the main economic driver in Newton for generations.
∎ Iowa Speedway also features a nine-turn, 1.3-mile road course that was host to one sports-car event, in 2007.
∎ While Des Moines is Iowa’s most populated city, at just over 213,000 residents, Newton ranks 30th with just under 15,700, just one big family reunion behind No. 29 Indianola.
∎ Maytag employed about 1,800 in the small town when it was bought by Whirlpool, which shut down the last manufacturing plant in 2007. Maytag Dairy Farms, which started producing its famed blue cheese wheels in 1941, remains in Newton.
∎ The speedway sits south of downtown Newton, next to the municipal airport and a stone’s throw from a Love’s Travel Stop. I-80 runs past Newton — it’s 30 minutes west to Des Moines, four hours east to Chicago.
