Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

As Capitol Raceway is my local track, it would be interesting to see if they could hold one of the major events with facility improvements.

Location:
Odenton (Crofton/Gambrills) Maryland, off MD-3 / Crain Hwy (Commercial four-lane dual carriageway)

Travel Distance:
Baltimore (23mi) Columbia (24mi), Silver Spring (27mi), Washington DC (27mi) Wilmington (88mi) Philadelphia (119mi) Richmond (136mi)

Staging lanes: almost 4000 linear feet

Track width: 50 ft

Shutdown: 1/4: 2600 feet, 1000: 2900 ft, 1/8 3200ft

Usable/convertible pit space: around 6-7 acres

Seating: Roughly 1500 currently, with room for expansion or temporary stands.

On-site parking: unknown

Noise issues: Somewhat better than Englishtown. Immediately surrounded by woods/industry/a quarry and scattered single-house wooded lots. There is a shopping center at 3500 feet from the starting line and two townhouse complexes at 1700 feet. Dense housing is 4-5000 feet away. The track is located on a hill above the built-up area.

Off-track support: A motel, and many restaurant, fuel, and shopping opportunities within a mile. At least 25-50 hotels within 30 minutes.

(Data estimates from Google Maps)

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

I stopped at Capitol on my way to MIR not long after they reopened a few years ago (2021). Really cool track, they had some interesting...processes...at the time. Fairly large facility, decent length shutdown, plus it's uphill. When I was there, they were using some funky portable timing system...Race America. It was giving me weird incremental times. Hopefully that is gone. I didn't have any problems with traction, they seemed to be using a good bit of glue.

The traffic on Route 3 can be downright ridiculous. If you don't know where you're going and miss the turn, you will play hell getting your rig turned around. It wasn't bad late at night leaving, but getting there on a Friday afternoon was interesting.

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

I dig it. It's an 8 hour drive for me with no traffic, but I could use a good excuse to see a new race track.

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

Bellows Falls VT (426 miles of mostly miserable traffic)

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

Capitol would not do well with an IHRA race there. It is pretty much a test tune/grudge race track no, meaning they run a pretty loose program,Like the other fellow said it is in a heavily congested area and traffic can be a problem.

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

The ghetto crowd

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

They sometimes run no-prep races in the reverse direction starting on the top end.

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

I found an event flyer from the days when 7's and 8's were good for a Funny Car. I haven't seen any pictures of the track itself from the 70's.

https://i.imgur.com/v0iCJi4.jpeg

Re: Capitol Raceway for an IHRA national event?
 

Was there a long time ago, once. Never a reason for me to go back and a number of reasons not to. And it's not far for me.

MIR would be a better choice for the Mid Atlantic area.