Round 14: ABC Supply 500, Long Pond, PA. August 20-21, 2016.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 14: ABC Supply 500, Long Pond, PA. August 20-21, 2016.

Pocono Raceway, or the Tricky Trangle as it has become known, was founded by Joe 'Doc' Mattioli, a Philadelphia dentist turned successful property businessman. At first Pocono Raceway comprised a three-quarter mile oval and a drag strip, which later doubled as the main straight for the full, 2.5 mile 'tri-oval'. A 1.8-mile road course was added in 1969 and in early 1970 the work on the full sized oval was started.

The Pocono 500 was first held on July 3, 1971 and was won by Mark Donohue for Penske Racing, driving a McLaren M16-Offenhauser. The race was part of the USAC National Championship Trail and part of USAC's "Triple Crown", comprising the Indianapolis 500, Pocono 500, and California 500.

After the CART/USAC split, the race became a CART event from 1982 - 1989. However, it was dropped, mainly due to the increasingly rough track surface as well as poor safety features, like the lack of run off areas and catch fencing.

The IZOD IndyCar series successfully revived the race in 2013 after a 23-year hiatus, including the "Triple Crown". It adopted the 1971–80 USAC format, with the Indianapolis 500 in May, the Pocono IndyCar 400 in July. The MAVTV 500 in October at Fontana, replacing the original California 500 held at Ontario, as the venue longer existed. In 2014 the race returned to it's original distance of 500 miles and is the fastest 500 mile race in IndyCar history, with an average speed of 202.402 mph (325.734 km/h) and was the first 500-mile race to be completed in under 2 hours and 30 minutes. However, since the MAVTV 500 was dropped after the 2015 season, the "Triple Crown" is no longer contested.

Some trivia:
Triple Crown: Al Unser Sr., 1978.
The driver with the most wins, A.J. Foyt: 1973, 1975, 1979, 1980.
The team with the most wins, Team Penske: 1971, 1977, 1980, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2014.

Track Layout:
The track's unique layout with three turns, has each turn based on turns from 3 other tracks. Turn One, with 14 degree banking, is based on the now defunct Trenton Speedway. Turn Two, also known as "The Tunnel turn", is like Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with 9 degree banking and Turn 3 has 6 degree banking, similar to The Milwaukee Mile.

Original 3/4 Mile oval, with the 1969 road course in grey:


Current track:


Length:
Turns: 3
Lap record: July 5th, 2014, Juan Pablo Montoya. 40.1929, 223.871 mph (360.285 kmh). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6, Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's winner:
Ryan Hunter-Reay,
Andretti Autosport,
DallaraDW12-Honda HI13RT

Laps: 200
Distance: 500 Miles (804.672 km)
Race Time: 3:25:08
Average Speed: 146.245 mph (235.36 kmh)

TV Coverage:
NBCSN, 3:00pm ET.