Five Flags Speedway is a half-mile (0.8 km) paved oval racetrack in Pensacola,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. It opened in 1953 and is located on Pine Forest Road. It is christened after the nickname of Pensacola—"City of Five Flags." It runs several local classes during the regular racing season (March – October). These classes include Super Late Models, Pro Late Models, Pro Trucks, Outlaw Stocks, Sportsman, and Pure Stocks. The races are usual held on Friday nights bi-weekly. The track has also hosted many regional touring series. Five Flags hosted a Grand National (now NASCAR Cup Series) race the year that the track opened (1953). The race was won by Herb Thomas driving his Fabulous Hudson Hornet. Other major tours that it has hosted included the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East in 2013 and 2014,

NASCAR Southeast Series The NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division, Southeast Series was a NASCAR-sanctioned amateur/semi-pro late model stock car racing series based in the Southeastern United States. The series was formerly known as the Slim Jim All Pro Series; it was founded i ...

from 1991 through 1997, the ARCA Racing Series from 1992 to 1996, an ASA National Tour date in 2002, and the CARS X-1R Pro Cup Series from 2001 to 2003. In 2019, the ARCA Menards Series returned to the track, but for one year only. After the merge between ARCA and

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

after the 2019 season, the former NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, (now called ARCA Menards Series East) began racing at Five Flags in 2020. The Superstar Racing Experience visited Five Flags in 2022. The track's signature event is the Snowball Derby, run every December since 1968.

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

said that the "Snowball Derby is one of the premier late-model stock-car races in the country, attracting some of the top drivers." Due to the track lay-out and the highly banked turns, Five Flags is an extremely fast track. The current track record for Super Late Models is 16.120 seconds, set by

Ty Majeski Tyler B. Majeski (born August 18, 1994) is an American professional stock car racing driver who mainly competes in late model racing. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, driving the No. 66 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Rac ...

in qualifying for the 2015 Snowball Derby. Five Flags is also well known for having an abrasive surface that quickly wears tires. This characteristic rewards drivers who do not abuse their tires and is considered by many to be part of the appeal of the track.

References

External links

Official Five Flags Speedway Site

Five Flags Speedway race results
at Racing-Reference
Five Flags Speedway race results
at The Third Turn
Looking Back on Infamous Snowball Derby Races
- Racing America, November 25, 2021 {{coord, 30, 30, 14, N, 87, 18, 30, W, region:US_type:landmark, display=title Motorsport venues in Florida Sports venues in Pensacola, Florida Pensacola metropolitan area 1953 establishments in Florida Sports venues completed in 1953 NASCAR tracks ARCA Menards Series tracks