Royal Purple Raceway
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Houston Raceway Park, formerly known as Royal Purple Raceway, was a quarter-mile
dragstrip A dragstrip is a facility for conducting automobile and motorcycle acceleration events such as drag racing. Although a quarter mile (1320 feet, 402 m) is the best known measure for a drag track, many tracks are eighth mile (201&n ...
in
Baytown, Texas Baytown is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, within Harris County, Texas, Harris and Chambers County, Texas, Chambers counties. Located in the Greater Houston, Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land metropolitan statistical area, it lies on the nor ...
, just outside
Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
. Built in 1988, the Park is situated on 500 acres on the eastern edge of the greater Houston metropolitan area and is Houston's only major multi-purpose motorsports venue. The dragstrip has a three-story tower building that incorporates 23 VIP suites, a media center and race control facilities equipped with timing and scoring equipment. In 2000, Houston Raceway Park opened a new high banked 3/8 mile dirt oval at the facility. Houston Raceway Park's paved pit area holds approximately 400 racing rigs, with additional pit parking available on grass. The spectator parking lots have a capacity of over 10,000 cars, along with a special VIP parking area capable of holding an additional 600 vehicles. The Park has a
seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...
of 30,000 with additional grandstand seating brought in during major events to accommodate reserved seat requests. Houston Raceway Park has permanent rest room facilities and concession buildings, located near spectator seating on both sides of the race track. Houston Raceway Park had an exclusive contract with the
National Hot Rod Association The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) is a governing body which sets rules in drag racing and hosts events all over the United States and Canada. With over 40,000 drivers in its rosters, the NHRA claims to be the largest motorsport sanction ...
to host an NHRA National Event within a 200-mile radius of the Houston metropolitan area. The event was renamed the NHRA Spring Nationals for the 2002 season. On July 14, 2021, Houston Raceway Park and the NHRA announced that the facility will permanently be closing after the 2022 NHRA SpringNationals event. It was held April 22-24, 2022. The property will become part of a business expansion project for the adjacent international logistics service provider and port operator Katoen Natie.


See also

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Galveston Bay Area The Galveston Bay Area, also known as ''Bay Area Houston'' or simply the ''Bay Area'', is a region that surrounds the Galveston Bay estuary of Southeast Texas in the United States, within metropolitan area. Normally the term refers to the mainl ...


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References

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External links


Official Website
NHRA Division 4 drag racing venues Motorsport venues in Texas Galveston Bay Area Greater Houston {{Texas-sports-venue-stub