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Pueblo Motorsports Park is a multipurpose racing facility, including a 2.2-mile road course and a drag strip, located near Pueblo in the high plains of southeastern Colorado. PMS Park is a city-owned facility that includes a drag strip, the road course, a paved 1/20th-mile oval, a dirt quarter-mile oval, a motocross course, a BMX course, and a 17-mile off-road motorcycle course. Pueblo is at 4900' altitude, in an area politely referred to as being 'semi-arid'.
Weekday testing is available, call the track for details. Apex and exit curbs were recently added to turn 4 and exit curbs were recently added to turn 6a.
Major portions of this page were contributed by Mark Shumaker. click here for general information on how his pages are set He last updated his materials on 6 July 1995.
Last Updated: 2007-04-17
Pueblo Motor Sports Park was constructed in the early 1970's on land which was set aside for recreational purposes in conjunction with the Pueblo Reservoir project. The first race on the road course was in June of 1975. The dragstrip also opened that year.
| Allan E. Brown, The History of America's Speedways: Past & Present. Comstock Park, Michigan: Brown, 2003 , ISBN 0931105617 , pp. 180. Order from National Speedway Directory |
Track:
3733 N Pueblo Blvd
Pueblo, CO 81008
Office:
524 N Santa Fe Ave
Pueblo CO 81003
719-583-0907 (information)
719-202-0165 (office)
719-240-4132 (weekday rentals)
trackmanager@pueblomotorsportspark.com
You may also wish to try using the Yahoo! Search as it may produce current news items.
Colorado Region SCCA has track video Here.
The track is just northwest of Pueblo CO. From I-25 Exit 101, take US-50 west about 2.7 miles to its intersection with Pueblo Boulevard (Route 45), then take Pueblo Boulevard south about 0.3 miles.
The track entrance is on the west side of the road; you must have a certain amount of faith, since there is nothing visible except the (paved) access road and a steel archway. Stay on the paving and follow the access road around and up and down (continued faith is required) about 1.5 miles to the road course entrance. Registration will be in the small building on the right.
You must cross the track to enter and leave the paddock. The paddock somewhat resembles Willow Springs in that the surface is stylishly minimalist; stones and coarse sand, with the odd cactus, occasional tufts of a vaguely grass-like growth, and lots of sand burr. Since mature sand burrs can puncture a hot racing tire, racing cars are commonly parked on the (very wide) paved paddock access lanes, with tow vehicles and trailers relegated to the stony areas between them. Over 150 cars can conveniently be accomodated; most Nationals draw 80-100 cars and are run in four or five groups.
There are water, well-maintained flush and pit toilets, and a food concession available at the track. Fuel is available from WRE Race fuels, 719-250-8311. Goodyear and Hoosier tire service is by Road Racing Services in Denver at (303) 973-8005; if you wish to pick up tires at the track, call your orders in well beforehand.
Leashed pet animals are permitted in the paddock but it is not a good idea to bring them unless they have been immunized against exotic flea-borne diseases active in the prairie dog populations around Pueblo -- including those on the track property.
The road course is 2.2 miles long and has ten turns; the main straight is the entire drag strip and shutdown area. A remarkably wide range of speeds is encountered at Pueblo, CSR cars using all five gears in a five-speed gearbox reach speeds around 130 MPH at the end of the front straight and take the slowest turn below 50 MPH. The track is essentially flat except for one moderately deep but steep dip, and parts of the track are narrow and rough. The track surface is extremely abrasive, you must run hard-compound tires and stay on the racing line since torn-off rubber bits accumulate badly in the corners. It is not safe to leave the track surface anywhere around the course except on the escape roads at turns 2 and 7 and along parts of the back straight.
The track is available for testing on most days for $25 per car, NO emergency services provided. Contact the track manager for details.
What follows is a generic description of the track, describing its features without defining speeds, gears, or shift points -- all of which will vary widely from car type to car type.
Most of the turns at Pueblo are sufficiently well separated by straight segments that they may be treated as isolated turns. There is only one set of clustered turns (where your line through or out of a turn must be modified to accomodate the requirements of the next turn or the one after it), Turns 6 and 7.
The pit area is set up oddly; the pit lane is right at the base of the grandstand, and pit personnel are required to remain in the wide area between the pit lane and the track surface during all sessions. Entry to the pit lane, and to the track, is southbound from the access road just behind (east of) the grandstand; except for race gridding, be sure to enter the pit lane (immediately in front of the grandstand) instead of going directly out onto the track surface. Tech and Impound are usually just north of the drag strip staging area on the second access road east of the grandstand.
The front straight is substantially wider than the rest of the track. The starter's stand is close enough to the last turn that the last few rows of cars may not be able to see it at the start. Turn 1 is a high-speed slightly-banked 180-degree right-hand turn followed by a straight long enough (barely) to allow you to get back to the right edge of the track for Turn 2, a slow flat 90-degree left-hand turn followed by a short straight and Turn 3, a similar left-hand turn just less than 90 degrees. There is an exit road leading straight south from Turn 2 into the paddock. Turn 3 is widened slightly at the exit, and followed by another straight long enough for you to position yourself for the braking area into Turn 4.
Turn 4 is a high-speed slightly-banked right-hand turn of about 170 degrees, followed by a downhill straight into Turn 5. Turn 5 is a fairly fast partially-blind downhill-uphill 80-degree right-hand turn leading onto an uphill straight; if you miss this corner you can go off into some wicked-looking gullies and boulders. The pavement is rough at the entrance to Turn 5, and the apex is right at the bottom of a significant sharp dip where many cars bottom out and rub (or damage) their front bodywork.
A short uphill straight follows, leading into the Turn 6 - 7 cluster. The Turn 6 esses start as a partially-blind high-speed 45-degree right-hand turn, then left and again right leading into Turn 7; you may need to modify your exit from Turn 6 to assure that you will be able to enter Turn 7 properly. Turn 7 is a very slow and tight slightly-banked 180-degree left-hand turn followed immediately by a higher-speed flat 45-degree left-hand turn, and there is no general consensus on the best way to go through it. Some cars are able to get back to the right edge of the track after Turn 6 before braking for 7 and some cars brake for 7 while they cross the track from the exit of 6, reaching their turnin point just as they have slowed enough to enter 7. Either way, try to keep as much speed as you can coming into 7 and trail brake right up to the apex of the first part of the turn. The second part of Turn 7 is generally taken flat out; odds are that you fell down out of the power range of your engine in the first part of the turn. There is an exit road leading south from the outside of Turn 7 into the paddock.
A short straight follows into Turn 8, two flat moderately-fast 45-degree right-hand turns leading out onto the back straight. There is a slight kink in the back straight that is taken flat out. Turn 9 starts as a flat moderately-slow right-hand turn at the end of the back straight, and leads into a set of esses laid out with pylons on the drag strip staging area. The path through the esses is not always clear to the first-time entrant (and the pylons are not laid out during test days). The intent of the esses is to slow the cars as they enter the front straight, because the entry is hazardous.
Turn 10 onto the front straight is a flat moderately high-speed right-hand 90-degree sweeper. The apex is at the corner of the timing tower, and the proper line takes you across the drag strip burnout and starting area and the cover for the timing lights (which has been spectacularly dislodged at least once by passing cars). The surface changes through Turn 10 can upset a car, so you might want to keep a little in hand until you see how your car handles, or adjust your line a little to avoid the worst of the irregularities -- but not too much of either because this turn leads out onto the longest straight section on the course.
Entry to the paddock is outlined in pylons, is about halfway along the staging area, and can be difficult for the first-timer to recognize (impound is also reached from this point). Entry to the pit lane is also outlined in pylons, also difficult to recognize, and is further west.
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