The Japanese Race Track Built for—NASCAR!?

Japan was this close 🤏 to having a NASCAR super-speedway. 🏁 Our resident classic car expert Nicholas Maronese returns for Trivia Tuesday to explain Fuji Speedway's famous banked corner—and how it was part of a massive track redesign. The Track: Fuji Speedway in Oyama, Japan has played host to Formula One grands prix, World Endurance Championship series events, and a wide swath of other types of motorsports competitions. It’s renowned for having one of the longest straights in motorsports, stretching almost one-and-a-half kilometres, but early on, it also had a dramatic 30-degree-bank turn coming off of that straight. The NASCAR Scheme: That feature was a relic of the original vision promoters had for the track, to make it something of an America-style super-speedway oval. The project was spearheaded in 1963 by the Japan NASCAR Corporation, which had secured rights to host NASCAR-style events across the Far East. Funding issues cropped up the next year and forced the company to reform under the name Fuji International Speedway Co. The Change in Plan: They pivoted to a European-style road course instead, which was completed in December 1965 and ran its first races in early '66. Sir Stirling Moss was even involved in the redesign! Do you think NASCAR could have taken off in Japan if Fuji Speedway was built as an oval after all? 👇 #fujispeedway #nascar #NicholasMaronese #Drivingca #Shorts #AutomotiveTrivia #TriviaTuesday #ClassicCars #motorsport #Japan #JDM #CarHistory #stirlingmoss Follow Driving! Twitter: http://bit.ly/drivingtwitter Instagram: http://bit.ly/drivinginstagram Facebook: http://bit.ly/drivingfacebook TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drivingdotca