Petty Racing Experience at Disney World Coming to an End

With plans to bulldoze the Disney World Speedway that is build close to the theme park, the one functioning business out of this venue, the Richard Petty Driving Experience will also end. The current date for the end of this business is set to be June 28^th, for those who want to enjoy this experience one last time, you need to get to Orlando soon before the end of the driving school and the demolition of this speedway.

Built in 1995 on a meager budget of $6 million, the Disney World Speedways was introduced with the idea of holding races at the track during the slower season for the park. By doing this Disney expected the attendance at the theme park to rise during the winter months as racing fans flocked to Orlando to see their favorite racers perform. With such a small budget (compare makeover for the Daytona International Speedway is going to cost over $400 million) and a very strange one-mile tri-oval shape the Disney World Speedway was basically doomed from the start. Everything at the track was temporary. The garages, infield, bathrooms and even the grandstands were all just short term to see how the track would fare as a business venture for Disney.

The problem right from the beginning for the track that would be nicknamed the “Mickyard” because it resembles a smaller version of the Brickyard at Indianapolis was the scheduling. Disney did not want to hold races during the actual race season. Because of already excellent park attendance during that time, and the thought the patrons of the park might be bothered by the noise of the racetrack during the actual racing season, they held exhibition races in January in an effort to boost park attendance.

Because of this mid-offseason racing schedule, teams were routinely not bringing their best or newest cars to Disney to race. It seemed such a tragedy but also made perfect sense because these races were not going to count for or against a racing team for their season, leaving no reason for them to bring their best equipment.

This track saw a few winners and some horrible crashes and injuries. Highlights of the injuries included Davy Jones who suffered a broken neck, Eliseo Salazar who suffered a broken back, and Sam Schmidt who was paralyzed in a testing crash in 2000. The racers who won ( which could become part of trivia game) start with Buzz Calkins, Eddie Cheever Jr., Tony Stewart (three in a row), Cheever again and Robbie Buhl. There were a couple NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races at the track in 1997 and 1998 as well.

After being built in 1995, by 2001 the racing at the track was all over with the temporary equipment that had been in place completely gone. For the Richard Petty Driving Experience this became the place to be. A track they could use all year long where there was no competition for track time, testing, or other incursions, and this track was the perfect place for this driving school. Even though the marriage should have been perfect, Disney never really supported having the Driving Experience at the track, requiring the cars to be highly muffled to not bother patrons of the Disney World Theme Park.

Even with all the problems the track faced, the Petty Racing Experience enjoyed a great deal of success from the time it began work at the speedway until the recent announcement the track would be torn down. While Disney never really flourished in its use of the track and certainly didn’t bother to put much into the upkeep, the driving school did gain a great following and became a popular attraction in the area.

As with many things in life, all good things must come to an end, especially when they have been mismanaged and not properly utilized. For these reasons the Mickyard will be torn down this Summer to make was most likely for more parking for Disney World, or possibly for their next great attraction.