Columbus Motor Speedway
| Columbus Motor Speedway | |
| 150px | |
| Location | Obetz, Ohio |
| Races | |
Columbus Motor Speedway or CMS, is a 1/3 mile asphalt oval and figure 8 racing track located south of Columbus, Ohio within the town limits of Obetz.
Track history[edit | edit source]
In 1945, John Nuckles & Robert Roseberry purchased 50 acres of land for the site of the future race track. The track opened in 1946 as a dirt track for motorcycles. In 1950 the track was given lighting, and in 1957, the track was paved for the first time as car racing, specifically stock car racing became more popular. Robert Roseberry sold his portion to John Nuckles after the paving was complete. The track was run by the late Nuckles for many years, and is still owned and operated by the Nuckles family today. Every year, for their weekly racing program, they hold the John Nuckles Memorial, the most prestigious event on the CMS calender. 2012 will mark the 29th running of the event.
Track facts[edit | edit source]
CMS hosts four weekly divisions every Saturday night during the racing season, which usually takes place from April to September: the Crazy Compacts, Sport Stock, Columbus Modified, and Columbus Late Model divisions. It also hosts many exhibition events, which are some of the most popular attractions, including trailer races of destruction, school bus figure 8 races, demolition derbies, "roll over" contests, monster truck stunt rallies, "powder-puff" races, and much more.
Whenever his schedule allows, TM Master Cup driver Packer Carroll, a Columbus native, goes to CMS to watch the local racing. He won the Crazy Compact track championship in 2000 at the age of 15, along with track championships at Kil-Kare Raceway and Ohio Motor Speedway.
2009 Platform Collapse[edit | edit source]
The race track made national headlines on April 11, 2009, when the concrete platform that supported the announcer's box collapsed shortly after the gate opened. One person was temporarily stuck in the rubble, and six people suffered minor injuries at the season-opening event. Local rescue workers were called to the scene and the events were canceled for the evening. Since the incident, the platform has been repaired and reinforced to prevent a similar episode from ever happening in the future.
2009 Bus Crash[edit | edit source]
At approximately 10:35 pm on May 23, 2009, a school bus crashed head on at nearly 20 mph into the concrete wall in turn one during the evening's scheduled Crash-A-Rama school bus figure 8 race. Minor injures were sustained to approximately one dozen spectators as small pieces of rubble from the wall flew into the grandstands.
A shocking video of the incident was captured by a viewer with a home video camera, and was played on news stations throughout the country that weekend. Currently said video exists on YouTube, and can be viewed in the screen below...