Portland International Raceway, Racing Circuit

Portland International Raceway lies just south of the Columbia River within the city limits of Portland, Oregon, on land with an unusual past. The site was once the wartime city of Vanport, hastily built in 1942 to house shipyard workers, which was destroyed when its protecting dykes failed on Memorial Day 1948 and a wall of water swept it away within half an hour. The City of Portland bought the abandoned ground in 1960, and racers soon began using its surviving road network, with the first Rose Cup run in June 1961. By 1971 the makeshift street course was deemed too dangerous and was rebuilt as a permanent facility, with sweeping curves replacing part of the old layout and a paved drag strip and pit lane added. A major 1984 upgrade introduced the chicane known as the Festival Curves near the end of the main straight, lengthening the lap to 1.967 miles and opening the door to CART IndyCar racing through the Grand Prix of Portland. The track became famous for close finishes, including Mario Andretti pipping son Michael by 0.070 seconds in 1986 and a three-wide blanket finish in 1997. A 2008 renovation repaved the surface, reprofiled Turns 4 to 7 and brought the circuit up to FIA Grade 2 specification. After several quiet years the IndyCar Series returned in 2018 over Labor Day weekend, and from 2022 the NASCAR Xfinity Series has visited for the standalone Portland 147.

Operated by: Metro Regional Government (Portland Metro)