About The Coca-Cola 600

p>The Coca-Cola 600 is a 600 mile (966 km) stock car race, which takes place annually at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Memorial Day weekend. The race was actually known as the World 600 race for most of the years of its existence (1960-1984). The Coca-Cola 600 is the longest NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race, as well as the longest regularly scheduled car race run on an oval track in the world. It is only 21 miles shorter than most major sports car endurance 1,000-kilometer races.

The championship was started by the NASCAR authorities to create a Memorial Day weekend event, which was to compete with the open-wheel Indianapolis 500 race. It actually fulfilled its primary goal and received better TV ratings than the Indianapolis race in 2002-2004. However, until 1974, the two events were not run on the same day. They took place on different days of the week, therefore some racers could profit from taking part in both events. This trend, however, was not stopped even after the races were held at the same day.

The start time of the Coca-Cola 600 race changed several times in the 90s due to the numerous requests from the spectators. The race authorities remembered the notorious story of the North Carolina race, the awful heat and humidity that both the crews and the spectators had to bear. Firstly, it was decided to start the race earlier to beat the sunset, but lately the race was moved to later hours to follow the popularity of the Winstons nighttime race and create cooler temperatures for the Coca-Cola 600 spectators. However, it was finally appointed for 5:30 p.m. in 2001 to have the race finished by 10 p.m. in order to precede the local news on Fox affiliates.

The part of the race, which falls for the nighttime, is lit with parabolic reflectors. Thus, the impact of hazardous light for the drivers' eyes is led to the minimum. The change of the starting time of the race gave the drivers a chance to take part in the Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500 by means of traveling from Indianapolis to Charlotte by plane after the Indianapolis race had finished. There is no clear answer from the experts side, on whether it is healthy and safe to run 1100 miles a day. Still, no restrictions have been introduced by any governing body to prevent the case.