Race history
Open wheel racing in the Phoenix area dates back to 1915 on a dirt oval at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. Earl Cooper, who competed in the Indianapolis 500 seven times, won the inaugural race—scheduled for 150 laps of the one-mile track, it was ended after 109 miles due to darkness. [1]
The race was revived in 1950 by the AAA, and then passed to the United States Auto Club (USAC) in 1956. USAC moved the race to the newly built Phoenix International Raceway in 1964. The race became a CART event in 1979. During the CART years, two races were scheduled through the mid-1980s, but the track dropped down to one race per year starting in 1987. [2]
Starting in 1954, the race was named for driver Bobby Ball, who died in February 1954 following a racing accident in Los Angeles in January 1953. [3] [4] The race was renamed in 1972 due to sponsorship from Best Western. [5] Bobby Ball naming returned for the 1976–1978 editions, the last of which was title sponsored by Miller High Life. [6] Miller's sponsorship continued through the 1983 edition. The race then had three different title sponsors for its final three editions: Stroh's, [7] Dana, [8] and Circle K. [9]
