IndyCar was once the signature event at NSS

Feb. 17—During Nashville Superspeedway's earlier incarnation, what is now called the IndyCar Series was the high-water mark event at the Gladeville track before the open-wheel series abandoned it for greener pastures following the 2008 race.

With the facility unable to secure a NASCAR Cup Series event here, the biggest names in racing who came to NSS were the open-wheel drivers and Indianapolis 500 legends who made this stop for eight straight Julys.

At least three of the four four-time Indy 500 winners were on the premises, including Rick Mears and car owner A.J. Foyt. One of the four, Helio Castroneves, hadn't tasted the victory milk four times, but was the first-time reigning winner when he arrived in Nashville for the first time in 2001. Castroneves, named Spider-Man for celebrating victories by climbing the wire fence at the front of the grandstand, never did so here but the 2007 Dancing With the Stars champion was a fan favorite, nevertheless.

Danica-mania came here as well. Weeks after Danica Patrick became the first woman to lead at least one lap at the 500, landing her on the cover of Sports Illustrated, she made her first appearance here as fans eagerly watched to see if she would become the first female to win. Her blast-off to fame overshadowed the actual 500 winner, the late Dan Wheldon.

There was also actor Jason Priestley; best known for his role in Beverly Hills, 90210; who tried his hand as an open-wheel race driver and ran in the developmental Indy Pro Series race here in 2002.

It wasn't just the current drivers. The owners, some of them former drivers, were stars themselves. Foyt and Mario Andretti — whose grandson, Marco, raced here as a teenager — are synonymous with the sport. Another is Roger Penske, a giant in both NASCAR and Indy, who kept close watches on his teams, which included drivers Castroneves and Sam Hornish Jr.

But after selling out a time or two during the early years, the Indy race failed to completely fill even the Superspeedway grandstands, which are smaller than most of the tracks on the circuit, several of which are road courses. The IRL (Indy Racing League as it was then called) had just won a war with rival series CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) in the mid 2000s.

What appeared to be a blessing for the Superspeedway may have been its death knell. CART's demise left a number of tracks, particularly road courses which could accommodate hundreds of thousands of spectators rather than the tens of thousands at a typical oval, without an event. One of those was Toronto, which had hosted races for decades.

As the Indy series arrived here for the 2008 event, the worst-kept secret of the weekend was the league's plan to leave Nashville and give the date to Toronto, where the Grand Prix of Toronto was canceled that year before reviving in '09 under the stewardship of Andretti Green Racing, co-owned by Michael Andretti (son of Mario). The race continues today as the Honda Indy Toronto.

Scott Dixon, who remains an Indy star racer today, won his third straight event here. Appropriately, rain shortened the race.

With its signature event gone, the Great Recession looming and still no sign of NASCAR Cup, NSS' parent company, Dover Motorsports, began downsizing staff and streamlining the schedule. Instead of four race weekends (two NASCAR Xfinity Series races, one Indy and one NASCAR Truck Series event) annually, it became two Xfinity-Truck doubleheader weekends.

But Indy's departure spelled the beginning of the end. Dover declined to renew its NASCAR sanction for 2012, marking the end of an 11-year era.