California Speedway today announced that long-time motorsports executive Michael Yurick has been named Senior Director of Operations.  California Speedway President Gillian Zucker made the announcement.

Yurick, who will assume his duties on August 15, will oversee both the operations and facility maintenance departments at the Southern California superspeedway.  He will serve as the primary liaison with sanctioning bodies in coordinating event operations and logistics.  Yurick and his staff will also coordinate all operations and facility preparation for one of the busiest track rental schedules in the nation, with nearly 300 days of facility usage.

"Michael Yurick has earned a solid reputation in the motorsports community as one of the top operational minds in the business," Zucker said.  "His experience in organizing and operating events, along with a proven track record in overseeing improvement projects at other facilities will be a benefit to California Speedway.  Our fans and our competitors will benefit from this addition to our talented staff."

Yurick, who has more than 35 years of experience in the racing industry, comes to California Speedway from Riverside Motorsports Park, a planned 1,250-acre multi-purpose motorsports complex in northern California.  His other race track experience includes stints at Indianapolis Raceway Park as the director of operations and racing; Las Vegas Motor Speedway as the director of event operations; and Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point, in northern California, where he served a dual role of general manager/director of operations beginning in 1987.  During an ownership change at the track in the late 1990s, he retained his title as director of operations before moving to Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 1999.  His involvement in racing dates back to 1964 as the assistant manager and event coordinator at Island Dragway in Great Meadows, N.J.

A native of New Jersey, Yurick also has a background in sales, focusing on the sales of high performance parts and accessories.

"International Speedway Corporation is the premier company in motorsports to work for, and California Speedway is one of the newest and most modern facilities in the country," Yurick said.  "I had a chance to spend some time there during the construction, and Les Richter and I are old friends, so I always thought it would be a great place to work and a great company to work for.

"Gillian has great vision for what she wants the facility to be," Yurick continued.  "One advantage that I'll have is that she has done operations. She understands the process to make it all work.  I've always looked at California Speedway as a premier facility.  I also had thoughts on how it could be better, and we are going to work to make it a place more people will want to visit."

California Speedway hosts six major racing weekends annually, including two NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series events, the largest single-day ticketed sporting events in the state, along with the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, the AMA Superbike Series, the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series and the Southern California Historic SportsCar Festival.