Portland International Raceway opened in 1961 on the former location of the city of Vanport, destroyed by the Memorial Day 1948 flood. The 12-turn, 1.967-mile natural road course is relatively flat, but contains several passing opportunities, including a quick chicane at the end of the frontstretch, a hard-breaking right-hand Turn 7 leading onto the sweeping backstretch, and a three-turn complex leading back onto the fronstretch. Al Unser Jr. won the first Indy car race in 1984. In 1997, the race set the now current all-time record for the closest two-car and closest three-car finish in Indy car racing history on a road course. Mark Blundell beat second place Gil de Ferran by 0.027 seconds, and beat third place Raul Boesel by 0.055 second, in a three-wide finish.

The 1.25-mile (2.01 km) oval is a favorite of many of the drivers who race there due to the unique shape and different degrees of banking in each corner. Turns 1 & 2 have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Turns 3 & 4 are similar to Phoenix International Raceway and the track's egg shape is reminiscent of the oval at Twin Ring Motegi.

Pocono Raceway is called the "Tricky Triangle" because of its unique design. Each turn is modeled after turns from three different racetracks. Turn One (14-degree banking) was modeled after the now defunct Trenton Speedway in New Jersey. Turn Two (9-degree banking) has characteristics of Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Turn 3 (6-degree banking) is similar to The Milwaukee Mile.

The 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course offers a little of everything -- elevation changes, speed corners, flowing corners, tight corners, a narrow (40 feet) racing ribbon and a challenging entry to pit lane.