annually converted into a speedway for the Edmonton Indy Champ Car race. In 2008 Champ Car merged with the Indy Racing League, and became the IndyCar Series. The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series also raced at the speedway in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2012. Beginning with the July 2011 event, the track layout was reconfigured to use a more northeasterly section of the airport, including Runway 16/34 (which had been permanently closed). Obsolescence and closure Debate The fate of the Edmonton City Centre Airport (ECCA) was fiercely debated for decades, beginning in the 1950s. To accommodate demands for ever-increasing range, new generations of jet aircraft became increasingly larger and heavier, resulting in the need for a longer set of runways. It became clear that it would be economically and in many cases physically impossible to accommodate modern jet aircraft at ECCA. With no ability to expand the runways, a search began for a site for construction of a new international airport. Edmonton entered into fifty years of airport debates shaped by issues of logistics, transportation, and regional disparities. To the north of the city, a World War II military base (now CFB Edmonton) had been built at Namao by the United States Army Air Forces. In the 1950s, the base was expanded to handle Strategic Air Command military bomber aircraft, including the longest runway in Canada. Leduc, Alberta, located south by southwest of downtown Edmonton, was chosen as the site for the Edmonton International Airport which opened in 1960. It was initially decided that ECCA would be closed in 1963, upon completion of a new passenger terminal at Edmonton International. However, the issue was reexamined by consultants, and particularly in view of the unforeseen development of regional airliner service at ECCA, especially to Calgary, the City of Edmonton decided to keep ECCA open and operate both airports. In Edmonton's 1992 municipal election, the City of Edmonton held a plebiscite, the Edmonton Municipal Airport Referendum. The result of the referendum was that Bylaw No. 10,205, which kept ECCA open to all traffic that the field could legally handle, was approved with a vote of 54%. In the 1995 election, a second plebiscite was put forth to the citizens of Edmonton asking if the bylaw should be repealed on the basis of consolidating all scheduled traffic at Edmonton International. Determination of whether or not to close the airport was not given as