February 16, 2010
By Allen Madding
Daytona has not been repaved since 1978.
Considering the speeds the NASCAR Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series race at the 2.5-mile track, coupled with the damage that the cars and trucks bottoming out at 190+ mph and bell housings and frame cross members digging into the surface, one would consider that repaving would need to be an important part of track maintenance.
During this year’s Speedweeks at Daytona, International Speedway Corporation (ISC), NASCAR’s property management sister corporation that shares board members with NASCAR, announced they were planning on repaving the track in the next three years. So, apparently International Speedway Corporation believes a superspeedway only needs resurfacing once every 36 years.
For the last couple of years, some drivers have remarked that Daytona has been long overdue for repaving. The huge pieces of asphalt coming loose in the middle of the Daytona 500 was an embarrassment.
Imagine watching NASCAR for the first time to find out what all the big fuss is over stock car racing and deciding to watch the 2010 Daytona 500 since it is the “Granddaddy of them all” and sitting over an hour two different times to see the completion of the event. Several possible new fans did just that this year and were turned off by the mess with the track surface.
Fox Sports broadcasters announced that the fans were not leaving the track and stayed in the grandstands through the lengthy repairs. What Fox Sports did not mention was the TV audience. One would safely wager that the TV audience quickly dwindled the longer the repair work played out.
Is it time for International Speedway Corporation to consider concreting Daytona and Talladega? If they do not plan to repave more than once every 36 years, perhaps concrete is a valid consideration. Concrete is certainly more durable, but the cost of concrete versus asphalt is pretty significant. And if the International Speedway Corporation does not want to pony up for the cost of the asphalt, they certainly would not want to turn loose of the millions of dollars they take in at each NASCAR weekend to pay for concrete.
But, before writing off a concrete surface at Daytona, consider Bristol, a half-mile racetrack and Dover, a one-mile speedway have both been resurfaced in concrete and both have enjoyed success with the concrete surfaces. Stretching it out over a 2.5-mile surface would not be that out of the realm of possibilities. The banking in the steepest part of the turns at Bristol Speedway is 30 degrees in the turns. The banking in the turns at Daytona is 31 degrees so the ability to pour concrete on the steep banking at Daytona should not be an issue.
Regardless if the resurfacing were to be done with asphalt or concrete, the fact of the matter is that International Speedway Corporation should have addressed the track surface maintenance at Daytona a long time ago instead of in the middle of the Daytona 500. International Speedway Corporation repaved Talladega in the summer of 2006. But they were not planning on repaving Daytona until 2013? It is the Daytona 500. If painting the retaining wall, painting logos on the infield, and all the pageantry is so important, is not the racing surface even more important?
NASCAR has gone to great lengths to not make any significant changes to the cars before a Daytona 500 because they did not want to spoil the biggest race of the year. Perhaps their sister corporation, International Speedway Corporation should carefully consider the impact of the track becoming unraceable in the middle of the Daytona 500 and take maintaining the racing surface a bit more seriously.
The thoughts and ideas expressed by this writer or any other writer on Insider Racing News, are not necessarily the views of the staff and/or management of IRN.
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