Might be hard to avoid anymore, cost and logistics be darned. I've heard that the light poles have to be removed to do it. If time is an issue, buy a little more by removing the poles soon after Bike Week and have a one-time daylight Coke 400. Maybe try the old mid-morning start and Fox can make a "July 4th Breakfast at Daytona" media splash. But PLEASE repave this mess!
I've heard drivers say they don't want it repaved.
I don't get it.
32 years w/o repaving the track that hosts Nascar's biggest race is a joke.
Center Grove Trojans
2008 5A Football State Champs
2011 Track State Champs
Yep and its going to co$t a ton!
How much did it cost to pave Alabama International Motor Speedway a few years ago?
Cost?
You suggesting these guys don't have the money??
I think the concern is that if they make it too smooth it will be too much like Talladega where you can be flat for an entire run. At least at Daytona you have to work the throttle a bit as the tires go away.Originally Posted by Truth Detector
That being said, today's spectacle was a bit of a joke. The ending was nice but two red flags for a pot hole is just not good and there ain't no way to put a positive spin on it.
The Unofficial, Self-Appointed Gloom & Doom Police...
Daytona's always differed from Talladega because it is more narrow and the transitions are more abrupt. The slight difference in banking is probably irrelvant. Daytona has always been a handling track compared to Talladega. That won't change, even with new pavement.
I will tell you about Chicagoland Motor Speedway. Very first race brand new track. The racing, it sucked. The next year, race number two, it also sucked. Third year, well, it got better. Now, after a few more years, the racing on an old track is great at Chicagoland Motor Speedway.
After a repaving, or a brand new track, there is only one groove. Out of that groove, and you are going nowhere.
I was at the first Indycar race at Chicagoland and you're nuts if you think that race sucked.
No-Vi is probably referring to the NASCAR races.
True, repaving sometimes leads to a one-groove racetrack for a while. Heck remember when it looked like the repaving and tri-oval reconfiguration ruined the racing at Atlanta the first year? But it usually does come back in. Plus since Daytona is more like Talledega, the one-lane problems might be avoided.
So was I, we are in a NASCAR thread and talking about NASCAR. The first two or three years of NASCAR, it was nothing but follow the leader.
OK.
I was referring to the Indycar race.
In fact, my brother who was 72 years old drove the track at 150 mph, in a stock car.
"It may not need repaving," Braig said. "We don't want to paint the whole house when all we have to do is a little touch up."
Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/201...#ixzz0faYvMXpq
I'm out of ideas then.
Truth:Oh, they got the money..............It's getting them to actually $pend it, that can be tricky, at best......$pending money on non-revenue generating projects can get you pink-slipped, at I$C, even if you have worked there for 20 years. Long time employees know this, and reject out of hand , any such projects....Parroting the company line, all the while.Cost?
You suggesting these guys don't have the money??
My major malfunction is...I want the people I love and respect to live forever...The problem is...Life don't work that way...
P.S. Questions, comments, death threats, invitations to a pigs bris, my number is still (317) 809-4483
I wonder if painting the seats people colors was considered a revenue-generating project.
Maybe they pave a patch like at Pocono???
Would paving it, then diamond grinding it make it all work out? Or would diamond grinding make it turn out like the Brickyard did ala....rubber dust bowl.
Oh miss Money Penny
I'm guessing Goodyear would actually do their homework for Daytona.
I find it interesting that the drivers themselves don't want it re-paved. It's self-serving of course as they don't like new or only a couple of years old asphalt, but interesting none-the-less.
El Grillo Cantor
Mark Martin was interviewed after the race for the Speed Report and stated that if they repave it tire issues will follow just like they did at Charlotte. He was very much against repaving the track.
Here's this from one short year ago.
Seems that repaving Talladega got "good reviews." And I don't recall any tire issues with the new surface at Talladega.Updated: February 11, 2009, 5:12 PM ET
Daytona to be resurfaced
By David Newton
ESPN.com
Archive
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- International Speedway Corporation plans to resurface Daytona International Speedway in three years, the first time that has occurred since 1978.
And the decision was in place long before Dale Earnhardt Jr. said on Wednesday that the 2.5-mile track was becoming too bumpy and long overdue for a new surface.
"It has nothing to do with money, although it will be a $20 million project," DIS president Robin Braig said. "It has nothing to do with technology. We banked Talladega so we know we can do it on the high banking.
"It's all about when NASCAR and Goodyear says we need to do it," Braig said.
Daytona is one of the few major tracks that hasn't been resurfaced over the past 10 years. Talladega, Darlington, Lowe's Motor Speedway and many others have been through the process.
Sprint Cup series director John Darby said the DIS surface hasn't reached the point where it needs immediate attention because it isn't coming apart like Talladega was, but it is near the end of its life cycle.
He reminded that when the track is resurfaced the sanctioning body will have to make adjustments on the restrictor plate and tires because the speeds will jump considerably just as they have at other tracks.
"We know it's bumpy," Darby said. "A lot of what happened is that since Talladega was repaved it is smoother than a baby's bottom. That makes it easier for the drivers. But you can't compare the two tracks even though a lot of people do.
"They're not similar. They're like black and white," Darby said.
But Earnhardt said 30 years is too long and the bumps are proof of it.
"It's not unsafe," NASCAR's most popular driver said. "It just don't put on a good show. I like the bumps. You're going to ask guys in there and they're going to say, 'Oh, man, the bumps are cool.' They are cool, but they'll be back."
Not all drivers believe resurfacing is necessary.
"They should not repave any tracks," Carl Edwards said. "The rougher the better. If makes it more fun when you're out there sliding around and moving. It makes it harder so that you can end up running different lines and get an advantage.
"If this track was like Talladega it wouldn't be nearly as fun," he continued. "Repaving Darlington was the most frustrating thing they've done. In my eyes, that took a lot of fun out of that place."
Denny Hamlin argues that some of the best racing in NASCAR is at Talladega since the resurfacing "because we have so much control over our cars and you see a lot of the three- to four-wide racing."
"Here you don't see it as much and cars do get strung out a little more, but it's still better than any mile-and-a-half or two-mile race tracks," he added.
The bottom line for Earnhardt?
"Seventy-eight was a long time ago," he said. "Highways get paved more often than that, and they're only going 55 and 65 on them. If I owned a racetrack I'm going to pave that damn thing at the last minute. It costs a lot of money to pave it.
"I can understand why it doesn't happen more often, but they did pave Talladega and that's got good reviews. Maybe we'll get this thing paved before I retire," he said.
David Newton covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at dnewtonespn@aol.com.
the city of Daytona owns the land and ISC just rents it from the city, I'm pretty sure if we were to check that city workers are out there now laying down a hot patch.
"Ride The Barrel & Get Pitted... So Pitted."
If the majority of drivers don't want it repaved, then it shouldn't be repaved. They aren't even sure why it came up. They said it could have been a car that kept bottoming out and eventually it tore it up enough that the rest of the cars finished the job. And ISC would not hesitate to pave it if it were necessary. They are putting $5-6 million into The Glen this Spring, and they have done this repeatedly over the years.
"When you come to the fork in the road, take it".
Having lived in Fl since the late sixties just a few points:
Unlike the North you don't have a continual severe freeze/thaw cycle. The pavement does last longer. 30 years life on a road with limited activity seems reasonable to me. Who decided the tracks should be perfectly smooth always? Life isn't.
We have had a period of cold and rain here recently (El Nino). The roads all over the state are having a hard winter with pot holes and sinkholes opening up. It's inpredictable. Even I-4 was closed recently.
To have a small hole appear, that wasn't there for the 24 hrs, or the Shootout, or the Nwide race, or the Duels was just a piece of plain bad luck! There was a whole lot of race track that was just fine and raceable. Who says the cars are to be perfectly glued to the track?
I think the term is "shut up and drive..."
Ignorant men marvel at extraordinary things. Intelligent men admire simple things.
What a joke. 32 years??? The bumps have been horrible for at least the last 15 years. I am sick of tired of them saying "we can't race" at a given track whether it is new, repaved, not banked high enough, etc. It is getting really old.
The fans were the ones who were really screwed yesterday. Wonder how many flights were missed and extra expenses were incurred because of the short-sightness of those in charge at Daytona.
How about those shills in the booth? "Halftime"..... What a joke. Fox knew the track was breaking up again far before they went red the second time evidenced by showing the track breaking up after the red was thrown. Why didn't they show it live during the green?
Where were Pemberton and Helton blasting the track like they did at IMS?
What a discrace for the biggest race in that series.
"I doubt NASCAR really cares one way or the other what Richard Petty does at this point in his life..." -hdolan. Very sad but very true.
That happens when you get freeze/thaw cycles, lots of water from either rain or melted snow and traffic pounding on it.The roads all over the state are having a hard winter with pot holes and sinkholes opening up. It's inpredictable
Pavement doesn't suddenly pothole just sitting there. There had to have been alligator cracks and crumbles that they ignored.
Isn't that to be expected? It is Florida.
TMS has spent a little coin revamping its track more than twice if I recall.
"You people worry too much. Strive for change. Root for your favorites. Enjoy the racing. Drop the flag." rev-ed, 3/04
To repave it would cost ISC and Daytona money. They have been putting it off for years. I am sure they will find a cheaper band-aid because ISC doesn't like to spend money.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks