Friday, May 19, 2000
Kentucky Speedway to be repaved
Surface suffered over the winter
By Terry Flynn
The Cincinnati Enquirer
SPARTA, Ky. — The racing surface at the new 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway developed a few wrinkles that were evident during tire testing earlier this week, and speedway officials have decided a complete repaving is needed.
Bill Moss, the chief engineer for speedway construction, said he and other speedway officials noticed that there was movement in the asphalt surface over the winter.
“That surface was smooth as glass last fall, but we could see as the surface cured that it was moving and was not as smooth as we wanted,” Moss said.
So engineers and work crews have begun remeasuring and leveling the surface using a new computer system and then apply ing a new surface to the tri-oval track over a 3-week period.
Moss said the work will be completed by June 5, before the track-opening NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race weekend June 16-17.
This is not an unusual problem with large speedways. The Gateway track near St. Louis and the Texas superspeedway both experienced surface failures during their opening race programs. Kentucky Speedway developer and co-owner Jerry Carroll said he will prevent any such occurance here by repaving now.
The speedway, with a grandstand capacity of 65,989, already has sold more than 42,000 tickets for the Craftsman Truck Series race. All 50 private suites are sold, as are all the private backstretch RV area locations.
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