OK you saw the post I put on here about Monroe Motor Speedway…
How can I make the dirt track work with the asphalt???
My plan was to put a dirt track on the apron of the asphalt…concrete…track like the bando track is at OSW. I know they can not be ran at the same time…was thinking go karts Friday night, Asphalt Saturday night and Dirt Sunday. Go karts do not make too much of a mess. I have someone that may bite on my project.
Can this work??? I know I would have to do track prep on Saturday night after the asphalt is over? Would the dirt part be to hard on the asphalt cars trying to get into the infield? How could I make an exit off of the track in the event of rain and muddy conditions?
That sounds good to me Rusty. What kind of car count did you have before it closed? Is the track in Eros the closest dirt track? I think you’d draw go carts on friday. They seem to be always hungry to race any time. Something else you might think of is RC racing. Thats pretty big. I just don’t know that area and if there is a lot of interest in RC racing. The Key there is to talk to a fairly large hobby shop and I’d guess they would bring racers in. A sunday race works well in some places. BUT, I was at Desoto Speedway in Bradenton for 23 years and the only thing I ever remember seeing a decent crowd at was an enduro race in the late 80’s. I raced motorcycles for years and the majority of that is on Sunday but that was a long time ago… I really hope you can get it up and running. It’ll give me something to do when we are up in Monroe visiting. When we’re there all the men are working and I usually am a tag along with the girls. LOL!
I have a question: How do they hook up on Concrete? I drove on an asphalt track one time that patched a spot with concrete and it messed me up every time I hit it. I got to where I just avoided it. Bob…
WOW do they ever hook up!!! IT is a very fast track!
There is another dirt track to the north of us in Sterlington…15 miles or so. The reason that I wanted to run the dirt track on Sunday is that no one else runs up here on Sunday…yes a risk…but just may be dumb enough to work LOL
My biggest concern is the dirt getting on the concrete…and in the event of rain ealier in the day the clay turning into mush…what can be done to stabilize it?
Short of a dome I don’t know. I never was around dirt much. Went to east Bay occasionally and the Fairgrounds in Tampa. I worked with the UDLMCS for 2 years on dirt and I loved it. I wish I had discovered it earlier. If you built a dirt track inside your existing oval, how big could it be? Ocala is a wierd shape, a D if I remember right. Maybe a good drainage system under the dirt track would be the key. Most of the trtacks we went to with the dirt series, drainage seemed to be the biggest problem. I also think the clay you start with is important too. 1 track we raced at with the series had baseball clay and it was so dusty after the cars di a few laps it was a challedge to find them except for the dust. North Florida and another in GA, Gloden Isles are old oil based surfaces. They were good, at least the guys that traveled with us seemed to like it. N. Florida is the only dirt track I ever saw where they used a blower to get the top dust off after a wreck. East Alabama was another good surface. It was about the best clay we raced on.
There are a lot of variables with a dirt surface. The type of material and drainage are key. A lot of good dirt tracks start working their tracks a few days before race day as well as sealing it up right after a race. I’m not sure the feasibility of trying to do what you’re discussing is appropriate for that track. Does anyone else know of a track like this? BTW, Sunday afternoon or early evening dirt racing is prone to dust problems so you want to start with a good material to begin with. You might want to talk to Glen Donnelly. He’s developing a synthetic dirt that is dust proof and requires less maintenance. He’s going to start building a 3/4 mile dirt track in NY this summer with that. If you’re serious, you might want to investigate that and talk with him. He probably can give you some great advice. I assume you know of him. I wish I was there so I could see it and come up with some ideas but they’d probably be expensive. LOL
Rome Speedway, in Georgia, runs about 6 Sunday nights per year. Always a packed house and draws cars from 4 to 5 states.
I would think you would want some sort of retaining wall. I have seen interlocking plastic barriers that you fill with water. Would help keep the asphalt cars from getting dirt on their racing surface. Would be some work, but they could be removed prior to the Sunday dirt race. You could even empty them onto the dirt surface to aid in prep.
The infield entrance/exit areas you could simply remove the dirt and replace before the dirt show.
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