Could Daytona be due for repaving sooner than planned after pothole incident?

Officials from International Speedway Corp., which owns several tracks that host Cup events, said they're confident the concrete patch used at Daytona International Speedway after a pothole developed in the 500 will work but that they're awaiting further analysis on the track to see if the track will need be repaved.

 

The track was last repaved more than 30 years ago. Some drivers -- with Dale Earnhardt Jr. being an exceptoin -- have said they'd prefer the track not be paved. Jeff Gordon is for not repaving and said in February: "The racing is too good, the cars are slipping and sliding around and that's a lot of fun, and I think it's very exciting for the fans. If they repave that race track and took out the bumps and made the track smooth and have a lot of grip, it doesn't necessarily mean that is going to make for a better race, it really might do the opposite.''

 

That said, John Saunders, president of ISC, said Thurdsay in a conference call with investors that planned repaving of the track, as of now, is targeted for around 2012.

 

Saunders said the analysis shows that three things led to the pothole developing:

 

1. A "very unusual cold winter'' in Florida. (The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported that the average temperature in Daytona in February was 53.1 degrees -- the coldest in Daytona since 1978.

 

2. Moisture where Saunders said "we experienced what the engineers call delamination, which occurs below the surface. It's not visible on the surface.'' This is where materials can weaken and split into layers.

 

3. The cars bottoming out. Said Saunders: "Eventually, with that weight and that force, it began to cut the asphalt and once that happens, it begins to accelereate.''

 

Saunders said the hole was about 9 inches by 15 inches. The patch is what Saunders called a high-grade concrete that is 6 feet by 18 feet wide and about 6-8 inches thick.

 

"We  have every bit of confidence that the patch will work,'' Saunders said. "We also are awaiting the results of an analysis of the entire race track, not just that area of the race track to cleary understand the condition way below the surface. The upper portion of that race track is roughly 32 years old. The bottom piece, the base, is as old as the race track is, it's over 52 years old. We're awaiting the engineering results to decide whether we need to accelerate our planned repaving, which was targeted in the area of 2012, but we don't have the results of that. We'll have them in a couple of weeks.''

 

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Other items from International Speedway Corp's first quarter conference call with investors on Thursday (Recall, ISC owns such tracks as Daytona, Talladega, Martinsville, Richmond, Michigan, Auto Club Speedway in Calif., and Phoenix, where the series races this weekend, among others).

 

# First-quarter earnings edged 1.2 perecent higher but fell short of analysts' estimates as the compnay's top line dropped amid sharply lower admissions revenue.

 

# Compared to fiscal year 2009, ISC officials expect attedance revenue to decrease in the high single-digits for the year.

 

# While ISC has reduced thousands of tickets, John Saunders noted: "You will not see ISC facilities discount our tickets in the sales cycle. Our view is that once you start giving away tickets at vastly reduced prices or through baseless promotions, we, and this is key, as the promoter lose the ability to optimize supply and demand-driven pricing during better economic times.''

 

# Advance ticket sales are down 18 percent on units and about 23 percent on revenue as compared to the same time last year, but ISC officials noted that more people are waiting longer to buy their tickets and that ticket sales increase in the few weeks leading up to an event.

 

# ISC has two Cup and one Nationwide event for this season without a race sponsor (either those are open or have yet to be announced).

 

# ISC reported capacity at its events in the first quarter (Daytona and Auto Club Speedway) is 81 percent (thus that means 19 percent empty seats). For 2009, ISC's capacity rate was in the high 80s to low 90s. This year's number likely will change as more events are run at ISC events. The relatively small crowd at Auto Club Speedway is dragging that number down.

 

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KANSAS SPEEDWAY AND THE 2011 CUP SCHEDULE

 

While International Speedway Corp. has let it be known of its plans to request a second Sprint Cup weekend for Kansas Speedway in 2011, that has yet to be formally done, according to an ISC spokesperson. Realistically, it shoudln't be too long before it happens as this is the time of the year NASCAR officials really begin work on the upcoming schedule.

 

Said ISC spokesman Lenny Santiago about the issue: "We're still conducting a very thorough internal analysis on potential realigment options, taking into consideration a host of factors including financial results, fan feedback, tradition, etc. As you know, NASCAR controls the scheduling for the Sprint Cup Series. While we have not yet made a formal request, we plan to provide it to NASCAR at a time that's acceptable to them.''

 

Of course, for ISC to get a second date for Kansas, one of its tracks would have to lose a date (unless ISC bought a track and moved a date away but with Dover, Pocono and Indianapolis the only non-ISC or Speedway Motorsports tracks, that doesn't seem as likely). NASCAR has stated the schedule is full and has said in the past the only time they would have added a date to the 36-race schedule (38 including the two non-points races) was if the New York City track ever happened, which, obviously isn't. ISC is in the process of selling its Staten Island property.

 

Provided ISC plucks a date from one of its tracks to give Kansas a second date, the tracks that could lose a date to make this happen are likely to be either Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Michigan, Phoenix or Martinsville.

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