Talladega Superspeedway has been hosting NASCAR Nextel Cup Series races since 1969 - a time span that stretches nearly 40 years. Names such as Allison, Earnhardt, Yarborough and others all litter the list of winners to have visited the 2.66-mile track's victory lane.
It has been more than 25 years since the 2.66-mile superspeedway was paved with the surface on which current Nextel Cup Series drivers have competed throughout their careers. They have known no other kind of track surface at Talladega but the bumpy, rough one on which they competed as recently as April with the running of the Aaron's 499. Talladega track officials decided to look into the notion of repaving the track that is the largest at which teams compete on the NASCAR schedule. Once officials started discussing the idea of repaving the track, they also started preparing a public support campaign amongst drivers, teams and media due to the amount of backlash that resulted with other tracks' repavement issues, such as what Lowe's Motor Speedway has suffered during the last couple NASCAR seasons.
Garnering support, however, was probably not as necessary for a track like Talladega, where speed and the draft are much more of a factor than handling. Dale Jarrett, the reigning champion of the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, said if anything, the new track surface should improve preparations for the event.
"Talladega's surface is one that the weather and other things have taken its toll on over the years," Jarrett said. "A repaving project at Talladega doesn't create single groove racing conditions like we might see at Charlotte or anywhere else we race. In fact, putting a new surface down should make the racing even more exciting. The way the surface has been has limited the teams on what springs we run because of the bumps and dips. The new surface should allow us more options and to really get the cars down, which will make for some good side-by-side racing... or I should say side-by-side-by-side racing."
The overall project included repavement of the entire racing surface as well as pit road and the skid pad along the front stretch. Any project that calls for the resurfacing of a race track is a grandiose project, but the magnitude of the work to be performed at Talladega was so great that it would be difficult for many to understand without seeing pictures. As a result, the public relations staff at Talladega documented the entire process throughout the summer, taking pictures of paving equipment from high above the facility.
The project started in May, on the heels of the conclusion of the Aaron's 499 race weekend in late April. Track president Grant Lynch used a track hoe excavator to make the ceremonial first dig into the existing asphalt that had to be removed before workers could begin resurfacing the facility.
Once the old asphalt was removed, a grading process started in mid-May to prepare the base for the new surface. Work crews started the actual paving process by applying the stone CTB (cement treated base) layer in the turns of Talladega Superspeedway, in preparation for the two-inch asphalt base that would be applied next.
The actual application of the two-inch asphalt started in mid-June in turns one and two, where bulldozers served as supports while a crane-supported conveyor fed the asphalt to the ground in the 33-degree banked turns. The paving in turns one and two concluded in early July, when crews turned their attention to the 4,300-foot area that includes the frontstretch and tri-oval of the facility.
Attention turned toward turns three and four in mid-August, where the steps performed in turns one and two were repeated.
During the grading process, workers also improved pit road and the skid areas of the track. The project called for the widening of the pit road area to the creation of new concrete pit stalls on pit road, which are two feet wider than the previous stalls. While the pit road area was repaved, it was also widened by 10 feet.
NASCAR competitors will finally get their chance to see and race on the end result. In the end, it is a new racing surface at a track that promises to deliver the same old Talladega action - described best by Jarrett as "side-by-side-by-side-by side racing."
