Wednesday, July 21, 2004 | 9:47 a.m.
Since the day it opened in the fall of 1996, Las Vegas Motor Speedway's 1.5-mile oval has received rave reviews from drivers for being smooth, wide and extremely "racy."
It might still be smooth and lend itself to two- and three-wide racing, but the racing surface won't be quite as wide once workers complete installation of the new SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers that are being installed on approximately 75 percent of the speedway's outer concrete safety walls.
Installation of the SAFER barriers began Monday at LVMS and should be completed in about two weeks, according to Speedway Motorsports Inc. construction manager Randy Ray. The steel-and-foam barriers extend 30 inches from the existing concrete walls onto the track, which had been 70 feet wide in the turns and 65 feet wide through the front straightaway.
LVMS general manager Chris Powell said the new barriers, which are designed to reduce the force of impact on a driver in a crash, actually could improve the racing at his speedway in addition to providing a safer environment.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how it changes the racing line of the competitors," Powell said. "It's 30 inches that they can't use coming off (turn) four and coming off (turn) two. Now, 30 inches here is probably not as important as 30 inches at Charlotte or Atlanta, where their tracks are considerably narrower and more steeply banked, but it will have an effect nonetheless.
"I think it will narrow the racing groove a little bit and that should (result in) a little bit better competition coming off those corners."
Although some NASCAR Nextel Cup Series drivers have voiced complaints about the SAFER barriers cutting into the racing lines at other tracks, most are in agreement that the device is welcomed in a sport that is inherently dangerous.
"Every driver in the garage talks about how happy they are when they see those (barriers) at a racetrack," Nextel Cup driver Jamie McMurray said last month. "I've hit a wall without those and I've hit a wall with them and it's a huge difference.
"As a driver, it makes you feel that much more comfortable doing what we do. I blew a right-front tire at Michigan last year and killed the wall. I'm definitely thrilled to see all of these racetracks put the SAFER walls up."
Las Vegas native Kurt Busch, who is in his fourth full season in the Nextel Cup Series, was among the first NASCAR drivers to test the SAFER barrier when he crashed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the 2002 Brickyard 400. Busch spun and backed his car into the wall in turn three at the speedway after being tapped from behind by Jimmy Spencer.
"It seems that it did its job if I'm able to walk away from a 200-mph hit," Busch said of the barrier shortly after the incident.
In 2002, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway became the first speedway to install the SAFER barrier, which was designed by Dr. Dean Sicking and the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Indy Racing League and IMS were instrumental in developing the project and NASCAR officials have been so impressed with its effectiveness that they have recommended that virtually all of the oval tracks that host Nextel Cup events have the system in place by the start of the 2005 season.
Ray, who also oversaw the installation of the SAFER barriers earlier this year at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., and Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth, said the system being installed at LVMS is a "second-generation" version of the wall that debuted at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2002.
The SAFER barrier at LVMS consists of five 8x8-inch steel tubes stacked vertically and welded together in 28-foot lengths. The 2,800-pound sections are attached to the existing concrete wall by heavy-duty straps, and 22-inch-thick blocks of energy-absorbing foam are placed every 6 feet between the concrete wall and the steel barrier.
Ray said the 28-foot sections are custom designed for each track, assembled by the manufacturer, Elrod Corp., in Indiana and shipped to each facility.
Workers will install approximately 6,107 linear feet of the barrier at LVMS, covering the outside walls in each of the four turns and through most of the front straightaway. Track officials would not disclose costs associated with the project, but with a reported price tag of $175 per linear foot for materials alone, Speedway Motorsports Inc. is believed to be investing more than $1 million to install the SAFER barriers at LVMS.
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