NASCAR Track Length Measurements Incorrect

For many years NASCAR measured the length of each track by establishing and measuring an imaginary line 15 feet inside the track outer wall. I don't recollect NASCAR changing the "official" length of any racetrack since the installation of SAFER barriers. Unless NASCAR at the same time changed its measuring formula, all tracks that had SAFER barriers added are now shorter than they used to be and the speeds are incorrect.


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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"
updated by @dave-fulton: 04/15/17 01:44:49PM

That is a very interesting observation, Dave. However, being mathimatically challenged, I'll have to really think about that one. For sure it made the tracks shorter by that measurement, but wouldn't the lines taken by the cars be much the same at most tracks? Wow, now you have fried my inadequate brain for the next couple days.

Tim

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What a change! It's been awhile since I've checked in and I'm quite surprised. It may take me awhile to figure it our but first look it's really great.

The track measurments are taken from the inside racing line out 15 foot I believe.

Nah, Patty... it really was a curiosity question. Some years back (well a few more than some) NASCAR made a huge deal out of remeasuring all of the tracks, which resulted in changes in the measurements of some tracks, aka Martinsville for one. Heck, they had so many different distances for the same track at Richmond I don't remember them all - 1969 track remeasured from .625-mile to .5625-mile; remeasured from .5625-mile to .5-mile; remeasured again from .5-mile to .542-mile prior to the first race of 1970. This was the same darned track, before the expansion to 3/4-mile! I will, however, refrain from asking how they measure the length of road courses, lol. You are right, those azaleas at Martinsville were quite a loss and the day they put concrete in the turns at Darlington all but eliminated the old Darlington stripe from the Armco.


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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

Speaking of that Darlington Armco, here's a 1958 Tom Kirkland photo of Eddie Pagan testing it.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

I was there in 1966 when Earl Balmer almost took out the Turn 1 Darlington Press Box. Note in this NASCAR photo there were now two tiers of Armco. The late Joe Whitlock gave me the original petition that was circulated and signed by the entire press corps that day stating they'd never cover another Darlington race until another press box was built. After ISC bought Darlington, I gave that petition (on the old yellow AP/UPI teletype paper) to Jim Foster for the National Motorsport Press Association Hall of Fame to display at their exhibit at the Joe Weatherly Museum.

This Hugh Boulden photo shows Balmer already had a Darlington stripe before the green flag waved!!!


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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"

During the years I was directly involved working in the NASCAR field, 1980-1999, the measurement rule was DEFINITELY 15 feet in from the outer wall. Here's a copy of an interesting FOX/Sporting News report in 2004:

SAFER causing remeasuring of tracks? Size does matter -- especially when it comes to racetracks. And with the SAFER barriers installed at many NASCAR tracks, the dimensions of the circuits have changed. "We're going to have to remeasure all the tracks where we've put in the SAFER wall," says Jim Hunter, V.P. of corporate communications. "I don't have any idea how it will affect it, but I'm sure it will affect it to some degree." The SAFER walls at Darlington come out 30 inches from the outer wall. NASCAR measures tracks 15 feet in from the outer wall, but it doesn't expect changes in dimensions to be significant enough to affect records.(FoxSports/Sporting News)(3-24-2004)

Jim Reep Jr said:

Nascar complied with the FIA ruling on measuring track length from 18" of the outside wall back in the early 70s. Before that they were measured 18" from the inside. Safer walls change nothing. The rule allows safety modifications.

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"Any Day is Good for Stock Car Racing"