Post by djarvis on Aug 25, 2010 14:42:48 GMT -5
Read this online today, found it amusing, thought I would share:
(Aug. 24) -- Recently, I was in West Memphis, Ark., at the Riverside International Speedway.
The track is the site where many famed drivers, from Richard Petty to Al Unser Sr. to A.J. Foyt, raced along with local legends like Clarence "Hooker" Hood. A young Elvis Presley hung out here in the early 1950s, and Johnny Cash used to perform here as well.
The speedway had been chosen by the Hampton Inn Save-A-Landmark program as its 54th North American historic site to be refurbished.
As the national spokesman for the 10-year-old program, I was there to speak to both local media and outlets around the country as part of a satellite media tour (while dozens of local Hampton Inn employees would be at the track to help paint and landscape).
The night before the event, our team had dinner just across the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tenn., at Pearl's Oyster House.
The steamy heat and humidity wave that's been blanketing the South for weeks was in full boil outside. But inside Pearl's, it was as cool and fresh as the gulf oysters on the half shell.
Over dinner, I chatted with Clayton Allen, who for several years has owned the historic track that was built for dirt racing in 1949.
The affable 47-year-old told childhood tales of visiting the track (he grew up nearby), describing the hundreds of pounds of mud each week that would splatter and cake both the cars and the fans.
Not knowing much about dirt track racing, I asked Allen how often they have to haul in fresh dirt to keep the track in shape.
His eyes grew wide. Then he rolled them, laughed and shook his head.
"That's a real can of worms," he drawled loudly, "the $64,000 question, because you see -- it's never needed dirt."
He paused to let that fact sink in.
Chris Epting
Clayton Allen, the former owner of the Riverside International Speedway, says no one can explain the mystery of the mud.
"It's the biggest mystery I know. And I get asked about a lot. Tons of dirt gets thrown out of that track, but we've never had to replace any of it. Not a bit. And nobody can tell me why."
Allen went on to explain that the track is comprised of a silty, sticky, claylike mud called "gumbo." Other dirt tracks use a dustier, sandier red soil.
The dense, murky Arkansas Delta, where the track is located, is known for producing this rich river gumbo. But even though the Riverside International Speedway is located less than a mile from the Mississippi, Allen said the mystery is still hard to explain.
"It doesn't happen anywhere but right on that spot. It's like the track just regenerates itself. Never seen anything like it, nor have the drivers or previous owners."
(Allen added later that years before he owned the track, dirt was brought in just once to repair some vandalism that took place on one straightaway.)
So what is happening on this, one of the oldest dirt tracks in the country and the first racetrack to gain National Historic Landmark status? Just where does the dirt come from?
Allen led me on a tour of the track the next day during the Save-A-Landmark refurbishment. He crunched across the crust of the dark brown clay in the stiflingly tropical, triple-digit temperatures.
Just several yards beyond the track, he illustrated how, when digging down, you almost immediately hit white river sand. And how the clay that never goes away seems to exist just where the track is.
"It has a mind of its own. There's no other surface like it, and I've never seen anything like what happens at this track. Other tracks you need to truck dirt in. Even the muddy ones," said former owner Glenn Graves.
"Now, the track does butt up close to a levee at the river, and that may have something to do with it. But it's still strange that all this mud we lose from the cars kicking it out never needs to be replaced."
Allen said that when the track was built in 1949, the gumbo soil was already there, being pushed up through the earth, and merely needed to be shaped into a track. "It's as if nature willed it to us."
Ben Shelton, a Memphis-area civil engineer and racing enthusiast, told AOL News that that whether or not nature has willed a track, he thinks it's most certainly playing a part.
"We call it 'blue river mud,' " he said. "A lot of organics, trees and things, break up underground to create this rich gumbo. As close as the track is to the Mississippi River, it may simply be sitting atop a natural outcrop that forces mud to the surface on a regular basis."
So is it a naturally weird phenomenon that results in the perfect place for a dirt track?
Allen's not sure that gets to the bottom of things.
"You can almost trace a path to create the shape of the track that's here," he said. "That's where the gumbo is and it stops just outside the oval. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I'll tell you what, I've never seen anything like this in all my years as a racing fan. I think there was supposed to be a dirt rack, right here, now and always.
"It was here before us, and it'll be here long after us."
(Aug. 24) -- Recently, I was in West Memphis, Ark., at the Riverside International Speedway.
The track is the site where many famed drivers, from Richard Petty to Al Unser Sr. to A.J. Foyt, raced along with local legends like Clarence "Hooker" Hood. A young Elvis Presley hung out here in the early 1950s, and Johnny Cash used to perform here as well.
The speedway had been chosen by the Hampton Inn Save-A-Landmark program as its 54th North American historic site to be refurbished.
As the national spokesman for the 10-year-old program, I was there to speak to both local media and outlets around the country as part of a satellite media tour (while dozens of local Hampton Inn employees would be at the track to help paint and landscape).
The night before the event, our team had dinner just across the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tenn., at Pearl's Oyster House.
The steamy heat and humidity wave that's been blanketing the South for weeks was in full boil outside. But inside Pearl's, it was as cool and fresh as the gulf oysters on the half shell.
Over dinner, I chatted with Clayton Allen, who for several years has owned the historic track that was built for dirt racing in 1949.
The affable 47-year-old told childhood tales of visiting the track (he grew up nearby), describing the hundreds of pounds of mud each week that would splatter and cake both the cars and the fans.
Not knowing much about dirt track racing, I asked Allen how often they have to haul in fresh dirt to keep the track in shape.
His eyes grew wide. Then he rolled them, laughed and shook his head.
"That's a real can of worms," he drawled loudly, "the $64,000 question, because you see -- it's never needed dirt."
He paused to let that fact sink in.
Chris Epting
Clayton Allen, the former owner of the Riverside International Speedway, says no one can explain the mystery of the mud.
"It's the biggest mystery I know. And I get asked about a lot. Tons of dirt gets thrown out of that track, but we've never had to replace any of it. Not a bit. And nobody can tell me why."
Allen went on to explain that the track is comprised of a silty, sticky, claylike mud called "gumbo." Other dirt tracks use a dustier, sandier red soil.
The dense, murky Arkansas Delta, where the track is located, is known for producing this rich river gumbo. But even though the Riverside International Speedway is located less than a mile from the Mississippi, Allen said the mystery is still hard to explain.
"It doesn't happen anywhere but right on that spot. It's like the track just regenerates itself. Never seen anything like it, nor have the drivers or previous owners."
(Allen added later that years before he owned the track, dirt was brought in just once to repair some vandalism that took place on one straightaway.)
So what is happening on this, one of the oldest dirt tracks in the country and the first racetrack to gain National Historic Landmark status? Just where does the dirt come from?
Allen led me on a tour of the track the next day during the Save-A-Landmark refurbishment. He crunched across the crust of the dark brown clay in the stiflingly tropical, triple-digit temperatures.
Just several yards beyond the track, he illustrated how, when digging down, you almost immediately hit white river sand. And how the clay that never goes away seems to exist just where the track is.
"It has a mind of its own. There's no other surface like it, and I've never seen anything like what happens at this track. Other tracks you need to truck dirt in. Even the muddy ones," said former owner Glenn Graves.
"Now, the track does butt up close to a levee at the river, and that may have something to do with it. But it's still strange that all this mud we lose from the cars kicking it out never needs to be replaced."
Allen said that when the track was built in 1949, the gumbo soil was already there, being pushed up through the earth, and merely needed to be shaped into a track. "It's as if nature willed it to us."
Ben Shelton, a Memphis-area civil engineer and racing enthusiast, told AOL News that that whether or not nature has willed a track, he thinks it's most certainly playing a part.
"We call it 'blue river mud,' " he said. "A lot of organics, trees and things, break up underground to create this rich gumbo. As close as the track is to the Mississippi River, it may simply be sitting atop a natural outcrop that forces mud to the surface on a regular basis."
So is it a naturally weird phenomenon that results in the perfect place for a dirt track?
Allen's not sure that gets to the bottom of things.
"You can almost trace a path to create the shape of the track that's here," he said. "That's where the gumbo is and it stops just outside the oval. Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I'll tell you what, I've never seen anything like this in all my years as a racing fan. I think there was supposed to be a dirt rack, right here, now and always.
"It was here before us, and it'll be here long after us."