Satellite Photo of State Fair Park March, 2000 The direction of travel on the oval for road races was clockwise, opposite normal circle track practice. The infield road course is still clearly visible in this aerial photo and on the ground. The infield paving itself is badly degraded. Cars dove into the infield through a removed section of guardrail at the northwest corner of the oval. They wiggled down to the hairpin at the south end of the oval. Once through the hairpin, it was generally flat out for small cars until you approached the re-entry to the oval, again through a removed section of the guardrail. Hard braking was necessary before you got to the oval as the track was very rough as it transitioned onto the oval paving and you started climbing the steep banking. More than a few cars met a heavy end by not controlling their re-entry to the oval and spinning into the concrete wall that surrounds the course. The oval surface was kept smooth for the pro races and allowed high speeds with relative safety. One might expect that the narrow re-entry to the infield would be a frequent source of disaster, but that was not the case. Drivers respected it. The start finish line was the same used for the oval, midway in front of the west grandstands. |
Another aerial shot found on the Internet |
