2013 Daytona Supercross Track Construction – By the Numbers
Once the pits cleared up for the 55th annual Daytona 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race earlier this week, crews began constructing the Ricky Carmichael designed circuit that will be used for Daytona Supercross by Honda on Saturday, March 9, during Daytona 200 Week.
The course is being built in the tri-oval area of Daytona International Speedway between pit road and the start/finish line. The design from Carmichael, a 150-time AMA race winner, is nearly identical to last year’s circuit with the starting gate on Daytona’s pit lane. And like last year, this position at DIS will also give fans a great view of turn one.
Besides the tricky layout of last year’s course, the Supercross riders were further challenged due to slick and muddy conditions. Taking the win at 2012 Daytona SX was James Stewart, then riding for Joe Gibbs Racing Suzuki. Stewart was joined on the podium by Davi Millsaps (then Yamaha) and Kevin Winham (retired, Honda).
Ricky Carmichael says: “Due to the weather conditions, the riders never really faced the track I designed last year so I decided to bring the design back again this year. No matter how easy you design the track, or how technically hard you make it, it’s definitely a man’s track and only the strong survive here. I believe it is one of the best designs I have ever come up with.”
This will be the sixth year 15-time AMA Champion Carmichael has designed Daytona’s layout. The track is being constructed by Bomber Built, which is owned by three-time AMA 125cc National Motocross Champion Mark Barnett.
Here are some of the numbers regarding the Daytona Supercross track build:
- 219 – Number of truck loads of dirt
- 6,000 – Number in tons of dirt
- 8 – Number of trucks used to transport the dirt into the Speedway
- 2 – Number of days to bring all of the dirt into the track
- 40 – Number of jumps on the Supercross course
- 2 – Number of whoop sections
- 450 –Number of tuff blocks with Honda covers for safety
- 3,280 – Mileage in feet of the Supercross course
- 500 – Number of man-hours (approximate) to set up the Daytona Supercross By Honda course
- In addition, one crawler, one front loader and two skid skeeters are used to move the dirt during construction.
Daytona International Speedway has been home to the original Supercross since 1971 – the longest continuous Supercross event in America – and this marks the 22nd year that Honda has sponsored the event.
Among the Supercross greats that have captured the Daytona Supercross By Honda include Bob Hannah, Jeff Stanton, Jeremy McGrath, Carmichael and last year’s champion James Stewart.
For more information and tickets for the Daytona Supercross By Honda, visit daytonainternationalspeedway.com or call 1-800-PITSHOP.
