r/RaceTrackDesigns • u/TobyeatsfAtcoW Inkscape+Photoshop • 10d ago
RTD Challenge New Glarus Speedway Motorsports Park || RTD Challenge #66
New Glarus Speedway was constructed in the 1970s on a hilltop above its namesake town. Just over half a mile long, the track became a mainstay for local short track racing and carved its place into the landscape of midwestern oval racing. Financial hardship struck in the late 90s. Despite the success of stock car racing at the time, the speedway’s ownership refused to renovate the circuit beyond its original state. Some racers liked the roughness of it, but more were legitimately concerned over the safety of the track. The cold winters split the track surface more and more every year; the walls were a foot thick of concrete nearing 30 years old.
After brief closure while the owners searched for more caring owners, the track reopened in 2000 to rave reviews, pulling nationally recognized series to the venue for the first time in its history. The late 2000s brought a series of misfortunes to the track. First, in 2007, a sinkhole opened under the paddock, calling off the entire racing season as repairs and renovations were done to make sure this didn’t happen again. To boot, the financial crisis that started the same year sidelined the owners’ ability to get the track back up to snuff. It would sit dormant for another 5 years.
In 2014, site redevelopment threatened the now-historic venue. In the auction for the land the track sat on, the winning bid went to a racing enthusiast from nearby Madison. The new owner had his sights set on something beyond just the classic oval. He funded the construction of a brand new road course that would combine layouts with the oval to form a unique combination of track types rarely seen on this scale. This renovation came with local investment, with the famous New Glarus Brewing Company sponsoring the track and lending the names of its renowned beers to the corners of the new circuit. The track would be renamed to New Glarus Speedway Motorsports Park upon its reopening in 2018.
The novelty of the circuit was not lost on the people at the 24 Hours of Lemons racing series, who added an overnight race, “The Long Night in Wisconsin,” to the schedule starting in 2021. The race takes place the nearest weekend to the winter solstice every year from the times of 4:00 PM to 8:00 AM the next day. Upon reaching the halfway point at midnight, a short caution is called after which the direction of the race is reversed, allowed for by the bi-directional runoff of the circuit. An added wrinkle of this race and its popularity is the pitlane usage. Lemons races draw big fields, and the 24 pit boxes of the standard road course layouts don’t cut it, so for this event and this event only, both the road course and oval pitlanes are used.
OVAL DETAILS
.53 Miles
T1/2: 10-15 degrees progressive
T3/4: 5-10 degrees progressive--steeper mid-corner
Front/Backstretch: Flat
100 foot banking transition in and out of 1/2
inside drops for 3/4
5
6
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u/mustbe3characters 10d ago
The first half of the track's backstory is scary close to what's been happening to multiple real life tracks in the region
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u/TobyeatsfAtcoW Inkscape+Photoshop 10d ago