As much as I go on about the lore of Drag City Raceway, you would think that by now I would already have posted something like this. So file under “better late than never” as I present my first annotated bird’s eye views of the track! Racing in the counter-clockwise direction as is the tradition here in ‘Murrrr’ca, the turns are numbered in sequence from the starting line!
1. Banked Turn 1
2. Banked Turn 2
3. Beginning of chicane
4. Middle of chicane
5. End of chicane
6. unnamed-turn 6
7. Gentle Bend
8. Beginning of “S-bend”
9. Middle of “S-bend”
10. End of “S-bend”
11. unnamed-turn 11
12. unnamed-turn 12
13. unnamed-turn 13
14. Hairpin 1
15. Hairpin 2
16. unnamed-turn 16
17. Corkscrew (this used to be a corkscrew but the track was redesigned due to an excessive number of wrecks here, but it is still referred to as “The Corkscrew” even though it no longer technically is)
18. Sweeper Turn
19. End of Sweeper Turn
20. Dead Man’s Curve
The final turn before the straightaway, as innocuous looking as it may be, is actually the most dangerous turn in the track: it’s sharper than it looks, and because it proceeds the quarter mile straightaway, it’s not uncommon for drivers to wipe out at this critical spot as they go through the turn itching to blast up to full speed and can make the mistake of getting on it and instant too early! For this reason, this is the turn that bears the nickname Dead Man’s Curve!
In addition to this view of the track, there is also a look at Bear Valley Road, The main business route through Wardglenn; this shows some of the businesses that compose this part of the town, although of course they are all dwarfed by the track and its parking lot.
I post these in the hope that it will provide some context for the blog posts, in particular for a special upcoming post I’m going to drop on Saturday morning! This is one that I’ve been promising – remember this post? – but it’s highly experimental, and I’m about to go balls-out on this project without having any real idea how people might react to it! It might be one of the best ideas I’ve ever had, or it might go over like a lead balloon! If you want to find out, be sure to tune in this Saturday for Drag City’s first-ever installment of Saturday Morning Time Machine!
Some great shots and I can imagine the Goodyear blimp flying over Drag City to get those pictures! This was a great idea, especially with the Scooby Doo post you just posted.