Granite City Motor Park will offer an alternative to yuke tires, turtles and berms, with Acerbis track markers. These blue plastic delineator sticks will help separate the racing surface from the infield at the Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, dirt oval. While new to oval-track racing, you can readily find the Acerbis track markers in motocross.
“Our track owner, James Trantina, saw the markers used at a motocross event and decided we should try them this season on the dirt oval,” said track promoter Brian Riedemann. “Every racetrack in America has that problem — cars hit the infield tires, destroying the nose or damaging the front end. It is a costly problem.”
Last year, Granite City Motor Park tried a berm at the bottom of the track. Unfortunately, when cars ran into the berm, it spread dry dirt onto the track.
This year’s solution shouldn’t cause as much havoc. When a car hits one, they just flop over and pop back up. It shouldn’t damage the car or mess up the track surface, according to Riedemann. The track will continue to use yuke tires, too. They hope the blue markers give ample warning before racers reach them.
“We are aiming for racers to see the blue markers and know that the next [yuke] tire is in line with these blue sticks — within inches of them,” Riedemann said. “If you clip one of these markers first, you may be hitting a tire next. Acerbis asked that we try the markers and they are looking for feedback.”
Acerbis manufactures the markers in a variety of colors, and you can find them sold at several retailers, including Walmart.
“Most of the cars will hit them bumper first, and that will be a warning that they are close to hitting the infield tires,” Riedemann said. “We will put them to the test in April. It may or may not work. It doesn’t hurt to try.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
