SAFER Barrier to be installed at TMS

[NickHolt]

CONTACT: Sarona Winfrey -- Brian Briscoe

 

-- For Immediate Release --

 

SAFER BARRIER TO BE INSTALLED BY JUNE INDY CAR RACE

FORT WORTH-DALLAS (April 27, 2004) - Installation of the new Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) barriers is slated to begin the week of May 10 at Texas Motor Speedway. The project is scheduled to take two to three weeks and will be completed in time for the June 12 Bombardier 500k Indy Racing League IndyCar Series event.

Approximately 6,300 linear feet will be installed around portions of the 1.5-mile track at a cost of approximately $1.7 million to complete. The work will be done at night to avoid conflicts with the speedway's full schedule of on track events.

"We are pleased the SAFER barriers will be in place before the IRL race," said speedway president Eddie Gossage. "It's unfortunate that it couldn't happen before our NASCAR NEXTEL Cup event back in April, but the engineers that developed the SAFER Barriers only recently completed their survey. This is certainly a big step in the right direction where safety is concerned."

The speedway spent $400,000 on upgrades to the crash fence prior to the April Samsung/RadioShack 500 race week. The existing fence on the outside crash wall was reinforced and a new 10-foot fence was constructed on top of the inner crash wall.

The speedway's parent company, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. has placed Wes Harris, SMI vice president of development, in charge of the project.

The steel tube and foam SAFER barrier was developed by the University of Nebraska, the Indy Racing League and NASCAR. John Rohde, associate professor of civil engineering for the University of Nebraska, met with speedway officials in late January to do a site survey.