Why was Lake Lloyd created?
Posted on 22. Mar, 2010 by Iwind in History
If you want to know why Lake Lloyd at the Daytona Speedway, was created, you might ask Al Unser and Dave Stacy. They might well be tempted to tell you that Lake Lloyd was created to murder race car drivers. Even Tom Pistone, a NASCAR driver in the 1960’s, kept an oxygen tank and mask in his race car. He could not swim and feared the day he might flip his car into the lake. Unser and Stacy have both done this. Both men survived, of course.
In November of 1957, William France, an original founder of NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), started building what is now the infamous Daytona International Speedway. Because he wanted the fans in the stands to have the best view of the race cars as they rounded through the turns of the track, France had the engineers design the steepest curves they could possibly engineer — for 1957 at least. This meant digging out enough dirt to create a 31-degree grade to the curves of the race track.
The infield inside the track is a whopping 180 acres. An area of 29 acres of dirt was excavated from the ground within the track’s infield to build the steeply graded curves of the track. All that dirt coming out of the ground left a huge hole. Since the area around Daytona has a high water table, the hole naturally filled with up with water. That is how and why Lake Lloyd was created.
Whether or not Mr. France planned for this to happen is not known, but the lake that formed in the track’s infield has become quite a luctrative perk for Daytona. The lake is often used for powerboat racing, water skiing exhibitions, car shows, swap meets and many other such activities. Lake Lloyd also offers premium camping with views of the super stretch portion of the race track. No wall was ever built between the track and the lake, so there have been a few race cars go into the drink as a result of crashes. No one, fortunately, has been killed.
Popularity: 5%
|
|
|