Out with the Old, In with the New

I've had some readers tell me they enjoyed the post on the 1970 season, especially the construction photos. So this installment will just be photos of the old half-mile being demolished and a few construction photos of the current facility. I had more construction photos but lost them in a hard drive crash. The one that taught me the lesson about backing everything up.

Before we tear down the half-mile and build the high-banked five-eighths-mile track, lets look at some photos that are fascinating to me. Did you ever wonder about in the days before computers and cad programs just how construction projects were envisioned?

These photos show how they figured out what the new banking would look like. They made what appears to be grids made out of string and put them in place out on the track. These string models show on the old track what the banking would look like on the new track. At least best I can figure that's what these are photos of - if anyone can add to or enlighten me, I'm all ears!

All photos are from the Jay Donoho collection, although I have a feeling some, if not all construction photos were taken by Fred Marchman.

So now we have an idea of where the new track will be and what the banking will look like. It's time to demolish the half-mile.

There are a couple of more demolition photos in the story on the 1970 season.

Now that the half-mile is gone, it's time to build the new facility. As with most construction projects, this one got a little behind schedule. The 1970 Flameless 300 season opened was scheduled for May 30. Tickets were printed with that date. But as of May, the track was no where near ready. June 30, still not ready.

The Nashville 420 Grand National race (now Cup) was originally scheduled for Sunday, July 26, 1970. There is a photo of Bobby Allison sitting on the couch in Mr. Donoho's office in front of a painting of the scoreboard with that date on the scoreboard.

Television would change the plans. In December of 1969, ABC's Wide World of Sports announced they would televise five of the 1970 races live, being joined in progress with the final hour and a half being shown live on Wide World.

Nashville was selected as one of the races to be shown. To accommodate the television schedule, the race had to be moved back to Saturday, the 25th of July. That also meant the track must be completed!

Construction crews were put on overtime and at 2:30 in the afternoon on a blazing hot July 25th, with ABC cameras looking on, the Nashville 420 took the green flag. The race was joined live on the network at 4:00 local time, and finished in time to do an interview with winner Bobby Isaac and got off the air on time at 5:30. It was the first nationally televised live sporting event from Nashville.

Some construction photos:

Adding fill dirt for the high banks

The track under construction and the stands with no roof

The scoreboard being lifted into place

A little about this final photo. This was taken during the 420. Click on the photo to enlarge it and look at the white booth in the center top of the stands. That's the broadcast booth where Jim McKay and Chris Economaki called the race from. You can see the Wide World of Sports banner at the bottom.

Also notice the facility wasn't quite completed yet. Look between the top of the stands and the roof - no windows, no offices for the track or the Fair Board. They wouldn't be completed until later, but they also weren't needed in order for the race to make the scheduled tv date.