Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Google Earth elevation has the starting line at 1,884, and the finish line at 1,888
And you wonder why it is slow.

Atco is 99 at the starting line and 94 at the finish line, and that is why all the D1 cars go fast there.

Pomona, starting line 1,034, finish line 1,015, D7, they really go fast there.

Gainesville, starting line 168, finish line 169.

And finally Atlanta, starting line right lane 687, left lane 689, 330' right 694, left 697, 1/8 mile right 693. left 695, 1,000' right and left 682, finish line right 686, left 687. All up hill to the 1/8 and then down hill. Yes, it is always slow there.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA of course Google is wrong

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Mike, I had no problems with the starting line last year, when I still had the 10.5" tires. Hope they didn't mess it up. LOL
See ya there.

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

wierd, i was always a tenth faster at GB than at kearney (bracket car)....old track (1979ish) not the new one...

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Probably because both the old and new Kearney tracks are about 250 feet higher than Great Bend.

By the way, Google Earth uses ancient USGS topographic maps for its elevation measurements. Those figures often predate any construction on the site so the numbers, (like Atlanta rising ten feet at the 330' mark...LMAO!), are pretty unreliable. Use survey charts for more accurate reference.

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Let's hope that's the case Bret. Otherwise Pomona is not a LEGAL track. At one percent it can be no more than 13.2 feet, and it shows 19 feet. What's the survey chart show?

Jerry

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Pomona is...ummm..."different". The track was grandfathered in when the "one percent grade" rule went into effect in the early 1960s. Pomona really IS 16.7 feet downhill.

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Thanks Bret,

I told Kandra way back in 2001 that Pomona looked to be a little too much downhill. Now I know. It makes one wonder though, that since it was "grandfathered in" but has been redone several times, why it wasn't corrected.

Jerry

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

First time I went there in '68 with my Jr Stocker, I floated the valves at the MPH lights. At that time, being from Div 4, I had never run in that kind of air. Didn't know it was down hill too. LOL I couldn't believe how fast it was. Had a local tell me "this track isn't fast". Really? I wondered where the hell he was used to running. If you ain't bad fast at Pomona, especially in early Feb, you just ain't fast.

Re: Great Bend Kansas track Elevation?
 

Yes, I know that Google Earth is off a little, especially Atlanta. Heck, at the starting line it shows a 2 foot difference from the right lane to the left line. Wouldn't you notice if your opponent looked like he was sitting lower or higher than you.

But, the figures of total rise or fall from start to finish is pretty close to the the figures from a survey chart. Example, 4 feet at Great Bend, survey chart 4.4'. Pomoma, 19 feet, survey chart 16.7'.

Bret, what is the actual readings for Atlanta, should be interesting.

When I first started racing back in 1968 I always wondered why guys from up north would tell me what their times were, but couldn't run those numbers down here in FL. We used to joke with them and said that their tracks were probably downhill. Now, truth or fiction.

Quick question, if Pomoma is actually 16.7', how can any records set there be legitimate.

None of this really matters unless you have a U/SA wagon that has difficulty going uphill.

Ron Ortiz
U/SA downhill...whoopie