ForConstructionPros.com

Drag strips are all about speed. Paving drag strips is all about logistics.

So when JTL Group, Billings, MT, was awarded the contract to construct Intermountain Motor Sports Park's quarter-mile drag strip, JTL sat down and put together a plan. And a backup plan. They considered the challenges, analyzed the site, studied the tolerances — and produced a smooth new drag strip recently recognized with a Quality in Construction Award from the National Asphalt Pavement Association.

The first 430 feet of the 4,000-foot-long drag strip was a concrete burn out slab; the remaining 3,570 feet was hot mix asphalt. Plans also called for construction of concrete barrier walls on each side of the track, and construction of the track itself with no seams or joints (other than on the centerline).

"Designing and paving a race track is interesting because the tolerances are so narrow," says Bill Oberlander, JTL Group project manager. "You can't have any cracks, for example, because the more cracks there are in the pavement surface the slower the cars go. It's all about smoothness and contact area and when there are cracks, even cracks as small as ¼ inch wide, the tires aren't in contact with the pavement. Cracks reduce the traction and less contact with the pavement means slower cars."

Owned by Knife River Corp., JTL operates five divisions in Montana and one in Wyoming doing site work; road, street and subdivision paving; grading; and concrete work. The Billings operation employs 125 people peak season and runs two or three paving crews at a time, depending on job size. A Billings-based sister company, Empire Sand & Gravel, was also involved in the drag strip job.

When JTL planned the drag strip project it built the concrete start pad first. At the end of the concrete burn out pad to support the asphalt they built a concrete step beneath the pavement to support the asphalt.