A race to the finish

The Las Vegas Motor Speedway reinvents itself to meet the burgeoning demands of NASCAR fans

by Clair D. Urbain

The fast lane in Las Vegas got a little faster this year. The Las Vegas Motor Speedway continues to upgrade its track and fan experience, setting its sights on becoming one of the premier NASCAR tracks in the United States.

What a difference a year makes. When drivers roll onto the track to chase the checkered flag at the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 March 11, they’ll be driving on a completely revamped track with steeper banks, a fan-friendly pit area aptly named the Neon Garage and a media center that will make race coverage even more exciting and complete, says Paul Dean, president of Behade Builders, Inc., the general contractor in charge of overseeing the projects on the track. The company incorporates the philosophy of lean and green construction techniques to design-assist three time-sensitive projects on the site.

General contractor
“We are the general contractor for the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on this project. It includes increasing the banks on the track from 12 to 20 degrees and raising the track height by as much as 8' in some areas.

We have also been involved with improving the lighting and the public address system on the track and changing the entrance tunnels to the infield,” says Dean.

The track work was completed in time for the Craftsman Truck Series race in September. “Speeds increased as much as 20 mph because of the new track. It will be interesting to see where it goes at the Nextel Cup race in March,” he says.

The track’s new design brings pit road 150' closer to spectators along the home straightaway and the higher track elevation actually improves race visibility for fans in the stands. The new home straightaway design includes a 1/4-mile oval in front of the main grandstand for Legends, Bandolero and Thunder Roadster racing events.

“Building up the track and its banking required a borrow pit in the infield. There was also quite a bit of demolition on the site, so we used the borrow pit as a place to bury all of the crushed concrete from the demolition projects. We also used the ground-up concrete from the demolition projects to create a hard base on the infield for RV parking.

“While we are employing ‘green’ construction methods, we haven’t pursued any ‘green’ type of certification. It’s simply part of the process to maintain costs so that the buildings aren’t so expensive that you can’t build them,” he says.

“The operation costs are huge here and anything we can do to reduce construction costs is good for the track.”

Infield excitement
There’s plenty of action inside the oval as well. Old pit garages have been demolished and the new Neon Garages will offer unprecedented access to credentialed fans to get an up-close look at what’s going on in the pits.

“The Neon Garage is made up of four tilt-up concrete and metal structures arranged in a diamond pattern in the infield, just behind the Media Center. Fans will be able to see what’s going on in each garage area through two windows at ground level. A saw-tooth design maximizes visibility into each garage area. On the second level of the Neon Garage, visitors can look down on the cars and see crews working. The car trailers back up to the garage on the outside perimeter,” says Dean.

“There will be a sports bar with big screens to watch the on-track action, concession stands and continuous entertainment acts that represent Las Vegas’ best shows. As an added bonus, the speedway is moving its Winner’s Circle into the Neon Garage,” says Dean.

The fast-track construction of the Neon Garage area uses 12' tilt-up walls that were poured onsite. “Instead of being poured on 2" waste slabs, we poured the slabs 6" thicker so they can stay and the race car crew trailers can park on them. That saved time and money and made the waste slabs usable,” says Dean.

The second floor viewing gallery is a steel structure built on top of the 12' tilt-up panels. The site lines are compact so fans can see all the way around the track.

“We worked closely with the structural engineers and architects in North Carolina to make these garages work. The second deck is the roof to the garage. It has to be waterproof so we have used a polymer elastomeric coating that is troweled on. People can walk on it but it can also stretch. These buildings will expand in the heat. The Busch Series garages, which are already built, expand as much as 2.5" between hot and cold weather. This thermoplastic material from Firestone is called EPDM, has a better look from the grandstands and also reflects heat very well,” he adds.

The crowning jewel of the infield is the three-story, 58,600 sq. ft. Media Center that sits unobtrusively front-and-center of the infield.

The glass and steel structure will accommodate more than 500 members of the media as well as a spa for race drivers and their families. It also houses drivers’ meeting rooms, a cafeteria and race support functions. The facility is topped off with a third floor of luxury corporate suites and a veranda on which suite guests can view the races.

Media Center energy-efficient
Although the facility is designed with luxury and comfort in mind, its energy requirements are downright frugal. Super-insulated panels made of 3/8" coated steel panels sandwiched by 3" polystyrene insulation are used on the outside of the building, while the 6" space between interior and exterior walls is filled with fiberglass insulation. The 3/8"-thick high-efficiency windows further reduce glare and cooling requirements.

“Even though the building is used only three days a year, the design has to meet the requirements of a fully occupied building. The owners have used geothermal energy at the Bristol Raceway with excellent results and we are incorporating it into this facility,” says Dean. “Geothermal offers the least expensive cooling available. Even when the buildings aren’t occupied, they must be climate-controlled to protect the interior finishes from intense desert heat.”

Geothermal system
The geothermal system pulls energy from water drawn from 150 400'-deep wells. “The capital cost of geothermal is about the same as installing chillers and boilers but it reduces electricity use by up to 60 percent. The system runs on 5 hp motors.

“The Media Center has 90 tons of makeup air capacity, but we don’t ever expect that much will be needed because the facility is so energy efficient. The geothermal wells are used to cool the compressors during the day for cooling, then at night to cool the water in the system. There is 250 ton air conditioning capacity in the new building on the field.
We are even cooling the food coolers and elevator oil coolers with geothermal energy,” Dean says.

Water conservation is as important as energy conservation, stresses Dean. “We are using waterless urinals at the park, which saves as much as 700,000 gal. of water annually. This facility is used to capacity only three days a year, so everything needs to be as efficient as possible.”

Even in a nearly 60,000 sq.-ft. building, space is at a premium. “To meet the communications needs of the complex without eating up valuable floor space, we built a vault below ground to house data and phone equipment. It handles all of the television, NASCAR, pit crew and fire alarm communication. This really is the heart of the infield,” says Dean.

Building process
With less than a year to complete three major projects, Behade Builders partners with subcontractors it trusts that have a reputation to get the job finished – no matter what. Still, many tasks that could be easily subcontracted remain in the hands of Dean’s crews.

“I have 36 employees on the site who do framing, drywall and finish painting and installing acoustic ceilings. We don’t sub this out because we want to control the finished product. We do this to save the owner money and provide quality control and to help keep the cost as low as possible. It’s also easier to handle change orders when we are doing the work instead of subs at this stage of the game,” says Dean.

For greatest efficiency, Dean believes that cleanliness is as important as progress on the jobsite. “We have five laborers who spend much of their time picking up trash and keeping the site clean. It greatly affects productivity and is safer for all of the workers,” he concludes.

Published in the January/February 2007 issue of Contractor Tools and Supplies magazine.

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