An update on Daytona International Speedway following Hurricane Ian
Daytona Beach, Florida is home to the NASCAR headquarters as well as the famed Daytona International Speedway. The area receives an average of 51 inches of rain per year.
View the viral Daytona flooding photo below.
On Wednesday September 28th, the area received 1.72 inches. That was followed by a 7.28 inch downpour on Thursday. The area was handed nearly 9 inches over the course of just two days, nearly 20% of the yearly average.
As it approached Florida, the eye alone was 34 miles wide. It put Ft Myers underwater and brought devastation to the coastal areas.
Hurricane Ian then tracked its way across the entire state of Florida, ripping through central Florida. It finally exited Florida near Daytona Beach, where it caused flash flooding.
Daytona International Speedway was in its path. Yet, the storm had weaken significantly since first striking land on the west coast of Florida.
Update on Daytona flooding
Track officials noted that there was no structural damage to the facility buildings or the track itself. Some dirt washed away under the banking. That dirt has already been replaced and it’s been resodded.
The infield of the track features a lake stocked with fish. However, following the storm, the lake grew significantly.
Additionally, most of the road course sections caught water. The backstretch wall also caught significant runoff and flooded half of the backstretch.
The photo below highlights how flooded the track was.
Other flooding photos from Daytona went viral, showing significantly more rain than the track actually received last week. However, those photos were from a storm about a decade prior.
NASCAR is set to return to the track in February 2023.
