More banking is being considered for California's Auto Club Speedway, to improve competition

  Tight racing at California's Auto Club Speedway is usually only after restarts....but the France family has so far declined to make any changes, either to the track itself or the cars, despite sagging attendance in one of the world's biggest and most important markets (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)
  

   By Mike Mulhern
   mikemulhern.net
   
   KANSAS CITY, Kansas
   A major redesign of the Los Angeles area's Auto Club Speedway is being considered, according to the Los Angeles Times, in order to make for better racing.
   The two-mile D-shaped oval, similar in design to Michigan International Speedway, is banked 14 degrees in the corners, with speeds nearly 210 mph entering the turns. Such high speeds, with such relatively low banking, has made for less than thrilling racing in the 10 years the track has been open. And crowds have not been all that impressive.
   The proposal is to almost double the banking, to 23 degrees in the corners. For comparision, Michigan is banked 18 degrees; and Texas World Speedway (also a two-mile D-oval, no longer on the NASCAR tour) is banked 22 degrees. Greg Biffle tested at Texas World and hit 218 mph.
   The cost of the California redesign is estimated at $23 million to $30 million, and reconstruction would take six or seven months.
   The track, which was built by Roger Penske on land about one hour from downtown LA, is owned by the France family's International Speedway Corp.
   Track president Gillian Zucker has been talking with drivers and teams for about two years about whether or not the track needs to be redesigned to make for better, closer racing. She says NASCAR officials have told her that computer simulations of various changes wouldn't work.
    But Goodyear's Greg Stucker says designing a tire for a 23-degree-banked California track shouldn't be a problem. "We run on tracks with a lot more banking than 23 degrees," Stucker pointed out.
   "It would just be a matter of not only looking at the banking but also the corner radius, and is it going to be progressive banking. I don't see any reason we couldn't come up with a package that would work. The intermediate speedway tire we have now works at variously configured tracks, from the 1-1/2-miles to two-miles. I would be pretty confident that something like that would work."
  However Jeff Gordon -- a three-time winner at the California track, to be sure -- says that track doesn't need to be redesigned. "Look at the NFL -- as big a sport as that is, it still doesn't have a franchise in Los Angeles...which says something," Gordon says. "That track is just fine. Is it one of our most exciting tracks? Probably not. But it's a good track. Any problem they have with filling the stands is not because of the track. It's just that there are so many things to do in Southern California." 
   Ryan Newman: "Racing-wise, nobody brags about the racing in California. It might be fuel strategy or a situation that makes it exciting, but to me it's not a great race track, when it comes to places like Richmond or Bristol where we see a lot of great racing."
   But...."I think a 23-degree banked two-mile race track would be way too fast.
   "Put a race track inside of it shaped like Bristol or Richmond and you'd have it."
   Kasey Kahne says 23-degree banking on a two-mile track "would create a Daytona-type race track probably.
   "I kind of like how it is now. It’s a bit boring at times; it’s a bit technical track. For a driver it’s a pretty neat track because it’s technical. It kind of gets spread out and you lose some of that excitement that NASCAR is looking for, that we’re all looking for. How to gain that back is maybe 23 degrees of banking."