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Carl Myers (who owns Sweeteners Plus, sponsor of Tim McCreadie's late model) and John Wight have been on this for a while:


SYNTHETIC DIRT TRACK SURFACE - It looks like the
planned test of a synthetic dirt track surface at Brewerton will not
happen this fall as hoped. You might remember back in October a
story in this column regarding the whispers of a new 3/4 mile dirt
track in the Brewerton area that would have a one-of-a kind surface. Glenn Donnelly, John Wight and Carl Myers were reported
to be part of the project.
The hope was to test this new track surface on a portion of the
current Brewerton Speedway owned by Wight before the cold
weather settled into the area. Hoosier Tire had already been contacted and was ready to be involved with different compounds.
At Charlotte last weekend Wight said the project had been held
up while Myers worked to find the mixture he feels comfortable
would work to develop the proper surface. A simular synthetic surface is used in horse racing in the United States, Canada, United
Kingdom, France, Ireland, Turkey and Australia. It’s also used on
the warning path in the outfield of the new Yankee Stadium in
New York City.
A synthetic surface may be desirable because it can offer consistent racing conditions in inclement weather. Manufacturers of
synthetic horse racetrack surface materials promote the fact that
synthetic tracks have drainage attributes that are better than natural dirt or clay surfaces, which makes tracks fast under circumstances that would normally result in sloppy, slow or muddy
conditions. In other situations such as cold weather, these surfaces
allow racing to be continued when it might otherwise be canceled.
There are several such types of synthetic racetrack surfaces being
used worldwide in horse racing. Polytrack has become synonymous with horse racing surfaces. Polytrack has the texture of natural dirt but is lighter in color. It is a mixture of sand, synthetic
fibers and recycled rubber coated with a “microcrystalline wax”
and mixed on-site. Polytrack makes up approximately the top six
inches of the racing surface, and requires an extensive drainage
system before it is applied.
If the group can develop an affordable surface that can replace
clay in dirt track racing, they would be able to revolutionize the
sport. While it would be expected to be costly up front, if it
worked, it could pay for itself in time in reduced weekly labor to
prepare the surface and replenishment along with less event cancellations.