Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the first track to install SAFER barrier systems in 2002, will add more according to a report by USA Today.
Doug Boles, IMS president, said the track will install it at an emergency vehicle entrance on the backstretch and inside the short chute in Turns 3 and 4.
“We are obviously different than the other mile-and-a half or two-mile ovals with the (low) banking and our angles,” Boles said. “We’re so tight to begin with, the likelihood of getting into those (unprotected areas) is really slim and getting into one with any significant speed is even slimmer. But we decided that the best thing to do was to add (SAFER) to those two locations.”
The track, which already has 9,000 feet of the material, had plans to install an extra 1,560 feet of SAFER barrier. Those plans have been moved up after Kyle Busch’s wreck in the Xfinity Series race at Daytona in February that left him with a broken right leg and broken left foot.
The report states construction is already underway on the new additions and will be in place in time for IndyCar’s second annual Grand Prix of Indianapolis, which is held on May 9.