FieldScience |
Eric Schroder
DAYTONA infield turf overseeded to produce stunning visual
acre grass infield at famed Daytona In- ternational Speedway, reflect thinking outside the box by Sam Newpher, the Speedway's grounds supervisor; his crew, Dan Brown, Bob Pearson, Perry Horton and Chris Hanson; and Speedway Presi- dent Joie Chitwood, who suggested
T
HE GORGEOUS TURF SHOTS on this page, courtesy of Gary Morgan from Agrium Advanced Technologies, of the 6-
sowing stars and stripes across the field. Newpher said he was asked by his
boss, director of track operations An- drew Gurtis, to get creative a few years ago in trying something different in prepping for the Daytona 500, the Super Bowl of stock car racing and, al- most by accident, he ended up alter- nately striping with annual bluegrass and darker-colored perennial ryegrass, which worked well. "We wanted to get even jazzier this year," he said.
"It was fun to do," Newpher said. "The five of us have a lot of experience getting ready for Speed Week and we were blessed with perfect weather, good temperatures and virtually no rain, so we could irrigate only when we wanted. The grass grew in perfectly."
20 SportsTurf | March 2012 www.sportsturfonline.com
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