Many, many years ago, indoor tracks were fabrications that could have been from the minds of just about any carpenter who was given a set of dimensions into which he had to build a track with a turn at each end that could be easily taken apart and stored somewhere for a year until needed once more. In the Southwest in the late 50's early 60's I think there was one track 11 or 12 laps to a mile that was used at multiple sites, before indoor running really took hold. We ran on it at Lubbock, TX, and Oklahoma City, perhaps also at Kansas City, MO for the Big 8 conference meet. It was slightly banked and had a lot of dead spots that you learned to avoid. In those days one end of the track was removed so that 50 or 55 yard sprints and hurdles could be run and runners disappeared under the stands and hopefullly were able to stop on concrete after a race. Sometimes a rope was stretched across for them to grab and slow down. Short guys got decapitated. At Chicago both ends were removed for the sprints and the construction crews had a little race to see whose crew could get the turn assembled as quickly as possible. On one occasion there was an annual weight men's relay run, and the force of those behemoths on the board turn caused it to collapse which delayed the meet while repairs were made. That was the end of that event.
Albequerque's speedy new track in 1964. Built to fit into a rodeo arena. Adolph Plummer came off that track on the inside and slid standing on the concrete throwing up a
shower of sparks from his spikes dragging on the floor. Sooners are Teddy Oliver
George Brose, Mike Hewitt, Walt Mizell and Phil Oviatt
A reasonable 220 yard dirt track at Bloomington, IN 1961
The late Buddy Stewart winning the 1000 yards against IU and Kentucky
Eventually arenas began building their own tracks and some really fast ones started appearing at Albequerque and Louisville. Things just got better and better for improving times. The banking of those tracks went from intuition to science and engineering. Banking became adjustable with the installation of hydraulics such as the indoor track at Indianapolis.
On Nebraska's Kidney shaped track. You went to the outer lanes on the back stretch to find the shortest way around.
The longer the track the larger the radius of turns the better the speed, flat or banked. Many schools had 220 yard indoor tracks around their basketball floors. Other schools like Villanova and Harvard did not have indoor facilities but had indoor sized wooden tracks 'outdoors' to train on.
Indoors, Outdoors at Harvard
Glenn Cunningham on the bank, note construction with 6" wide planks
these two photos from Boston Public Library
Missouri had an indoor rectangular dirt track with four corners that became grooved in lane one so the runner could lean way over and the ankles did not have to lean so much to the left as he went through, but anyone in lane two had to run more upright or put more strain on his ankles. Kansas had a nice indoor track in Allen Field House where Jayhawk basketball is still played. The problem at Allen was vertical support beams were right on the inside of lane one so you could not lean over when going fast through the turns or you would hit your head on the I beam. You can still see those I beams in that fieldhouse although the track is long gone. The hardness of the surface became a factor. How much did the track give back as a spring to the runner, how much did the softness dampen the spring? Issues, issues, issues. That's why we have scientists and engineers and funding to build better facilities. And the shoe companies may even gotten ahead of the track designers in producing a shoe with materials that gave back to the runner. All this is explained in an article by Geoffrey Burns. It's on his blog from Michigan Performance Laboratory.
Gefforey Burns Article on Indoor Track Construction
The article begins with historic data and becomes more and more technical as you progress through it. Very good read for anyone. You can 'pull calf rope' at any point where it gets over your head. Thanks to Bob Roncker in Cincinnati, OH for bringing this to our attention.
Very interesting article. At first, with all-weather tracks, it was assumed that softer was better for both training and the legs, and harder was better for racing times. That never made complete sense to me so I am glad that this article indicated that there was a sweet spot for hardness, meaning that a track can be too hard for fast times.
As for banking, the new tracks are conforming with a steeper bank at the beginning of the curve. A few tracks exist for a change in the bank depending on the race with a steep bank for short races and a lesser bank for longer races. We ran on such a track in Indianapolis. The reason for a bank is to allow the runner's lower leg, ankle, and foot to be lined up as if it were on a flat surface thereby minimizing stress on all parts of the lower body. I enjoyed your picture of the IU fieldhouse in 1961. That was used for basketball, possibly at that time. Since then the windows have been enclosed so it is darker in the day but probably brighter at night.
There were some amazing indoor tracks, all because indoor T&F is simply a make-do sport until the weather warms up. Most were around basketball floors and the arenas were called fieldhouses. Now every sport has its own venue.
Bill Schnier
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