Different styles of tracks

[oldtimer2]

Re: Different styles of tracks

You young whippersnappers. When I was at Oakland HS, Oakland CA in 1955 we had a dirt track. It sure turned to mud when it rained. It's possible there were some cinders underneath but we never saw any; we did see a lot of dirt kicked up though.
Anyone who ran 100 yards there usually knocked at least a tenth or two off their time when we went to the big meet at Cal Berkeley. BTW, re grass tracks and I don't think it was all from the extra adrenaline of being in a "big meet". They've had them in Australia and I think South Africa for years. In 1956 Hec Hogan, from Australia, ran 9.3 for 100 yards on grass. I believe he did it bare-footed. We need some old-timers to weigh in here on the tracks they ran on.
When I was teaching school in the 80s we made a track for an elementary school. I had a guy on a bulldozer come out and carve a track out of the ground where I had marked it. It held up for at least a few years. I'm sure we weren't the only budget-conscious school around.

[Pego]

Re: Different styles of tracks

We need some old-timers to weigh in here on the tracks they ran on.

The only surfaces I recall from my youth in Czechoslovakia would be ground bricks or cinder, the former a lot more common. Nice stadiums would have red clay.

[Halfmiler2]

Re: Different styles of tracks

Another version of the "natural" surface was the "red dog" track, mixture of red brick cinders, clay, etc.

In high school in the early 1970s, I ran on something like this at Rutgers. It seemed like a quick track at the time and held water better than cinders.

[bad hammy]

Re: Different styles of tracks

You young whippersnappers. When I was at Oakland HS, Oakland CA in 1955 we had a dirt track. It sure turned to mud when it rained. It's possible there were some cinders underneath but we never saw any; we did see a lot of dirt kicked up though.

Same thing a few miles up the road in the 70s. If there had ever been anything but dirt covering the track it was gone long before my anti-illustrious HS track career.

[kuha]

Re: Different styles of tracks

What, exactly, does "dirt" signify and where are these tracks?

So, if I may... In response to my earlier question, it would appear that the answer is something like:

1. True dirt (non-composite topsoil) tracks have existed and may still exist. However, they exist strictly in backwater provinces and grade schools or tiny rural high schools--and have nothing to do with the actual running surfaces of top meets and top athletes in the 1960s and earlier.

2. The great majority of what have been termed "dirt" tracks are actually simply "natural surface" tracks--some combination of cinders, crushed brick, clay, sand, and good old topsoil (aka "dirt"). However, all of these are composite surfaces--which are/were vastly more sophisticated in design and maintenance requirements than any true topsoil running surface.

I suspect that the bad memories many of us may have of horrible running surfaces of old are actually of untended/deteriorated composite tracks of various kinds. The natural process of devolution was to something more or less like actual "dirt."

[tandfman]

Re: Different styles of tracks

When I was young, I thought it would be a neat idea to be cremated when I died and have my ashes become part of my college's cinder track. That hasn't been an option for quite some time.

[lonewolf]

Re: Different styles of tracks

[I suspect that the bad memories many of us may have of horrible running surfaces of old are actually of untended/deteriorated composite tracks of various kinds. The natural process of devolution was to something more or less like actual "dirt."

Hey, I know dirt when I see, plow, dig, breathe or run on it. it. Our old tracks were pure unadulterated dirt.

[kuha]

Re: Different styles of tracks

[I suspect that the bad memories many of us may have of horrible running surfaces of old are actually of untended/deteriorated composite tracks of various kinds. The natural process of devolution was to something more or less like actual "dirt."

Hey, I know dirt when I see, plow, dig, breathe or run on it. it. Our old tracks were pure unadulterated dirt.

I don't doubt it. See my point #1 above, re: the boondocks.