When testing the new Indy car at&nbsp;Indianapolis Motor Speedway last fall, drivers James&nbsp;Hinchcliffe&nbsp;and Scott Dixon reported bumps on four areas of the track, not necessarily visible to the naked eye, but clearly felt at 200 mph. Engineers took core samples down to the iconic bricks and found that the culprit for at least one of the irregularities was a missing line of bricks that had buckled and was replaced with asphalt around 1939. Over many freeze/thaw cycles, the new material expanded and contracted differently than the surrounding brick and mortar, causing a ripple to form. Areas of concern have been smoothed in hopes that the current top layer&mdash;already the longest-lasting since the track was completely resurfaced in 1976&mdash;will hold out another two to five years.SUMMER 1909&nbsp;IMS&nbsp;debuts with a track of creek gravel, crushed limestone, and tar, topped by stone chips, another layer of tar, and rock dust. The first race is in hot-air balloons, the second on motorcycles. Many riders initially refuse to participate, calling the surface too coarse.FALL 1909&nbsp;Taking a cue from other tracks,&nbsp;IMS&nbsp;lays 3.2 million bricks on a two-inch bed of sand. The bricks are placed on their sides, with a half inch of mortar between them, to withstand more force. It takes 63 days.1936&nbsp;First use of asphalt (not visible in this core sample), applied to areas that have deteriorated. The track looks like a patchwork quilt.1955&nbsp;The track is resurfaced with asphalt, except for a brick section on the main straight.1976&nbsp;The first complete resurfacing, including the start/ finish line. But in the spring of 1977,&nbsp;IMS&nbsp;cuts a trough and lays bricks of the original type, which can still be seen today.1988&nbsp;Another complete resurfacing.1995&nbsp;Five inches of surface is removed and the track gets a fresh layer of asphalt.2002&nbsp;Diamond grinding smooths the track.2004&nbsp;The most recent resurfacing.

Ripple Effect

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Road & Track

TURD ON THE RUN

I Got a Guy..

LONG TAILS

EVEN BETTER THAN THE REAL THING

THE GREAT PRETENDER

BREAKS, NOT BENDS

RADIAL FLYER

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