It seems like many people are concerned about "THE RUSH" to install polytrack. I'm just not sensing the rush like some of you. Polytrack or its cousin Cushion track are to my knowledge now installed on a grand total of four NA race tracks. Arlington has also commited to an installation before the 07 season. The vast majority of tracks are still with the good old dirt that everyone seems to love and I don't think its a huge number of tracks that have signaled a pressing need to change. Why are people nearly apoplectic about this supposed rush. The only places where you can currently find it in action is at Turfway and Hollywood, and Holly will close soon. That will leave one track until probably the Keeneland spring meet.
To me it almost looks like what is going on is exactly what people want, a gradual rollout, testing it and evaluating it at different sites, hot and cold, and monitoring the results over several seasons.
Two cold weather sites have installed it (WO and TP) and there are reports of some issues do to freezing etc. From my own observations at Keenland I was amazed at how much water the track could take with little or no visible effect. We'll see what the consensus is at HP after the meet wraps up.
I just think we haven't even come close to crossing the point of no return yet. If the results continue to come in the way I see that they already have, slightly positive relative to dirt, then I think the trend will continue with a few tracks each year making the transition.
If on the other hand a stronger consensus starts to develop, either postive or negative, I think you'll see either a more rapid transtion or perhaps it will stop cold.
|