The process of removing 46,000 backstretch grandstand seats at Daytona International Speedway, which is scheduled to conclude in October, began on Monday.
Demolition of the Sprint Tower on the frontstretch begins Wednesday, track officials confirmed. The entire process for that project will take about 30 days.
The deconstruction, being done by Muncie, Ind.-based Bleacher Builders, is in conjunction with the “Daytona Rising” project that is renovating the frontstretch grandstands.
Recently, about 41,000 and 17,000 seats were removed from Charlotte Motor Speedway and Atlanta Motor Speedway respectively.
Charles Jordan, the owner of Bleacher Builders, told the Daytona Beach News-Journal none of the materials being torn down at Daytona, including bathrooms and stairs, will be thrown away. Instead, they are are being donated to other projects.
“It’s all coming down, piece by piece,” Jordan told the newspaper. “Any beam, any angle iron . . . nothing will go to a scrapyard. If I have to sit on it for 10 years, it’s not going to the scrapyard.”
The report says 500 seats will be used for a Pop Warner football program in Port Orange, Fla., and 2,000 will go to Spruce Creek High School.
Some seats will even used at another racing facility. World Racing Group owns the Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., and bought pieces to upgrade that track’s grandstands.
Jordan said 60 percent of the backstretch infrastructure will be removed by the time of the Coke Zero 400 in July.
The report states that by the time the “Daytona Rising” project is complete, the tracks seating capacity will be reduced from about 147,000 to 101,000.
