Texas Motor Speedway Boasts First-of-its-Kind Concrete Coatings

The floors in Texas Motor Speedway’s massive garages now feature high-performance Spartacote concrete-coating systems. Photos courtesy of Intertech Flooring and Laticrete

In fall 2016, Texas Motor Speedway management partnered with Laticrete to bring high-performance Spartacote concrete coating systems to the legendary raceway’s massive garages. This marked a first at any NASCAR track.

Management chose Texas-based Intertech Flooring as the installer due to its excellent reputation in flooring solutions for specialty, high-profile projects.

An aerial view of the garages at the Texas Motor Speedway — Texas-based Intertech Flooring, a company with extensive experience in specialty, high-profile projects, was selected to install Spartacote products in the massive garages at the Texas Motor Speedway.

“This was a big project with a lot of planning involved. My team and I really enjoy working with the Spartacote product and appreciate the support Laticrete brings to the table. We look forward to another coatings project like this soon,” says Richard Garcia, director of concrete operations for Intertech Flooring.

Design professionals initiated the concept, which included custom colors, textures and logos. They also specified a moisture-mitigation primer coat spanning the concrete surface to minimize excess moisture within the existing concrete slab.

This type of project is increasing in popularity with tile contractors due to the ease of installation. They also like resinous flooring because it offers customers various alternatives to large-format or more traditional tile or stone floors.

Home to several popular NASCAR events each year, the Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, encompasses enough space inside its track for four Dallas Cowboys’ football stadiums. Per event, the Speedway can pack in more than 190,000 screaming fans. Amongst other features, it also holds the largest outdoor high-definition digital display board in the country.

The challenges: Customization and prep

High-profile customization: The owners didn’t want a run-of-the-mill epoxy to replace the failing thin-film epoxy floor that had exceeded its service life. They demanded a professional, unique concrete coating system, which only Spartacote offers.
Timely preparation: Floor preparation is often the most time-consuming part of a professional Spartacote coatings project. However, this is a necessary step to achieve the desired results.

The Intertech crew began surface preparation by shot blasting and grinding the existing concrete to CSP 3 for proper adhesion. After grinding, they repaired the floor with Spartacote Fast Fix. They used it to treat the joints and areas of the concrete that had scaled and spalled.

The crew then began to mix and apply NXT Vapor Reduction Coating, a single-coat, low-odor, epoxy coating. This moisture mitigator is specifically designed to control the moisture vapor emission rate from new or existing concrete slabs. It’s unique in that Intertech Flooring could pigment the resin a gray color. This enabled it to serve as the base-colored primer, saving the installer a step in the Spartacote coatings process.

The crew rolled out the pigmented color 12-mils thick across the 22,000 square feet (2,044 square meters) of prepared concrete. They then allowed it to cure for 12 hours.

pouring a pigmented moisture mitigator by Laticrete onto the concrete floor — The team pigmented the moisture mitigator they used in the Speedway garages a gray color. This enabled the Spartacote coating to serve as the base-colored primer, saving a step in the coatings process.

After the cure

Upon full cure, the crew buffed the surface using a swing machine with 100-grit screens. Then they began mixing and rolling out a solid-black base coat and cherry-red metallic mid-coat of Spartacote material. This subsequently served as the outline for the rectangle leading to the massive, 90-foot (27.4-meter) Texas Motor Speedway logo in the middle of the garage.

In phase two of the garage installation, the crew used a cobalt blue Spartacote Metallic color instead. They also added Spartacote Grip to the mid-coat for additional foot traction.

The crew carefully places a stencil of the Speedway logo on the Spartacote Metallic coating in the one of the garages.

The crew used a stencil to apply the monstrous-sized Texas Motor Speedway logo over the metallic coating, ensuring exact placement. Once the team applied, tamped down and carefully removed the backing adhesive, they applied a final clear Spartacote topcoat. This locked in all colors, textures and logos. It also ensured a seamless, durable finish over the entire garage floor.

Designed to withstand aircraft hydraulic grade oils, such as Skydrol, Spartacote coatings are resistant to other common garage chemicals. As a result, they are three times more abrasion resistant than traditional epoxy.

Once the stencil adhered, the installment team applied a final clear Spartacote topcoat.

Outcome: First-class and safe

“With these floors, Texas Motor Speedway has once again raised the bar for NASCAR racetracks. Not only do they convey our image as a first-class facility for our professional racing, but they also provide a safe, high-traction floor for the race teams and NASCAR inspectors,” says Mat Stolley, vice president of operations for the Speedway.

“With more than 40 high-performance cars being worked on at any given time on race days, our garage floors must withstand hot tires, hazardous fluids and the regular use of heavy equipment. And Laticrete delivered exactly that.”

The Intertech team completed and turned over phase one of the Texas Motor Speedway north commercial garage project in October 2016 in time for the Texas 500 NASCAR event in November. They completed phase two of the south race car garages in February 2017.