Here's What Daytona Looked Like After It Was Hit by Hurricane Ian

Photo credit: Volusia Sheriff's Office / Facebook
Photo credit: Volusia Sheriff's Office / Facebook

Hurricane Ian, the massive storm that swept through Florida earlier this week, flooded both Daytona International Speedway and the nearby area. The land supporting the track was damaged, but the track itself seems to be undamaged and ready for upcoming racing events early next season.

Video from the Volusia County Sheriff published on Friday shows water flooding massive portions of the infield, particularly the road course layout. The area around Lake Lloyd, the full-time reservoir built into the track's infield when the circuit was originally constructed in the late 1950s, is also visibly underwater. Nearby houses and roads are similarly afflicted by the floodwater.

While the floods washed away some of the soil that supports the track's iconic high banked NASCAR corners, a track executive claims that the soil has already been replaced and neither the track surface itself nor the foundation beneath have been damaged. While buildings and other facilities are still being evaluated, that means the track surface itself should still be ready for January's Rolex 24 at Daytona, February's Daytona 500, and qualifying races for both events.

The speedway previously flooded after heavy rain in May of 2009, resulting in a mega-viral photo of the track surface flooded shared by Autoweek at the time. While that photo has made the rounds again with inaccurate captions claiming that it represents this year's storm, it is more than 13 years old and is not an accurate representation of this year's flooding.

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