Detroit Velodrome??? Abandoned racing track?

[One Shot]

http://detroitnews.com/article/20100...odrome-rolling
Don't ever recall hearing about this one.
What does Velodrome mean?
Of course its cool they cleaned it up and are going to host an event[[s).

[EastSider]

A velodrome is a banked oval track for racing either bicycles or motorcycles.

Way, way back in the stone age of this forum there was a thread or two on here about it. [[At least one of those threads even predates this current software, I do believe.)

[leland_palmer]

What does Velodrome mean?

Here you go http://tinyurl.com/y9f6gtk

[menckensghost]

What does Velodrome mean?
Of course its cool they cleaned it up and are going to host an event[[s).

From wickipedia: A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate easement curve.

Always annoyed by people too lazy or too stupid to do their own research. There are velodromes in the burbs, most notably in Rochester, http://www.velodromeatbloomerpark.com/

It would be a good thing to have a velodrome in the city limits.

[One Shot]

Menckensghost: It's meant to make conversation not demonstrate laziness....DAMN

And I did find an old post on here about it already.

Nonetheless an interesting discovery for me.

[slick]

Is this the same group that is mowing the Tiger Stadium lot?
OH NO, they will all be arrested for tresspassing.

Good luck to them!

[Lowell]

Dorais Velodrome State Fair and Mound.

[detroiturbex]

It's great that they've started to clean this place up. A rough ride, but much easier than it was last year: http://detroiturbex.com/content/park...velo/velo.html

[Whitehouse]

"group of guerilla reverse vandalizers." I like the sound of that!

I think this location was discussed before but I can't find the thread.

Oops, Eastsider said the same.

Here's a nice collection.

From the air.

What was there east of the track? A massive car park can be seen. Was that an auto plant?


Gramps picking up speed before entering the death-defying curve yelling: " YEEEHAAAA!!"





They mean business! That's no half work.

[Toolbox]

"group of guerilla reverse vandalizers." I like the sound of that!

I think this location was discussed before but I can't find the thread.

Oops, Eastsider said the same.

Here's a nice collection.

From the air.

What was there east of the track? A massive car park can be seen. Was that an auto plant?

Chrysler Tool and Die fab shops, it used to be much larger. Up[[north) the street is Mound Road Engine and the truck plant.

[Hornwrecker]

What was there east of the track? A massive car park can be seen. Was that an auto plant?

There was a Chrysler engine plant located at the corner of E Outer Dr and Mound.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mound_Road_Engine

I believe the Tool and Die was in the old Briggs plant at EOD and Mt. Elliott. Checked the OCF db, and I never got around to putting those in it.

[Toolbox]

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthread.php?p=182046

http://atdetroit.net/forum/messages/...tml?1147780842

http://www.detroityes.com/mb/showthr...?t=4135&page=2

[Whitehouse]

Just read on the Detroitubex link above that the track was a gift by Chrysler. Should have been a dead giveway on what was located east of the track....

[Todd_Scott]

Of course its cool they cleaned it up and are going to host an event[[s).

I wouldn't hold my breath. I contacted the promoters this morning and it sounds like they have not looked into getting event insurance -- and aren't sure they even will. Without it, the city is probably not going to approve the event, especially a motorized competitive event on their property. The city doesn't need that liability.

They have not spoken with the city about this either.

[EastsideAl]

Most people don't seem to know or remember that in the '60s, '70s and '80s this facility was home to perhaps the country's best competitive cycling organization. Cyclists from the Wolverine Sports Club, under the direction of Mike Walden and Clair Young, consistently won state and national championships, took several world championships, and won Olympic medals in both cycling and speed skating [[they are complimentary sports, with complimentary training) using the Dorais Velodrome as their cycling home base. Several great athletes such as Sheila Young, Roger Young, Sue Novara, Connie Paraskevan-Young, Frankie Andreu, John Coyle, and others came out of this club to compete on the world stage.

The velodrome itself was in use into the early '90s. Here is a video of the 1990 Michigan track cycling championships held on the track:

http://www.formula1movies.com/video/...is-is-B-s.html

And here is a video about the history of the Wolverine Sports Club [[seems to take a while to load, but it works):

http://web.mac.com/rnoiret/iWeb/TheE...eaturette.html

[EastsideAl]

Here is another little short film showing the building of the velodrome for the 1969 National Championships, set against the background of the Apollo 11 moon landing that was happening at the same time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffMh1WtL_iQ

[menckensghost]

Menckensghost: It's meant to make conversation not demonstrate laziness....DAMN

And I did find an old post on here about it already.

Nonetheless an interesting discovery for me.

Sorry. A bit under the weather today. And you will find some really stupid people here from time to time.

Your post did generate some cool follow-up. Thanks!

[Jimaz]

There are velodromes in the burbs, most notably in Rochester, http://www.velodromeatbloomerpark.com/.

I met the guy in charge of building the Bloomer velodrome. Apparently he has quite a reputation because he also built one for the Olympics. To me, the Bloomer velodrome seemed too exposed to the elements. It has some kind of wooden surface. He said he expects it to stand up to the weather because of the materials used.

I haven't seen it in a few years. Does anyone know how well it's holding up?

[Whitehouse]

Thanks for those videos! Great choice of music, Jean Michel Jarre.
It must have taken a short time before they abandoned, or even condemned the track. In the 1990 you can see the first cracks of the bottome side of the track sagging.

This was the track of the Amsterdam Olympic stadium. It's veldome track was one of monstrous proportions. That's a soccer field in the middle, prus an athletics track.


The Goffert Stadium also had a large velodrome track.



Both tracks are gone now. Soccer is more popular than cycling and the track were not used that much anyway. The Olympic stadium was in danger of being torn down in favour of housing. It would have been the first ever olympic stadium that would have disappeared. But a national effort of 100.000's of people saved this magnificent building from the wrecking ball. And today it looks like this.

Wikipedia on the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium.


A new Goffert stadium wass build inside the footprint of the old stadium of which the main entrance remains.

Wikipedia on the Goffert Stadium.

[detroitjim]

It probably could be resurrected ,but that'll NEVER happen!
Strike one,two and three...... it's owned by the City of Detroit.
Another negative is that it is 1/2 mile into the DMZ.
Once the LL's get wind of how much a track bike is worth they'll be jacking you for it.



Reminds me of a proposal that someone came up with for the speed skating oval that was located a short distance west down Outer drive at Farwell park.[[Where a lot of those athletes mentioned above winter trained by speed skating) A group was willing to take over operation of the oval and the adjoining hockey rink. It was their intent to put a dome over it .
The City council, at the time ,didn't think much of the idea and turned down the offer.
The next year parks and rec did not open the skating facility .
It was trashed beyond reclaimation shortly afterward.
Part of the track has since been removed making way for a P&R building.
One of two 1/8 mile speed skating ovals in Michigan lost forever.

[One Shot]

Sorry. A bit under the weather today. And you will find some really stupid people here from time to time.

Your post did generate some cool follow-up. Thanks!

No prob!
Yes the follow ups with video of the construction and actual events from back then is way cool! The cool part is the area it was built in. Seems strange even at that time. Now its just another one of those Detroit landmarks that blends in and nobody really knows the significance.

[Toolbox]

I met the guy in charge of building the Bloomer velodrome. Apparently he has quite a reputation because he also built one for the Olympics. To me, the Bloomer velodrome seemed too exposed to the elements. It has some kind of wooden surface. He said he expects it to stand up to the weather because of the materials used.

I haven't seen it in a few years. Does anyone know how well it's holding up?

Dale [[Mike Walden's son in law) has built many tracks around the world and the states. The Bloomer track surface is a commercial marine decking material that is 21 plys if I remember correctly, after it is cut the edges are epoxy sealed and then it is installed on the framework. It has a textured surface and not smooth like plywood.

The surface is holding up very well.

[Whitehouse]

Dale [[Mike Walden's son in law) has built many tracks around the world and the states. The Bloomer track surface is a commercial marine decking material that is 21 plys if I remember correctly, after it is cut the edges are epoxy sealed and then it is installed on the framework. It has a textured surface and not smooth like plywood.

The surface is holding up very well.

\

Posh neighborhood! They even got a cricket crease!

[Jimaz]

The surface is holding up very well.

That's good to hear. It's nice that such dedication is paying off so well.

[kklemmer]

My memories of the Dorais Velodrome was going there in the Summer of 1990 when I lived at Van Dyke and McNichols. I took my road bike there and rode the track after hearing about its glory days from a housemate who raced there in the 70's. The surface was pretty rough at that time with lots of wheel sucking cracks. It was a blast however!
Later that summer I heard about and attended the races featured in the videos above. Only went to watch, didn't race, but found it fascinating.
Fast forward to winter 2003 or 2004; i just purchased a fixed gear track bike and wanted to try it out. The Bloomer Park track was not yet in operation for the season [[may not even have been finished at that time). This was January or February but dry and sunny. So i put the bike in the car and drove over to Dorais. The track surface was incredibly deteriorated, tagged and waist high weeds growing through the cracks. An engine block was in the middle of the backstraight. But I managed to do a couple laps without crashing or getting a flat on the piles of broken glass. Later that summer I had an opportunity to ride on the new track; what a wonderful experience by comparison and it made the banked turns at Dorais [[seemed so scary steep in 1990) look tame by comparison. Because Dorais was concrete, the banking could only be poured at a limited angle without slumping to the bottom.