Kentucky Speedway

As an outdoor facility, Kentucky Speedway is exposed to the full spectrum of weather conditions 365 days per year. Hot-dip galvanized (HDG) steel provides the coating durability that will withstand the hot, humid summers as well as the cold, damp winters that are characteristic of Kentucky. Cathodic protection and the zinc-iron alloy layers provided by HDG far exceed other forms of corrosion protection, most of which offer merely barrier protection. The fact that the zinc-iron alloy layers become harder and more scratch-resistant than the substrate is important, considering the heavy foot-traffic the speedway will incur during its lifetime.

The steel fabricator has experienced a long, successful history with hot-dip galvanizing in which 100% of all bleacher components have been galvanized. The reliability and consistency of a HDG finish has led them to specify it as their only solution for corrosion protection. The fabrication of this project began in October, 2010, with a completion deadline of June, 2011. Because of the enormous size of the facility, prompt delivery of materials was essential to meeting construction deadlines, and the completion date could not be subject to weather delays. Since the material could be transported shortly after emerging from the zinc bath, the fabricator was able to meet scheduled deadlines without sacrificing the quality or performance of the coated steel.

The time allotted the galvanizer for meeting shipping deadlines would have made compliance near-impossible for any other coating system, as nearly 7,000,000 pounds of structural steel was processed in less than 80 days. The material was delivered to the job site and erected without any additional repairs or time-consuming touch-ups required.