Martinsville and Talladega couldn’t race more differently if they tried. One is barely half a mile with tight braking zones, concrete corners, and a history built on local grit. The other is a 2.66-mile superspeedway where speed, drafting, and aerodynamics decide everything.
Stewart Hicks, who usually makes videos about buildings, looks at these two tracks the way an architect would. What happens when you treat a speedway like a piece of designed infrastructure? How do the track’s history, banking, surface materials, pit road geometry, and even nearby industries shape the racing we see?
This video breaks down how Martinsville’s close-quarters rhythm and Talladega’s wide-open pack racing come directly from the way each track is drawn, built, and maintained. These places are also like machines, setting the rules for strategy, speed, danger, and the entire fan experience.
Video written and hosted by Stewart Hicks
youtube.com/stewarthicks
Co-producers: Evan Montgomery and Rosa Gai...