Sublunar Photography

I-70 Speedway was a legendary paved oval race track which remained open consistently through the glory days of racing, spanning the decades from 1969 until its demise in 2008. I-70 hosted various types of races from Stock Car racing to NASCAR truck and Kart racing as well as monster truck events. At one point the main oval was changed to dirt then back to paved. In 2006 a permanent 3/8 mile dirt track was added at the back of the property and often races were held on both tracks on the same night. Known for its steep 28 degree banks, the venerable 5/8 mile racetrack was loved by both racing enthusiasts and the drivers who raced there. Some notable I-70 alumni include racing legends Rusty Wallace and Clint Bowyer among others. It was regarded as a tough white-knuckle racetrack which often sent drivers careening over the walls in a mangled wreck of metal and fire. It was as unforgiving as it was glorious.

Ownership of the racetrack shuffled around several times before the track fell on hard times. For starters, the new owner allegedly fired much of the existing staff and cut costs wherever possible, allegedly running the place into the ground. I-70 closed unceremoniously at the end of the 2008 season, apparently without much warning. A whiteboard in the box seats still reads ""See you next year!" Research online indicates that several interested parties have approached the current owners since it closed, with the intention of purchasing the track. Even racing legend Carl Edwards evidently wanted to buy it just a few years ago. But there are now trees growing through the pavement all the way around the track, which means the whole thing would need to be redone from the ground up. There are no "For Sale" signs anywhere on the property, nor any apparent effort whatsoever to maintain or protect it. It seems that the owner's greed and stubbornness will see to it that this track never hosts another race. And as the checkered flag slowly fades from the starting line, any hope of a resurrection fades along with it.

Luckily there are plenty of videos of the action here to give a taste of what it was like in its glory days. This video in particular is worth a watch just for the carnage alone.

Check out my video of this location here.

Sources: 1, 2

Government Health Campus was originally constructed about 100 years ago. We explored 9 of the buildings on site and all of the tunnels which connected them. According to my comrade's smart device, this included over 6 miles of walking (indoors) and countless stairwells by the time it was over. What we found inside was rather disappointing, however. It seems the organization which owns the site, while being notoriously inefficient in many other areas, was quite efficient at cleaning the place out. As a result, there wasn't much to see other than hallways and empty rooms. There are about 9 individual buildings represented below.

This is Part II of the mega road trip post: Ghost Towns, Bad Lands and Yellow Stones. See Part I for the trip summary and other awesome locations from this trip.

Wyoming State Penitentiary was constructed in 1901. During its 80 years in service, 250 people died here, of which only 14 people were officially executed by hanging or, later, the gas chamber which was installed in 1936. Others died of natural causes, suicide or inmate violence. One particular method of suicide involved running head first into the well-secured cafeteria tables. According to one notable inmate *****, whose documentary style journal was later found in the prison archives, and verified as true accounts, men were often sent to the "butcher shop" which was an operating room in the medical ward, never to return. Some also froze to death in the "dungeon". The prison didn't have electricity or running water when it was built and it wasn't until 1978 that they had hot water, and that only lasted three years before it closed in 1981.

This was the last real stop on the trip and at this point I had used up all my film. I was mostly concerned with the film lasting through Bannack, which succeeded, so I shot these on digital.