I’ve been trying to figure out why it is that contemporary track maps aren’t imbued with the personality and joy that illustrated track maps like this on of the 1967 Tillamook Naval Air Station Auto Races. On the face of it, there’s no reason why this year’s Grand Prix calendar couldn’t adopt the whimsy of these illustrations. After all, this track map—cartoonish as it is—communicates quite a bit about the track itself.
I’d argue it tells us as much or more about the race track than most contemporary maps: The direction of racing, the speeds and labels of the turns, the start-finish line. They’re all there. Even the subtler features that I thought might preclude this kind of thing like the location of restrooms and food stands are also visible here. If you found a way to incorporate the spectator stands and endless rows of merchandise trucks—this kind of thing could come back.
Fingers are crossed.