DES MOINES - The old brick stadium at Drake University is about to get a makeover.

A new track - blue, of course. An infield with artificial turf. A high-tech scoreboard. Better seats. A new area for throwing events just beyond the open end of the horseshoe-shaped stadium.

By next year, Drake Stadium will be fit to host just about any kind of track meet short of the Olympics, not to mention football games and soccer matches.

"It's going to be fantastic," said Mark Kostek, director of the Drake Relays, which traditionally has been the premier track and field event held at Drake.

The 18,000-seat stadium, dedicated in 1925, has hosted hundreds of elite runners, from Jesse Owens and Wilma Rudolph to Carl Lewis and Michael Johnson.

With the track's outside lane right next to the first row of seats, it's an intimate setting that puts spectators and athletes in close contact, an arrangement that both sides enjoy. Runners invariably slap hands with fans on victory laps. Male fans constantly have stopped Suzy Favor Hamilton to have their picture taken with her. Some runners have thrown their shoes into the stands.

The challenge for the $13 million renovation is to maintain that intimacy while making the track safer and more equitable for runners in that outside lane. That will be done by removing the first three rows of seats, widening the lanes from 42 to 48 inches and creating a gap of at least 1 meter between the outside lane and the stadium wall.

Those changes will meet standards set by track's world governing body, the IAAF, and, Drake officials hope, preserve the stadium's character.

"People are still going to be able to have contact with the athletes," Kostek said. "So I don't think we've lost any of the intimacy. We've just enhanced competitive opportunities."

The work will start after the state track meet, which ends May 21. The idea is to turn the stadium into a venue suitable for other world class events, such as the NCAA championships, U.S. championships and Olympic trials.

Drake officials plan to team up with the city of Des Moines to bid for those kind of events.

"I think Des Moines is a prime location to host a major international meet," said hurdler Joey Woody, who has won nine Drake Relays titles and raced all over the world. "In my opinion, you've got to take high-profile meets to places where people love and respect track and field and have shown a lot of appreciation for the sport.

"That's why I think the Prefontaine Meet is so successful. Eugene, Oregon, is not a big town but people there love track and field. Des Moines is the same way," Woody said.

Craig Masback, head of USA Track & Field, said the stadium is crucial in landing top events. But his organization also looks at hotels, transportation, the local economy, a community's experience at hosting major events and whether officials and volunteers would be available.

"Obviously with Des Moines and Drake, you could tick off quite a few of those," he said. "It's a great city, great community feeling, some pretty strong corporate entities and a good airport from my personal experience. Clearly, Des Moines is one that could make it."

Masback noted that the Olympic trials, held last year in Sacramento, have become a major event. More than 170,000 spectators attended the 2004 trials and more than 1,200 journalists were credentialed, including 150 from foreign countries.

"It's a big deal," he said. "We make it a real celebration of the sport."

Drake would like to be a part of that.

The new track will be a Mondo surface, the same that has been used in Olympic stadiums. It'll be blue, just like the current track, and is expected to be faster because the curves will be similar to those in the Olympics.

"I think the upgrade will do a lot," said Jeremy Wariner, who was the gold medalist at 400 meters in last year's Olympics and will run at the Drake Relays this year. "Probably a lot more athletes might want to go there because of that. With the way athletes are running now, there's no telling what will happen."

The stadium infield, which is natural grass and sits 6 feet below the track, will be raised to the same level. The surface will be FieldTurf, which looks and feels like grass, and will be continue to be the home field for Drake football. The soccer team also will start playing there.

Additional areas for the pole vault, high jump, long jump and shot put will be installed and areas for the hammer throw and javelin will be built just north of the stadium, allowing fans to watch those events.

Other work will include the installation of lights, shoring up the stadium's foundation and expanding the press box. The refurbished stadium will seat about 14,000.

Kostek said the track and infield should be ready by November and everything should be done in time for the 2006 Drake Relays.

"Hopefully we're going to be able to land an event like an NCAA championship and produce four days of full stands …" Kostek said. "And hopefully we'll be able to get that, whatever the event is, on a relatively consistent basis."