Er... wrote:
As noted above, it was 160 yards, which was the closest thing to a "standard" size in the states at the time. And these sorts of conversions from indoors to outdoors are pretty much worthless. Having raced on a 125m banked board track in spikes made in the early 70s (granted somewhat more developed than what Ryun and the boys wore in their days, but not that much) I can tell you that many indoor times wouldn't be that much faster had the race been run outdoors--nowhere near as different as some people like to speculate.
Reality Bath wrote:
The track was about 120y long, slower than current MSG setup. Worth low-8:30's on a banked 200m mondo.
These arguments are easy to get sucked into but obviously are highly dependent on individual running style and other factors. I'd like to think the proof is in the pudding and the fact is that he didn't best that time by very much outdoors. Maybe he really wasn't affected by indoor tracks at 5'6" ,120lbs.