Virgin road track NasCar Drivers, funny as hell!
08-25-2003, 11:02 AM
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Virgin road track NasCar Drivers, funny as hell!
I spent a good part of last weekend at PR helping at a booth along turn 8 and watching the NasCar spectacle. This was the only time the NasCar drivers faced a road track on their season schedule and had to "educate" themselves how to drive a track that turns left AND RIGHT! It was complete chaos!
I don't know if it is just the culture of NasCar racing, but there were some drivers who have never been on the track before and were bumping, pushing and shoving DURING QUALIFYING. So a lot of qualifying was under yellow flags as stock cars went off the road, spun out on the straight aways, and handled snap-oversteer. I found it amazing that the NasCar series would allow the drivers, some who haven't had track experience, to navigate PR in 600hp cars.
The most humorous racing occured during the Legends races. These are small gran-daddy hotrods with wide tire setups. And it was like a gladiator battle out there. Usually they run small 1/4-1/8 mile oval tracks. PR put a couple chicanes out on the straight aways because their gearing are closer together and would hit top speed too early on the straights. It was pure entertainment watching them miss the apexes and go off in the dirt. Even when there wasn't anyone around Legend cars were spinning off.
There was a battle between two cars and we were watching them going into the first Chicane hot. The second car had tunnel vision or something because he followed him right through the chicane and into the dirt. Both of them turned and started spinning around kicking up dirt and creathing a huge dust cloud. The first one got control first and gunned for the track. But not before running over the orange cones (which, was almost as tall as there cars) and taking one smack in the middle of his bumber down the rest of the straight away! Hilarious stuff!
I talked with some NasCar and Legend drivers afterwards and they really enjoyed the track and road racing. They admit there is more to track driving than circle tracks and wish they could do more of them.
I really enjoyed watching them all. There was also large bore vintage races and a Pro SCCA race. If you haven't heard already, there was a vintage orange Porsche (#11) that flipped six times at Turn 6 or 7. Driver is okay, but the footage was on the news last night.
The NasCar series also put up a large TV screen along the straights. It looked really good and hoping it's a permanent fixture.
I don't know if it is just the culture of NasCar racing, but there were some drivers who have never been on the track before and were bumping, pushing and shoving DURING QUALIFYING. So a lot of qualifying was under yellow flags as stock cars went off the road, spun out on the straight aways, and handled snap-oversteer. I found it amazing that the NasCar series would allow the drivers, some who haven't had track experience, to navigate PR in 600hp cars.
The most humorous racing occured during the Legends races. These are small gran-daddy hotrods with wide tire setups. And it was like a gladiator battle out there. Usually they run small 1/4-1/8 mile oval tracks. PR put a couple chicanes out on the straight aways because their gearing are closer together and would hit top speed too early on the straights. It was pure entertainment watching them miss the apexes and go off in the dirt. Even when there wasn't anyone around Legend cars were spinning off.
There was a battle between two cars and we were watching them going into the first Chicane hot. The second car had tunnel vision or something because he followed him right through the chicane and into the dirt. Both of them turned and started spinning around kicking up dirt and creathing a huge dust cloud. The first one got control first and gunned for the track. But not before running over the orange cones (which, was almost as tall as there cars) and taking one smack in the middle of his bumber down the rest of the straight away! Hilarious stuff!
I talked with some NasCar and Legend drivers afterwards and they really enjoyed the track and road racing. They admit there is more to track driving than circle tracks and wish they could do more of them.
I really enjoyed watching them all. There was also large bore vintage races and a Pro SCCA race. If you haven't heard already, there was a vintage orange Porsche (#11) that flipped six times at Turn 6 or 7. Driver is okay, but the footage was on the news last night.
The NasCar series also put up a large TV screen along the straights. It looked really good and hoping it's a permanent fixture.
08-25-2003, 01:26 PM
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I missed out!! I wish I could have been there to see the big HP cars. I am sure that those guys will start doing more practice sessions at PR now, and will be bringing with them lots of incentive to the track to get things improved out there for all of us. This event added to the PR schedule will be a big plus, and hopefully just the first of many large road races here.
08-25-2003, 03:52 PM
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Attendance on Saturday was very light, Sunday was much better. And it sounds like NasCar will make its return next year. The driver I spoke to says their mechanics are going to spend more time figuring out how to setup their cars for the road tracks. Every team had problems because they know how to fix a car up for left turns.
08-26-2003, 07:51 AM
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Yeah, I know the real series visits road courses. In fact they had Michael Waltrip racing on Sunday, but a brake line problem shortened his outing. It would be interesting to see how well he did at PR! Especially against those in the feeder series.
On Saturday, he was involved in a crash or something. Not sure if he caused it or not, obviously not hurt to fly out to Washington and race PR.
I have to say that the whole NasCar thing was like a festival. Complete with SeaFair Pirates and impersonators of Bono, Austin Powers and Neil Diamond. I wish I took pictures for you all. It was really neat to see the GT40, Indian T-Rex, and Kim Hinske in her Fordahl Motorsports GT3 dominating the SCCA ProRace!
On Saturday, he was involved in a crash or something. Not sure if he caused it or not, obviously not hurt to fly out to Washington and race PR.
I have to say that the whole NasCar thing was like a festival. Complete with SeaFair Pirates and impersonators of Bono, Austin Powers and Neil Diamond. I wish I took pictures for you all. It was really neat to see the GT40, Indian T-Rex, and Kim Hinske in her Fordahl Motorsports GT3 dominating the SCCA ProRace!
