NASCAR Cup Round 22: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen-Watkins Glen Int'l

[broadrun96]

Course you have to remember three different NASCAR reporters called Road Atlanta one of the unsafe and not up to NASCAR standards tracks that drivers have to test at due to the rules after Keslowski's wreck last week. Never mind the gravel trap before he got to the wall, they and the Atlanta Fox station called for SAFER barriers outside Turn 1 to bring it up to 21st century safety standards.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

That's too bad for you and everyone else. Wait, you and everyone else will be able to see it repeated every night this week.

Wasn't on last night buster.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by mac

And Keselowski!?!? With a broken ankle... Two weeks in a row... Unbelievable stuff!

That was more impressive that winning the week prior, given how much more work is needed on a road course.

Originally Posted by tlongman

Great win by Marcos! Well deserved and long overdue. This race was just more proof that NASCAR needs more road courses.

Bring em! What road courses do we want to see these guys take on?

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Bring em! What road courses do we want to see these guys take on?

Road America, Lime Rock, Sebring & Laguna Seca. For starters.

[PabloTeK]

With regards to safety on road courses, because of the geography of turn 2, you'd need to do a lot of earthwork to move it back, and with the shape of them, moving the walls back would probably cause the potential issue of an accident if someone accidentally straight-lines it.

SAFER on a road course would IMO be rather a bad idea being that impacts on those are more head-on and I've yet to see evidence that SAFER can take the full brunt of that sort of impact.

People in NASCAR and IndyCar see it (SAFER) as the be-all and end-all of barrier technology, when a properly banded tyre wall and Armco/wall combo will so a better job at absorbing a front-end impact! Look at Silverstone; it's walls are miles away from the circuit yet people still have major accidents there. Pushing back the walls just means they'll respect the track less and less. Copse corner for touring car usually sees the run-off used as an extension of the track...

[Purist]

I think NASCAR is going to have to change that "let 'm have at it" policy at some point. If they don't do it on their own, it's only a matter of time until an accident happens, an accident that leads local law enforcement and attorneys to MAKE THEM change that policy.

They could ease that first wall a bit (and redirect the access road slightly, but that second one is right before that hill starts to fall away outside of Turn 2, so that second barrier won't be going anywhere. Much of the track is on relatively high ground, and I'm not sure how you could extend the hill/plateau out behind there, and still make a stable hillside out of it (not have the hillside be too steep to be stable, especially with no grown trees back there if you redo the hillside).

As for previous crashes, it's clear that the Chevrolet Intrepid had an inadequate foot box when it came to protecting the drivers legs. And all I can guess is that McDuffie really could have used a HANS device. His impact wasn't horribly severe, was broadside on the passengier side (more area to absorb force), and was into tires. There was at least as much run-off at Turn 5 in 1991 as there is now.

Frankly, I most worry about someone losing a tire/wheel (and thus brakes) before the chicane, perhaps listing a bit to the right, and T-boning somebody in the chicane, at full speed, in the driver's door.

[Dead-Eye]

Just finished watching. The stupidity of the commentators about the Said/Ragan incident is just unbelievable. "It could have been avoided" - yes, it could have, if Ragan hadn't decided that Said was just going to disappear into thin air.

[Paradise City]

It looked like Said moved over into Ragan quite dramatically from the front camera angle. It's only when you look from the rear angle it becomes obvious that Said had run out of track and the grass was next so he had to move over.

[deeks6]

Originally Posted by rustyfan

Road America, Lime Rock, Sebring & Laguna Seca. For starters.

Oh YEAH!!! Awesome courses ... us Non-Americans cannot understand why there are not more road courses for NASCAR. It is seriously the best motor sport entertainment you can get. The Glen race is always a classic and the Sonoma races have let nobody down either.

[sime1070]

And no one could argue that the racing isn't exciting... Most of the Nascar regulars have also got good at turning right too... That's why it has taken Marcos so long to break through! Nascar talk about wet tyres adding an unneccessary wild card factor to the points but surely the argument could be made that road circuits numbering two in the series has the same effect...
All the teams spend dollars on road course testing trying to find an advantage so let them benefit from another couple of road courses... Can only dream... Was seriously an awesome race at the Glen this year... Not asking for much - just a couple more road circuits - please?

[bludvl_x19]

I'm another who doesn't get the lack of road courses. I do understand the background of NASCAR and the ovals, but watching them go round and round can get a bit tedious sometimes. However watching the same drivers try to hustle their cars through corners, under brakes and accellerating hard makes watching road races exciting and interesting. To get what I mean, have a look at the bus stop. Hard breaking, Right-left-right and hard on the loud pedal. Too much fun not to watch

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Course you have to remember three different NASCAR reporters called Road Atlanta one of the unsafe and not up to NASCAR standards tracks that drivers have to test at due to the rules after Keslowski's wreck last week. Never mind the gravel trap before he got to the wall, they and the Atlanta Fox station called for SAFER barriers outside Turn 1 to bring it up to 21st century safety standards.

When it comes to NASCAR, they just don't seem to understand that road course design is completely different from oval design. Remember, on an oval you will hit a wall at a glancing angle, on a road course you can hit a wall head on.

A SAFER barrier at turn 1 would have hurt Keselowski much much more.

You need tyres with surrounded with a belt, or one of these new plastic barriers like the one Sergio Perez hit at Monaco.

As for more road courses? I'd love to see them, especially a Cup race at Elkhart Lake. And as much as I hate these new F1 Tilke tracks, I think it would be quite interesting to see a cup race at the new track in Texas, then we could compare the Cup cars to a V8 Supercar! I'd also love to see a Cup race at Montreal, Laguna Seca, Road Atlanta and perhaps Mid Ohio.

[Purist]

I think the V8s have substantially better aero, and weigh something like 3000lb, instead of 3500lb. So, on a road course, it seems pretty clear which would be faster.

Of the tracks mentioned, I would like to see Cup try Road America, Montreal, and Road Atlanta. I think some of the others could be a bit too tight and fiddly for these guys to make a good race of it. I think Portland could also be a good one for Cup, but they would NEED to bypass the "Festival Curves", if not all the time, at least on starts and restarts.

NASCAR has no choice but to sort out the rain issue if they ever want to run near Seattle/Tacoma.

[Juarez Jed]

Nascars have raced on V8 supercar tracks such as Eastern Creek and Oran Park in the past and they are a very different beast.
Marcos said that the current Nascar road course car feels like a 1970's touring car in comparison.

[fieldodreams79]

Here you go Purist...
For those American viewers and anyone who can get SPEEDtv, the NASCAR K&N West Series is having rebroadcast of a late July race at Portland International Thursday night at 6pmest (check your local listings); first time I have seen it listed. I like Portland and hate that it has pretty much fallen off the radar, and it could be an opening for NASCAR in the northwest.


As for NASCAR not going to more road courses, they are hated among most "regular" NASCAR fans, even though most "regular" fans have stopped showing up to races in the last decade or so; I think they have basically continued a long standing percentage of speedways verses road courses.


And I can't list any other track that hasn't already mention except for Virginia International Raceway.

[St00ge]

Originally Posted by nickyf1

You need tyres with surrounded with a belt, or one of these new plastic barriers like the one Sergio Perez hit at Monaco.

I was watching the re run of the race yesterday and the tyres that made up the barriers seemed to just be thrown in there any which way and a conveyor belt across the front... I hazily remember there was some work put in to research the correct way to stack and then bind smaller groups of old tyres together to provide the best protection from the tyre barrier by some group in Australia IIRC, so maybe there some work needed there for Watkins Glen.

[nickyf1]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

And I can't list any other track that hasn't already mention except for Virginia International Raceway.

VIR did cross my mind. ARCA race there don't they?

Talking of ARCA.. How about throwing a dirt race into the Cup?

And, talking of NASCAR on road courses, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series is fantastic fun to watch.

[FIRE]

Great to see Ambrose in victory lane!