J28S

Went to VIR on Wednesday to get some practice sessions in on Formula Mazdas and was surprised to see the NASCAR guys there. When I showed up at the gate Wednesday morning, I was told we would only be on the South Course (didn't matter to me, just wanted seat time). When I asked him why all the people were waiting at the gate, he told there were about 7 NASCAR teams on the North Course (Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordan, Jeff Burton, etc) and fans wanted to go in to watch (but they apted to watch for a glimpse on exit instead). At lunch we went over to the North Course, and talked to a few race teams. They were all pretty nice. They said there helicopters (think I saw two) were waiting to take them to the airport, then fly up to Pocono for practice on Thursday. I asked why they were here, and they said the drivers needed practice on similar track conditions. Got the impression that if Tony had time, he wanted to take a Formula Mazda out for a spin. I've never watched a NASCAR race, but I may watch my first NASCAR race this weekend. Pretty nice bunch of guys.

WRXRacer111

Heh, by any chance did you hear any trap speeds or laptimes of North course? I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd like to know how much faster those cars are on a road-course compared to a good track car.

Honda318dx

Damn, i would have loved to see that!! I love NASCAR!! Go Dale Jarrett! I wonder what their laptimes were as well..

J28S

I didn't have anything to clock them with, but one of the guys on the EMS crew mentioned they were running in the low 1:30's before he come over to the South course.

Honda318dx

That only makes me 20-30seconds of the pace i think... =~)

Catch 22

Don't fool yourself, those cars are very much set up for Road Courses. Completely different than the cars they run in circles.
I imagine the cars that were being "practiced" in at VIR were loaded up and taken to Sonoma for next weekend (Sears point is next weekend... isn't it???)

George Knighton

“It was an academic’s wine and cheese, not the Masque of the Red Death.”

dirty19

iTrader: (1)

I think this one has to be a record of some sort.
20 year old thread revived!