Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 17, 1994 TAG: 9407180153
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Zeller
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA. LENGTH: Long
Consider Daytona in February. During the winter, Gary Nelson, NASCAR's Winston Cup director, developed the roof flaps that seem to have eliminated the problem of cars flipping when they spin at high speeds.
And then, come Speedweeks, two drivers died in four days from crashes that didn't involve flips.
The flaps apparently have eliminated the vicious tumble-roll crashes and are proving to be one of the more innovative NASCAR safety developments.
But as one crisis is stemmed, another develops unexpectedly. And at the moment, the crisis is the condition of the tracks. The grind of the 1994 season literally is tearing up Winston Cup speedways.
In Loudon, N.H., the track crumbled in all four corners, leading to a staggering 17 yellow-flag caution periods as car after car wrecked.
In Brooklyn, Mich., an asphalt patch job made turn 3 a nightmare.
Here at Pocono in June, turn 1 was plagued by disintegrating asphalt.
The Monster Mile in Dover, Del., is monstrous chiefly because of the condition of its high-banked turns, which have been sealed and patched repeatedly. (After Atlanta was resealed last year, there were numerous wrecks during the November race weekend.)
In turn 4 at Charlotte, where the asphalt seems to want to slide off the banking, maintenance has been a chronic headache.
And in Darlington, S.C., the track didn't tear up, it just tore up tires. The asphalt there is so rough and old, it's like driving on sandpaper.
There has been a response to these problems. Rockingham, Darlington and Atlanta will be re-surfaced before the fall races at those tracks. Dover will be re-surfaced in the off-season, tentatively with concrete, which solved chronic problems at Bristol.
Charlotte already has a new asphalt surface, although after a complete re-paving of the 1.5-mile speedway, turn 4 still is a problem.
``We have a dip between [turn] 3 and [turn] 4,'' said the track's president, H.A. ``Humpy'' Wheeler. ``Other than that, it's the best paving job we've ever had here.'' The dip is about 150 feet long, Wheeler said, and the contractors re-surveyed the area ``and they're going to get the dip out.''
Wheeler said a concrete surface was not an option at Charlotte because it costs about six times more than re-paving with asphalt.
Knowing Bob Bahre, the owner of New Hampshire International Speedway, and Roger Penske, the owner of Michigan International Speedway, they won't stop working until their track problems are solved, because continuing to hold Winston Cup races will depend on it.
Advances in radial tires, the fact the tires are wider this year, and improvements in the cars' aerodynamics and downforce have created more wear and tear on tracks.
Tire engineers estimate a 3,500-pound stock car at full speed in a relatively flat corner exerts a ton of downforce and two tons of lateral force on the track surface.
And the heat during this year's race weeks at New Hampshire and Michigan accelerated the disintegration of the asphalt.
At the same time, there is no apparent reason those tracks should break up if properly surfaced. Paul Sawyer, owner of Richmond International Raceway, and Buddy Jobe, the owner of Phoenix International Raceway, have proven that.
``All they've got to do is go talk to Paul Sawyer,'' said Rick Mast, the Winston Cup driver from Rockbridge Baths. ``When he re-did that track [in 1988], he re-paved it in the dead of summer about a month-and-a-half before we raced there. It was hot when we ran there and the track never came up.
``He told me it was the mix of asphalt he used and the way he packed it,'' Mast said.
The secret, said Goodyear's Phil Holmer, is ``compaction.'' If care is taken to pack the asphalt as tightly as possible, it won't come up, he said.
Clarence Cagle, the longtime track superintendent at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, supervised the recent re-paving at Phoenix. The Winston Cup series doesn't visit Phoenix until November, but there were no problems there last year.
``Phoenix put down a new surface before last year's race and we had a heck of a race on it,'' said driver Ernie Irvan. ``They put it down in the heat and we raced in the heat. The problem [at the other tracks] is that people don't know how to put pavement down.''
``We're concerned, sure,'' said Kevin Triplett, a NASCAR spokesman. ``It's creating situations above and beyond what you normally find in the course of a race. And we're looking at all the places where it's happening. We've got faith that they will remedy these situations.
``We hope we don't run into any problems,'' Triplett said, ``but we don't know until we get there. Until you put 42 cars out there, how do you know?''
``I think the bottom line is we're going to be faced with this problem from now on as cars get more aerodynamic,'' Wheeler said. ``The tracks are going to have to look at very expensive re-paving jobs every seven or eight years, and we're all going to be forced to look at innovative ways to conquer this problem.''
by CNB