2021 Food City Dirt Race Pre Race Thread

KTMLew01 said:
IF it doesn't rain all night, as I suspect it will, they will turn the dirt over and repack. IMO this whole deal will be a disaster but I'll be watching. Be surprised if more than 20 cars finish.
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How long should that take? And what's involved in readying the track after the Trucks for the Cup race?
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Siping?
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It's when you cut small lines into the tread of a tire to add more biting edges. Dirt track teams across the country do it but it's prohibited by NASCAR this weekend. If you've ever looked at a snow tire and seen all the fine squiggly lines all over the tread, that's a form of siping too.
 
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World of Outlaws late models also rained out tonight in SC. WoO sprints are racing in the Ozarks of MO. What was going to be a full night of dirt races that were too many to keep up with has been whittled down considerably. I hope the rain at Bristol is lighter than expected. It would be a shame to see all of the effort that into this washed out.
 
gnomesayin said:
World of Outlaws late models also rained out tonight in SC. WoO sprints are racing in the Ozarks of MO. What was going to be a full night of dirt races that were too many to keep up with has been whittled down considerably. I hope the rain at Bristol is lighter than expected. It would be a shame to see all of the effort that into this washed out.
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I've been keeping track of it. There is a line that strings all the way down to Louisiana. If the string slides north it is looking pretty good. It isn't raining there now
 
cheesepuffs said:
It's when you cut small lines into the tread of a tire to add more biting edges. Dirt track teams across the country do it but it's prohibited by NASCAR this weekend. If you've ever looked at a snow tire and seen all the fine squiggly lines all over the tread, that's a form of siping too.
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Thanks.

If I have a chance to look at a snow tire, I'll be more interested in what stupid things I did to get into a situation where snow tires are relevant.
 
I remember at the dirt track I went to growing up, every once in a whlle someone would bring out an asphalt car and the windshield would still be in it.

They need a rock guard, that's it.
 
What a bummer. I knew the weather was going to be sketchy today and tomorrow but we sat at Buffalo Wild Wings bar to watch the heat races and it's all rained out. There won't be any racing Sunday. This dirt thing has turned into a disaster I'm glad we passed on tickets. I saw the announcers wearing goggles haha!! I saw huge dust clouds from practice. This was a hairbrained idea not really thought out but maybe it will be a good show if the weather cooperates lol...
 
I have been to many dirt races in the last 40 or so years, but I can’t recall any of them exceeding more than 100 laps. When I first saw that this race was going to be 250 laps, my first thought was are they crazy. Even the Sprint Cars and Outlaws that are designed to handle the rough dirt tracks would probably have a lot of casualties in 250 laps,I just can’t see these asphalt cars running this distance without a lot of DNFs. My guess is that the winner will be the one who can take the best care and not push his car to be around at the finish. And I wonder how much thought NASCAR put into putting a dirt race on in March when rain in Bristol is very common. It seems July or August would have been a more suitable time. But those are just my thoughts.
 
Sitting here in our rental house in Abingdon VA, about 25 miles from the track, and it has been a thunderstorm for about the past 2hrs. I'm not real hopeful that they get this in tomorrow with how much rain that has been dumped already today. If this was a "normal" dirt race, the Sunday portion would've been canceled hours ago, but I suppose NASCAR is going to give it a try. We won't be able to stay for Monday as my son needs to get back to school, so I'm hoping the rain predicted for tomorrow changes course.

We did get to see one green flag lap though 🤣
 
They've been dumped with a half-inch of rain since the postponement announcement. Plus they had about that much prior to the postponement. So, an inch already today, with another inch or 2 expected tomorrow.
 
Monday is going to be gorgeous. Looks like a potent cold front moves down late next week. 39/23 on Thursday for Bristol? That’s insane for early April. Meanwhile I’m camping here west of Columbia, SC sunburnt with the AC on haha
 
ChexOrWrex said:
This is a joke. How NASCAR expected a dirt race with windshields is beyond me.

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I agree that the windshields should go if they're going to take dirt racing seriously, but they did it for seven years at Eldora, didn't they? That was a very dry track prep in the middle of the summer, so yeah, not going to work when the track is greasy.
 
gnomesayin said:
I agree that the windshields should go if they're going to take dirt racing seriously, but they did for seven years at Eldora, didn't they? That was a very dry track prep in the middle of the summer, so yeah, not going to work when the track is greasy.
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ChexOrWrex said:
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That doesn't address my post. The miscalculation was thinking they could replicate a July / August dry slick track in March.

Going forward, they should pull the windshields in favor of a mesh screen and helmet tear-offs. That will allow them to prep the track with more moisture to hold up over a long race. If they keep doing this, they'll probably learn the lesson.
 
gnomesayin said:
That doesn't address my post. The miscalculation was thinking they could replicate a July / August dry slick track in March.

Going forward, they should pull the windshields in favor of a mesh screen and helmet tear-offs. That will allow them to prep the track with more moisture to hold up over a long race. If they keep doing this, they'll probably learn the lesson.
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They aren't going to do all that, remove the windshields and all of the electronics on the dash because of some rain. Not going to happen IMO
 
StandOnIt said:
They aren't going to do all that, remove the windshields and all of the electronics on the dash because of some rain. Not going to happen IMO
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Fix the track, not the cars. Never thought I'd say that in this era
 
aunty dive said:
The grilles were completely blocked.

In 1 lap.
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This is going to end up as NASCAR's US 500 moment isn't it?.

Because the track's moisture threshold may have already hit the point of no return.. Where it could take up to a day or more to get it back into raceable shape
 
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It's poured here in Raleigh NC ALL NIGHT! Still raining, thundering and generally making sleep impossible. They won't be racing before Tuesday unless Charlie has a magic way to render the water from mud. Not all the water...just the write amount.
 
It's a rain delay, nothing more or less. Yes, it will take longer to get this dirt track ready afterward than if it was asphalt. With this forecast, they wouldn't be racing today if they were running rain tires on a grooved highway.

As to a magic way to get the track dried to just the right degree, have the Late Models run some hot laps. The vortex effect will draw the excess moisture out of the track, DW (and it will give us all something to watch).
 
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gnomesayin said:
That will allow them to prep the track with more moisture to hold up over a long race.
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You're confusing me. I was told repeatedly yesterday that the current problem was too much moisture. How would more help the situation? Wouldn't that result in a total mud bog?
 
Replace the heat races with foot races. Have the drivers for the first heat stand at the bottom of turn 1. First 7 drivers to touch the outside retaining wall move on. As with cars, pushing and shoving is permitted. For the next heat, move on to the unsullied corner 2.

While the last two heats are run in turns 3 and 4, they can groom 1 and 2 for the main. Before the main, drivers will have the opportunity to change shoes (or not, their choice).

The main will be the same format as the heats except each driver will be towing a cinder block.
 
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