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By Dave Rodman, Turner Sports Interactive March 27, 2003
8:02 PM EST (0102 GMT)
Nascar.com
FORT WORTH, Texas -- NASCAR Winston Cup director John Darby on Friday approved the use of a new caution light system that Texas Motor Speedway installed for this weekend's NASCAR events at the 1.5-mile speedway.
The system, dubbed the "Warning Emergency System" or "WES," was developed at TMS in conjunction with System Electric Inc. of Fort Worth for use beginning Friday in practice for Saturday's O'Reilly 300 Busch Series race and qualifying for Sunday's Samsung/RadioShack 500.
The WES, which is located at the base of the track's outside retaining wall, operates in conjunction with the previous system, which is mounted at intervals atop the speedway's walls.
"From what we can tell at this point, where they are located they will not be an obstruction to the race cars," Darby said. "That was our primary concern."
The WES caution lights are imbedded in the asphalt at the base of the retaining walls in the speedway's four turns. Each of the eight sections of lights -- four in each turn -- consist of nine LED light groups six inches wide imbedded perpendicular to the wall.
The new lights are similar to airport runway lights. Each location provides a 15-foot strip that includes a total of 180 LED lights.
"In our never-ending effort to improve driver safety, we wanted to develop caution lights that were directly in the view of the drivers," Eddie Gossage, general manager of Texas Motor Speedway, said. "In the turns the drivers are focusing on the racetrack ahead of them and since the WES lights are imbedded into the asphalt surface, our tests indicate the drivers will see them easier.
"We're glad to hear that NASCAR liked the system. We felt like it made the caution lights more visible, more frequent and filled in the dead spots between the current caution lights."
Gossage said that not only might he look at installing more sets of the WES lights at TMS, but that Speedway Motorsports chairman Bruton Smith was also interested in installing the system at his other oval facilities, which include Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C., Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway; and Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
"Yes, he is absolutely looking at installing the WES system at SMI's other oval facilities," Gossage said. "Bruton has taken a great interest in the system and is pleased with what he's seen so far."
At TMS, four sets of WES lights are located in Turns 1 and 2 while an additional four sets are located in Turns 3 and 4.
Gossage said that pending driver feedback he would consider installing WES lights at other locations around the outside wall while further development may also allow them to be installed along the inside apron of the turns.
"The WES lights are very directional and are very bright to the driver even in the brightest part of the day," Gossage said. "Only fans sitting at a perfect angle will be able to see the lights but to the drivers (we think) they will be very clear and visible."
