dr-baker wrote:OK, so I have a really significant question, that I hope somebody can answer (and which I hope that I will be able to debate). Today, I saw my first ever live oval race trackside! Pick-up trucks at Rockingham Motor Speedway! (The rest of this post will make it clear which of the two Rockingham Speedway ovals I am referring to!) OK, so there was no Nelson Piquet Jnr., there were only 16 trucks, averaging 150 mph or so, around the 1.5 mile, 4-turn oval, and each of the two races each last 35 laps (approx 25-30 mins), with Vauxhall-branded trucks winning. So, it's England (of course it is, considering I am half-way through an 8-week placement in north London...). So yesterday, they go out on a damp, but drying track, and they are able to go and practice and qualify without incident for 30 minutes (the only incident of any note was one truck getting sideways on cold tyres as he was leaving the pits at the very start of the session. No yellows, nothing hit, and the truck goes on to compete in the session as if nothing had happened). Their first race is in the dry and the race is great, with the two leading trucks finishing the race 0.05 seconds apart, while lapping a gaggle of four other trucks (none of whom had yet been shown the 'last-lap' flag yet, so both flags were being waved concurrently as two of the four were deemed to have been lapped while two had not as all 6 crossed the line within a second of each other. Wished I had a photo of that...). But the second race was really rather wet. And guess what? THEY RACED AT 150 mph OR SO CONTINUOUSLY FOR 35 LAPS! One truck at one point got sideways while alongside another, but escaped hitting anything and continued on his way without a safety car. Another did spin, and glanced the pit wall, but no major damage or debris, and he too got going, but only after all the other trucks had passed (waiting sensibly for a safe moment - only problem is that the safety car had already been deployed in the meantime. Que sera sera).
So my question is: since I have now watched American-style pickup trucks racing on a 1.5 mile American-style oval without major incident, why on earth don't Americans race on ovals in the rain? (At least, the junior series? I might allow a bit of slack for those series attaining 200+ mph round these tracks...).
OK, so I had an answer to my question at the time, but I have
found footage of the final few laps of that race. And seeing the number 22 (which you're riding onboard with) and number 74 racing to the line, seperated by a small gap, whilst lapping across the line, was epic. Must have been confusing for those who were being lapped to know if they were still racing for another lap or not... And I thought at the time the race was all over at 1:10 in the video, but as you see, there was still a minute+ left of racing...