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NASCAR has always been saddled with some sort of controversy; it's the way the game's been played. Controversy keeps things interesting, and keeps the news flowing away from the ho-hum everyday complacency that surrounds some types of professional sports.
The latest NASCAR flap concerns pit road speed. During this past Sunday's event at Dover, Delaware, the much ballyhooed - up and coming star Jimmie Johnson - was penalized for speeding on pit road. Now let's be real here people, we all watch and attend the races, and hardly an event passes, that a driver isn't penalized for speeding on the pit road. They either get nailed for leaving to fast after their racecar was serviced, or by heading for their pit box to quickly coming in from the race track. Track position is the name of the game, and every second that is spent on the pit road can mean hundreds of feet on the race track. Jimmy Johnson had the first pit stall, right by the entrance to pit road. This means that after his car was serviced, he had to travel the entire distance of pit road before making his entrance back onto the race track. When drivers have the first stall, it's really hard to get them for speeding when they come into the pits, because as soon as they cross the pit road entrance line where the timing process begins, they dive into their pit stall. When they leave, it's another story. They are sitting ducks for the pit road timer, having to traverse the entire distance of pit road before crossing the exit line where the timer clicks his stop watch and gets their recorded time for the distance they had to travel. Did I say timer? Did I say stop watch? Yep, that's right, it's still done the old fashioned way. Isn't that a hoot, with all of the modern technology available? A multi-billion dollar enterprise still depends on the human element, the click of a finger; to decide a driver's fate during a race were millions of dollars are at stake. What happens if the timer gets distracted? There are a lot of distractions at a race track during an event, and lots of deafening noise to accentuate them. How about the way the driver leaves his pit box. We've all seen them peel out, heating up the tires so they will adhere to the racetrack when they get back up to racing speed. Some of them don't peel out as quickly as others. Some just seem to shoot out of their pit boxes, while others spin their tires more, standing still for a split second or two while spinning. While the car is slightly moving sideways during that short spin, it certainly isn't traveling down the pit road as fast as it would be if it weren't spinning. That time difference can alter the time that is clocked while traveling down pit road. When does the timer click his stop watch on? Does he start the timing process when the car first moves away from its parked position, or when the car actually begins traveling down pit road after its spinout? The element for human error is magnified here dramatically!
The copyright of the article Speeding During a Race? in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Speeding During a Race? in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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