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Weekend in limbo..........


New Hampshire in November, new schedule, and in the interim.





New Hampshire in November............   ?????

I totally understand the cancellation of the New Hampshire 300. It was definitely the right thing to as the result of such tragic circumstances. What I cannot understand, is why they rescheduled the race for the end of November. The climatic conditions in New Hampshire are not conducive to auto racing in November. I think it would have been a much wiser choice to have traded the dates with either of the Phoenix, Charlotte, or Kansas City venues.

The average temperature in New Hampshire at the end of November is usually in the 20's. The ground surface will most likely be frozen. What happens when you heat up a frozen surface? Condensation, moisture, and slippery unstable conditions. When 43 racecars heat up that frozen track surface with their tires and exhaust fumes, they will not be able to realize much traction. Dry the track with jet dryers? Not hardly, the more the surface thaws, the wetter it will become. Maybe they will attempt to race with the rain tire? Then, there is always the possibility of the wet surface re-freezing during caution periods when the slower running tires cool down.

The one-mile New Hampshire International Raceway is considered to be a relatively flat track. It has only 12 degrees banking in its corners, with a two degree banking on the straight stretches. Compare that to the half mile Bristol, TN track, which has 36 degrees of banking in it's corners, and 16 degrees banking in it's straights, and you will understand what I mean. There not enough degrees of banking at New Hampshire to help hold the cars on the track.

I am really not trying to be negative about this, it just does not sound to me like it is a feasible undertaking. Actually, I think it is quite humorous, given that the sanctioning body switched race dates for 2002 between Atlanta and Miami due to the bad weather in Atlanta in November. How many hundred miles south of New Hampshire is Atlanta? Go figure, the infinite wisdom of NASCAR...........





2002 Winston Cup Schedule Released..........

NASCAR released its 2002 Winston Cup racing schedule Monday, September 11th. There are no real surprises in the 36-race listing for next season's events. I am happy to see that both road course events have remained in tact, and that all of the short tracks that were on the schedule this year will be revisited. The best breakdown of the new schedule that I have seen is at Jayski.com. I have added a link to it at the bottom of this page.
The copyright of the article Weekend in limbo.......... in NASCAR is owned by Thomas M. Sampson. Permission to republish Weekend in limbo.......... in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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