As I promised, I am back to get you all caught up on what happened Tuesday. It was an awesome day, better than I expected.
At the NASCAR Luncheon we received some pretty big news. Now, of course, being new to the sport I had to look it up to figure out what it was really all about.
For starters, NASCAR is working on cutting dry time for the track after rain by eighty percent. How they plan on doing this? Well, by using a new proposed drying system.
“It uses compressed air as opposed to jet engine.” Mike Helton, NASCAR President said. “It’s designed to expedite, obviously, the removal of water using compressed air and heat, where the jet dryers were simply designed around blowing and depended more on hot air. The new system depends more on compressed air.”
They also announced they’ve been working with Daytona Beach and Volusia County on appropriate rezoning rules in order to do some redevelopments to the Daytona Speedway. Rosetti Architects are enlisted as a partner in the project.
“With them we’ve been able to create a new grand vision, and so today for the first time I unveil some creative as it relates to what we consider the new vision for Daytona International Speedway.” Track President Joie Chitwood said. “As you look at this image, you can see the massive structure and feel to it, grand entrance statements and architectural skin, very reminiscent of professional sport that you see nowadays. As we continue through a look at the artist’s rendition, you can see what it might look like on race day with a new tower and the structure behind it. For us we’re very excited to unveil for the first time these images.”
The luncheon was at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. After the announcements we were let loose for one-on-one interviews and to explore. It was the best part of morning for me. I got to walk around, check out the cars and play around with some of their displays. I know what you’re thinking? You touched them? The answer is yes. Many of the displays were interactive.
Next, we headed to the Charlotte Motor Speedway. There Speedway MotorSports Inc. made some pretty significant announcements. For one their founder Bruton Smith has proposed to slow down the cars. He says that in order to race the cars cannot be driving at such high speeds. The reason, because when drivers are going 200 miles per hour, the can’t concentrate on the other cars because all their attention as to be on their car, and their driving.
Burton Smith also asked the media to spread the word against “Start-and –Park.” Which is when drivers begin a race, do a few laps to get paid and park it. They sit out of the race, and still collect a paycheck.
It was also during this part of the day, that I had the most fun. The Speedway Motorports Inc. provided us with a taste of every racetrack and a ride in an exotic car. To get more of an understanding of what went down, check out my video blog HERE.
The day ended with a dinner present by Chevrolet. They spoke to us about their new cars for this year and how they came up with the design. Their new car is much different from their former car and the cars of the other teams. I was extremely impressed about on how much work it took to create the new cars, especially since it has 31 parts that are custom to their car for the racetrack. Their old car only had about 6 custom parts. I know. Big difference!
It’s been a busy 2 days and it looks like those who planned the media event knew we’d feel this way. The last event was extremely relaxed. Video games, music, food and drinks were served. It was a time for all of the media to hang out together with drivers, network and have some fun. I was absolutely grateful for it.