NASCAR at Infenion

KGP

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While doing some channel surfing I stop at Speed Channel and see the NASCAR boys running around a road course. Track looks familiar, and it turns out to be Infineon. I'm not a NASCAR viewer, nor do I keep track of what they do, or have done, but them running a road course was news to me. Turns out they are qualifying for a race this weekend. If the pole qualifying is a preview of the race, it ought to be interesting! These guys can't keep the cars on the track, and it's only qualifying.

Qualifying is till going on as I watch (taped), but Jeff Gordan has the pole right now, and the time is 7 tenths of a sec slower than what the CT IMSA car ran around the track at XPO, where the former IMSA CT driver hadn't been in the car for years. I don't know if there have been any changes to the track though.

Does NASCAR race at Infineon (or other road course) every year?
 
i saw that too, the first thing i said was " hes turning right!":eek:
 
Yeah, NASCAR runs at Infineon and Watkins Glen every year. I believe the NASCAR course at Infineon is modified from the normal course, but I can't remember what corners they change. If you need help picking someone to root for...pick Kurt Busch. A buddy of mine is on his pit crew. This buddy is also the one who will be babysitting my NSX while I deploy to Iraq.
 
Gene,

you can't compare the lap times to other road racing series. NASCAR run special road course in Infineon. NASCAR track don't have the regular turn 4, 5, and 6. They go straight from turn 3 to 7. They call it NASCAR chute. My friend who is a front runner in specmiata (old NSXer) ran the NASCAR chute about 35 seconds faster than his times running regular configuration.
 
Its fun to watch the nascar boys bump and grind and slide on a road course,also there are some special road race stand in drivers like B.Said and S. Pruet.Some of those nascar regulars like J.Gordon are good all around racers.
 
Andrie Hartanto said:
Gene,

you can't compare the lap times to other road racing series. ... NASCAR track don't have the regular turn 4, 5, and 6. They go straight from turn 3 to 7. My friend ...ran the NASCAR chute about 35 seconds faster than his times running regular configuration.
Wow, so you're saying that if the NASCAR boys ran the same config as at XPO, they would be a lot slower? Sounds like they would be even slower than what some of the NA NSX's were running at XPO. It was hard to keep a watch on specific cars out there because they are easily lost by looking somewhat similar. The one I could easily recognize was Doc's bumblebee. I had him at 1:34. Sounds like that time might even be faster then what NASCAR could do.
 
Gene,

there is no way DocJohn got 1:34. The LMP cars are turning closer to that time. If I'm not mistaken, DocJohn mentioned in another thread he did 1:59s. My best time in the civic was 1:52. I timed Comptech IMSA car, and I remember as it was being fast. Can't recall the times, but I'm estimating it around 1:35s.

You can see the ALMS cars time in couple of weeks when they visit Infineon. Dale Earnhardt will drive the third Corvette in GTS. And the World Challenge boys will be there as well. Last year, the pole sitter for the World Challenge in PTG BMW (Auberlen) was 1:41s. This year they should be a lot faster due to repaving on Infineon. My lap times were lowered by approx 2-3 sec just because of the repave alone.

My guesstimate, those Nascar boys would run somewhere in 1:42s with the current pavement.
 
Hmmm... I simple must have some times crossed up. I didn't write them dowm, so I was going on memory, which has been known to fail me. ;)
I timed Comptech IMSA car, and I remember as it was being fast. Can't recall the times, but I'm estimating it around 1:35s.
Yes, so did I. I goofed! Crossed that time up with what I thought was Doc's. I deisticntly remember that the CT IMSA car had all laps within 1/10th of each other, cept for the last one. Like I said, I was going off memory. I prob had Doc at close to the same time you did. Easy to keep track of the bumblebee. :D
 
FYI, Don't underestimate the NASCAR cars, properly setup they can be as competitive as a World Challenge Car.

I've seen a couple of my track buddies who are relatively good drivers on Viper Comp Coupe's and a Viper ACR GTS trying to keep up with many of the vintage NASCAR cars that are owned by various folks here in CA at various mock races hosted by the Northern CA Shelby Club and the Green Flag Driving Association. These mock races usually take place at Thunderhill, Buttonwillow and Laguna Seca.

Both the guys on the Comp Coupe's and the ACR Viper had a very hard time making up time against the vintage NASCARs who were front runners in the respective races, the raw HP was a sight to watch, it's not everyday that you get to see a Viper Comp Coupe being pulled by a NASCAR, and the NASCAR's cornered pretty well as well.

Ken
 
Maybe I was doing 1:34's!:p I want KGP as my official lap time keeper!::cool:
 
2slow2speed said:
FYI, Don't underestimate the NASCAR cars, properly setup they can be as competitive as a World Challenge Car.
Don't doubt that at all. But it sure was funny to watch darn near all those guys having trouble just staying on the track during qualifying. Even Gordan, who wo the pole, went off into the dirt on his hot lap.
 
Re: NASCAR config..

2slow2speed said:
BTW: ARC hosted an event at Infineon last Sunday.

www.amracing.org

From what I hear they ran the official NASCAR configuration, as soon as their event results are up it should be interesting to see the laptimes for the various classes.

Ken
Our times are up, Ken, at http://www.amracing.org/results.html and yes we ran the NASCAR chute congfig.

Fast lap of the day was Mike Downs in a sports racer, 1:11.3. Fastest sedan was Luc Noel in his Trans Am car, 1:21.4

Dave
 
Re: Re: NASCAR config..

tracknut said:
Our times are up, Ken, at http://www.amracing.org/results.html and yes we ran the NASCAR chute congfig.

Fast lap of the day was Mike Downs in a sports racer, 1:11.3. Fastest sedan was Luc Noel in his Trans Am car, 1:21.4

Dave

Hi Dave,

Hope your Radical is up and running well.

Thanks for the laptimes, I was not able to make it to the open-track portion of the event because I had to catch a last minute flight out of town that afternoon, bummer given that Sears is my favorite track.

The qualifying laptimes for the NASCAR cars were in the 75-76 second range or 1:15 - 1:16 range, so Luc and John were not able to beat those times with their Trans Am Mustang and Viper, yikes!

Ken
 
Man you guys in California are sooooo lucky. So many tracks, so many configurations, AND elevation changes.
 
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