Pit Road Speeding
John
Johnson could speed on pit road as long as he did it between the timing
loops. I thought the pit road speed limit was for safety of the pit
crews. Doesn't him speeding defeat the purpose?
No wonder Montoya was upset - he was correct when he told his pit crew
that Johnson was speeding on pit road.
And no penalty? Not even a warning?
And they say Nascar doesn't play favorites!
John
Tom Duwe
Interesting...since I now go with one of the HotPass drivers and the MRN/PRN
audio, I missed the 'announcer's' comment. Can you recall more detail (if
they had any)?
I decided to 'ride' with JJ at M'ville just so I could hear what kind of
ingenious tactics/super-CC-decisions/detailed driver comments on the
handling...etc.
What did I hear? Dang little! Mebbe-so cuz he starts with such good stuff,
but JJ only made a couple comments about handling on the slow-down lap after
a caution and I almost *never* heard Chad say anything...*EXCEPT*, he always
called out "Mark" (or maybe it was "Now") as JJ left the pit box and was
only part way to pit exit.
Seems to me this is an example of Chad/JJ workin' oh-so-close to whatever
the rules allow...Chad (and all teams??) must have known where the timing
loops were along pit road and made sure that JJ knew when to let 'er rip.
Was JPM upset this weekend or at a previous track? I recall him losing his
cool about getting nailed (twice?) at Indy where he thought he had it in the
bag. Maybe his CC wasn't hollerin' "go" at the right loop?
--
Tom in Bristol
SG
Evernham explained this on Nascar Now this evening:
yes it was this wknd and it's all in the timing loops, 48 picked a stall
just past a loop, so they could go like hell leaving until they hit
their next timing line, doing this pulling out in front of the 42
(already at and maintaining pit speed) made it look like they were
speeding to the 42, the panel all agreed that this is just another area
where the 48 team pays attention to details
--
If you can't be an athlete,
be an athletic supporter.
Nancy2
>
> - Show quoted text -
But as the OP pointed out, this defeats the purpose of the pit road
speed limits. I'm sure other teams do it, but it doesn't make it
right. Make a big enough noise, and Nascar will make another damn
rule.
Lamentation today at Foxsports about who will pick up Dale Sr.'s
legacy and be an old-school driver (which is what Fox thinks is needed
at Nascar) - I think Keselowski is probably the go-to guy for that.
He is never repentant about any actions on the track, admits it to the
media, and pretty much drives old-school. That doesn't make him my
favorite - I can hardly stand to look at him - but it does make him
interesting.
N.
John McCoy
news:d463593f-3336-4ba8...@n35g2000yqm.googlegroups.com:
> But as the OP pointed out, this defeats the purpose of the pit road
> speed limits. I'm sure other teams do it, but it doesn't make it
> right. Make a big enough noise, and Nascar will make another damn
> rule.
To recap here, the idea is that NASCAR determines pit road speeds
by timing cars between two scoring loops; they cannot get a
speed reading until a car has crossed two loops. Thus Johnson,
by picking a pit right after one loop, can go as fast as possible
up to the next loop, slowing at that point to the pit road speed.
Now, even allowing for the prodigious accelleration of a Cup
car, this is only going to be possible at tracks with low speed
limits on pit road (Martinsville, at 35mph, is the slowest).
And, even allowing for the accelleration, I very much doubt
Johnson got much over the speed limit, probably not even as
fast as 45mph.
And, even allowing etc, the linear distance Johnson would travel
while over the speed limit, before slowing for the next loop,
would be very small, probably less than a car length.
So, considering the low speed involved, and the short distance,
I think the risk to pit crew members is very small, and not
worth NASCAR worrying about.
John
Nancy2
If the loops are so close together, then the risk both to pit road
workers AND drivers who might get caught not slowing down in time
would be inconsequential, so it makes me wonder why the drivers would
even bother speeding, braking, speeding, braking, etc. It might
explain why JJ gets pit road speeding penalties sometimes (along with
other drivers) and many drivers never do....
N.
John
Well, it paid off Sunday - he gained a spot on Montoya since he could go
as fast as he wanted to get ahead, then slow down. Montoya was not
pleased and said so on the radio.
It also seems that if a driver is concentrating on the timing loops then
he is not paying full attention to other cars and pit crews.
But the even bigger question is - what would happen if Robbie Gordon (or
some other non-chaser, non-chosen-one) did it?
John
Chad
If it can make them as much as a car length I can see the team thinking that
it's worth the effort.
--
Chad
Chuck Steak
>So, considering the low speed involved, and the short distance,
>I think the risk to pit crew members is very small, and not
>worth NASCAR worrying about.
>
>John
eggzactly.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dan
I got a new Matco tool box for my wife.
Best trade I ever made...
John McCoy
> Well, it paid off Sunday - he gained a spot on Montoya since he could
> go as fast as he wanted to get ahead, then slow down. Montoya was not
> pleased and said so on the radio.
That's it - if you can gain one place, it's worth doing.
> It also seems that if a driver is concentrating on the timing loops
> then he is not paying full attention to other cars and pit crews.
I don't think it takes any more concentration than watching your
tach to make sure you don't exceed the limit, which is what the
drivers are doing the rest of the way down pit road.
> But the even bigger question is - what would happen if Robbie Gordon
> (or some other non-chaser, non-chosen-one) did it?
I don't think there's any way NASCAR could detect it. How's
doing it intentionally different from "whoops, a little too fast,
better slow up before I'm caught speeding"? As long as a
driver isn't speeding across two sets of lines, he should be
fine as far as NASCAR is concerned.
John
TS02_05champ
> speed you are good to go. Speed in speed out.
Yeah, it would be great to see a crew member get run over at 180mph at
Atlanta! WOOHOO!
Chuck Steak
the cars were going faster in the pits, there wasn't that
"urgency" to get the stop done fast, like they do today.
If a car was coming in, or leaving, and it was going to be close call,
the guys would lift a bit.
Today, it's just incredibly hairy.
TV doesn't do it justice by any stretch.
I honestly don't know why there are not
more serious accidents.
Involving cars and/or crew guys.
It's just soooooo freakin' tight.
And fast.
Guys get brushed all the time.
I'd slide a car up against the fence anytime,
but I don't think I'd want to be a tire changer/jackman...
John McCoy
news:hcalqc$2233$1...@adenine.netfront.net:
> When they were making 25 second stops, even though
> the cars were going faster in the pits, there wasn't that
> "urgency" to get the stop done fast, like they do today.
Back then, too, the pits were busy if there was 6 or 8
cars in the pits. It got bad when they started closing
the pits on yellow and clumping the field behind the pace
car, and got worse when they started fooling with the rules
to keep as many cars as possible on the lead lap. Now
it's not unusual to see 35 cars on pit road all at once.
John