This weekend is NASCAR Trucks at Gateway and NASCAR Cup at Sonoma. I hope you GTPlaneteers don't mind another sort of musing post of mine. So here's another.
When I was learning about racing in 1998 and 1999, I wondered by NASCAR only raced on ovals. That was... until I played the PC game "NASCAR Racing" and saw Sears Point (now Sonoma Raceway) and Watkins Glen. So the notion of these oval racing machines on road courses is to say the least- fascinating. In fact, almost as fascinating the fact these are 3500 lbs. race cars capable of maintaining speeds around 190 mph on tracks like Daytona and Talladega. I think NASCAR is in a better place now with road racing than it was mostly when I was learning of NASCAR. I've noted not as many teams hiring "wringers" (road racing specialists in NASCAR) now than in the past. I even recall in the past when Jeff Gordon was on a winning streak of five or so races on road courses. I've always been a road racing fan as well as a fan of GT/Sportscar/Endurance racing. So seeing road racing will always catch my eye.
While seeing stock cars race hard on ovals is good TV, let's be honest- there is something unique and different about seeing stock cars hammer through the gears and go left... AND right. From onboard videos, I find great enjoyment even watching drivers make timely shifts and even see the footwork in working the clutch and the accelerator and the brake. You are going to see something unique if you haven't seen NASCAR do road racing. If it were up to me, not only would I want to put in more road races, I'd put in at least one road course in the Chase format. Unless NASCAR feels ovals are better for "racing," some more road courses offer greater diversity and challenge. My all-time favorite moment in NASCAR road racing was when watching the (then) NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve when it was raining. Challenging yourself to race in the in the rain as well as equipping the cars for rain racing was just amazing. We all know rain is the great equalizer in racing. Just ask the late great Ayrton Senna.
One last note... when I actually researched online about Riverside International Raceway, one thing that fascinated me was just how much Riverside's layout and Sonoma Raceway's layout were similar to each other. Many people still probably wish Riverside International Raceway was still around instead of being converted to some shopping center. Riverside seen everything from NASCAR to IMSA to Formula 1 (or did F1 race there?).
As you can tell, I am more fascinated with the race at Sonoma than the Trucks race at Gateway. I do like the Gateway course. One of the different ovals out there. Regardless, enjoy this weekend's action. Good luck to all drivers and teams across all levels of NASCAR.
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