Turbo-Charged Track Drying!?

For the last few weeks I've been hearing about these new track jet dryers that can cut track drying time down by quite a bit.  And to be honest, if someone can make a 2-hour delay into a mere 30-minute delay, that would be something awesome for the race fan.

And that's been one of NASCAR's goals, to somehow shorten the race rain delays.

In fact, estimated dry times include 30 minutes for Daytona and 15 minutes for Martinsville!  All this, and the process will be more green than the previous technology.

What NASCAR is looking at is a compressed air heating system rather than a small jet engine mounted on the back of truck!

It still has to debut on the track but it's been tested at Daytona and Charlotte.

And the hope is that it will debut by Speedweeks.  Or, at least be ready to debut by then...  depending on the weather.

Weather: Tonight's Night Race At Richmond Might Become a Day Race

Right now, weather is not a cool thing.

Right now reports have clear skies but for this evening, the Weather Channel is predicting an 80% chance of rain.  Thunderstorms of all things to boot.

But then the forecast for tomorrow is blue skies.  Typical uncooperative weather!

So when you're settling down for a good night race, you might be getting a good rain-delay series of driver interviews instead.  But then, depending on when things happen, well, we can now add this to all the probabilities of wildcard entries.

Will it rain before it starts, after it starts, after the half-way mark of the race?  Etc., etc..

Well, no matter.  I'll see ya "at the track," via our TV sets.

'Daytona 500' Postponed to Monday, If Weather Permits

Today we encountered nothing but rain when NASCAR's Daytona 500 telecast on Fox was supposed to commence.  After a valiant effort of patience and then, during a lull in the rain, track drying, NASCAR had finally postponed it until Monday, February 27th.

The new start time is Noon, EST.

But...

The Weather Channel says it's going to rain all day on Monday.

Earlier in the day they reported that it would clear by Wednesday, but right now while I'm writing this, it now says the weather will clear up on Tuesday.

I don't want to see the Daytona 500 run on Tuesday, but right now the weather service and mother nature is not looking like they're NASCAR fans.

NASCAR TV Times for Homestead and A Weather Link

Friday night, we have the 3 point battle for the Truck Series championship,
on SPEED at 4:30 PM (pacific, 7:30 eastern)

Saturday, we have the 56 point battle for the Nationwide Series Title,
on ESPN2, at 1:00 PM Pacific (4 Eastern)

Sunday, the Sprint Cup championship will be awarded to the driver who outperforms the other
on ABC at 12 PM Pacific (3 Eastern). Or maybe they should just start the show on ESPN2 and leave out any other transmitting surprises... Come' on... you knew I was going to take a shot.

Here's a weather report for the upcoming days on Wunderground for Homestead.
So far, good weather is on the outlook... for now.

Weather for Hampton, (Atlanta) Georgia

At the moment that I wrote this, rain is predicted for Hampton on, guess what day? Friday. A 70% chance of rain.

Then partly cloudy for Saturday and Sunday.

See Wunderground Weather for more details.

Why Wunderground? Because places like AccuWeather confuse me while they report light rain on Tuesday when there's nothing but blue skies above me! I couldn't help myself. I took screen shots and outside pictures just say "Hey!"

Weather For Kansas

For once, we aren't going to be put off by any rain, at least according to Weather.com.

They're predicting highs in the 80's, no precipitation! Finally. Let's get a decent race weekend in this time around and see how the Cup Contenders fare this weekend!

Sigh - Qaulifying Canceled

Well, it is New Hampshire.

Qualifying was canceled due to rain and the grid has been set by the point standings.

This puts Kyle on the pole and Carl on the outside of the front row!

According to weather.com, 60% chance of showers for Sunday. Chance of showers. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s.

Source:
nascar splash screen and garage cams.
Weather.com Loudon Link

Weather For The Weekend

I don't mean to be a "Dour Dan" but someone this morning (Thanks Amy!) mentioned the weather issues going on out towards the Brooklyn, MI way so I looked it up, and right now it looks like we might be watching rain delay, human interest stories on Sunday.

According to "sources", (OK, weather.com),

Saturday, the 14th: AM Showers and a Precip chance of 30%
Sunday, the 15th: Isolated T-Storms with Precipitation chance at 30%
Hopefully this link to the weekend forecast for Brooklyn works:
The Weather Channel

For Sparta, KY (Nationwide Race)
They're saying AM Thunderstorms with a 70% chance of rain.
The Weather Channel

I hate rain when it comes to NASCAR and I know domed events are not a reality but that would be cool now.
Maybe we should introduce the NASCAR RC control car races or have them fight it out in Legends Cars when it rains.
At least we'd have something fun to watch! I bet the drivers would be game to play in the rain