Fontana and Vegas Dance
Between the Raindrops
by Jeff Phipps-Staff Writer
02/28/2008

Weather is fickle. If you believe some of the agenda-driven 'meteorologists' at The Weather Channel, life as we know it is over because man-made global climate change has irrevocably skewed the course of history. Hogwash. But damn if the weather didn't foul up a perfectly good racing weekend in California. Friday was a great racing day with the truck series getting off without a hitch. Nationwide Series drivers got their grid set the old fashioned way, by qualifying. Saturday and Sunday were total washouts with a cold rain falling most of both days. Just in case you didn't know, Sunday was partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid-50s at the track that lost this date, Rockingham.

If you have read more than one of my opinions you know that I am a firefighter/EMT. Nearly 22 years in the Air Force taught me the value of risk management. Every activity in life requires risk management decisions. NASCAR officials need to learn this thought process because they were plain stupid Sunday. You could see water on the race track from every camera angle when they tried to start the race. Denny Hamlin tried to tear down the SAFER Barrier when he hit water going into turn 3. NASCAR looked the other way and kept racing. The driveability of the new platform helped countless drivers gather the car in after hitting the wet spots. Casey Mears wasn't so fortunate. His crash collected Li'l E and several others, including Sam Hornish Jr. Mears wound up on his lid with Hornish's car bursting into flames. Everyone escaped without injury but track officials finally had to cut relief grooves in the track to allow water to drain. Its their goat, let them rope it.

On the personnel safety side, the NASCAR official that ran up to Sam Hornish Jr.'s burning 77 Charger was totally wrong in his action. As a firefighter I am accustomed to the adage 'When people yell "Somebody do something...", you're the somebody they're talking to.' But the official, good intentions and all, was not prepared to do anything to make a positive impact on that scene. He had no extinguisher, no tools to help Mears or Hornish from their cars and didn't have a full-face helmet to protect his face and neck. The super-heated, toxic fumes from a burning fuel fire wreak havoc on the airway. Compromise the airway and there is next to nothing that can be done for a person. If they aren't trained, equipped and prepared to affect a rescue they should stay back until the hazard is mitigated. Being a dead hero makes you one thing: dead. Being a dead hero doesn't make you cool. Risk management...

So they got the track 'clean' and sent the stars back out, only to have the rain come and go, bringing out caution after caution; eventually the Red Flag flew for what normal, common sense-types thought would be an overnight delay. Heavens no! Why, we cannot have a competitive race on a clean race track when we can try to dry the track and race to half-way at nearly 11pm, EDT. Aircrews are allowed 16-hours of duty before requiring 8-hours of 'crew rest'. If they are in flight a waiver can be granted until they reach their destination. The drivers and teams were the aircrews Sunday and they were WAY over the 16-hour mark. But the powers that be decided that it was better to offend the East Coast fans who had to work Monday and cheat the sponsors out of any potential exposure their investments would gain than to wait and finish all of the scheduled distance in the bright sunshine of a Monday morning. Finally, at nearly 2am EDT (I was asleep by then), NASCAR relented and acknowledged their folly. The race was delayed until Monday.

It looked like a Hendrick love-fest at the front of the pack with Johnson and Gordon using clean air to escape the field. One guy had other plans. Monday changed the name of that racetrack to Carlifornia Speedway. Carl Edwards caught the bowtie brigade and checked out for an appointment with a back-flip and victory lane. The rooftop in-car camera view of that back-flip was pretty cool.

This brings me to my heartfelt, core opinion on the coverage of this race. I don't care what the drivers say or how they feel. California Speedway is not like, never could be like, Darlington. The Grand Old Lady of the Superspeedways has many things that Auto Club Speedway at Southern California never will and two things in particular: character and dedicated fans. California is fast but once the leader gets in clean air the race is over until a caution bunches the field. The sorry track conditions that drivers likened to Darlington can be directly attributed to the lack of track preparation.

Many arguments can be made about the policy of making every attempt to get the race in on the scheduled date. In the end, racing is apparently about money and entertainment. Safety took a back seat to the almighty dollar Sunday. What a shame. Hopefully Mr. Helton and his crew learned something.

That's my opinion. I could be wrong. What do you think?

Questions? Comments? Contact Jeff Phipps at jp_racefan@hotmail.com

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