The last thing I’ll say about the Fontana track (I promise!) is that the crowd is the most diverse I’ve ever seen. We all know how important that is for NASCAR so in that sense, it’s a success.

Fontana is a fan-friendly track. The facility is nice (with misters — I was there once when it was 105 degrees!) and you can get there on an air-conditioned chartered train from downtown Los Angeles! No need to sit in race traffic, just get on the train and head out. You’re back in LA in an hour.

And don’t even get me started on the greatness of KING TACO at the track!!

I usually keep quiet about Fontana because I’ve taken enough heat for defending it in the past but it’s really kinda fun and the racing can be good.

However I know Bristol and several other tracks measure 15 feet off the outside wall. Could be 10 like Kevin said, it was many beers ago.

On road courses they measure the center of the racing line. So they are measuring the path that cars take, not just the shortest way around it.

DP fans will likely not agree w/ me here, but IMHO Andretti only signed DP away from Rahal-Letterman only for the money… and that is all. In the event that DP actually wins the Indy 500, “most” IRL teams would jockey to be the team responsible for the win. Win or lose, DP is a cash-cow. A nice looking cash-cash, but a cash-cow none the less. An Indy win by DP, would far exceed the exposure revenue even generated by say a 7 win season and Championship by Kanaan, Dixon, Franchitti and certainly Wheldon.

Lastly, DP is much more likely to get hurt in an open wheel IRL car going 230 than a tin-top NW car going 190 mph.

On Sunday I saw constant side-by-side racing inside the top ten. I saw cars duelling as one rode the high line and the other the low line. The radio guys talked about the number of racing grooves, and they were right. Stuff happens there, but it happens gradually. That doesn’t make for great TV, I admit. TV can’t watch two cars battle for 5th for 20 laps in a row. They can’t watch one car close on another over a space of 15 laps, especially when it’s the guy in 10th closing in on 9th. But if you’re there, it’s great racing.

Richmond is a Friday/Saturday weekend. The Cup race is also, or at least used to be, an impound race so there is not much happening at the track before the race; the vendors, sponsor displays, and SPEED are all there plus tailgating. If you go on Friday for the NW race you also get to see both practices (Cup and NW), both qualifying sessions and the NW race. There is a usually a big (2-3 or 4 hour) break bewteen the end of Cup practice and NW qualifying. SPEED usually has things going on during the day at the stage. Trackside is usually taped before NW qualifying.

Check the track’s website for their pit road pass. This will allow you to walk behind the wall on pit road. You will NOT be allowed into the garage areas nor on pit road.

As others have said, higher is better for seating. Traffic is horrible. The earlier you get there the better. After the race, some of the crews (and occasional driver) cross the track on the frontstretch or via the “fan” pit road tunnel to get back to their vehicles. If you haven’t done your souvenier shopping yet, some, if not most, of the merchandise trailers will be open for at least 1/2 hour to an hour after the checkers. I usally wind up hanging out for a bit after the race to let traffic die down.

It’s true his dad raced NASCAR but back then it was very common for drivers to race in all different types of leagues, Daytona in a stock car one day, a ½ mile dirt track in a midget the next.

If memory serves me correctly I think her contract with Andretti Autosports and JR Motorsports is the same length. I’m sure all set up on purpose. If she does decent then she can make the move to NASCAR. If she doesn’t do good then she can re-sign a contract in IRL.