NASCAR on TV this week

Short Tracks

Holding a Pretty Wheel: 2 Heroes & Their Enduring Legend NASCAR’s Finest

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Racing, like other sports, is built on heroes. Most of NASCAR’s heroes are the men and women who, over the years, pulled on their colorful, if not dashing firesuits, climbed into a snarling beast of a machine, and drove straight into the sunset (and back out, as they came off the next turn). They court danger and flirt with mayhem, run with the stuff of dreams. Yes, racecar drivers are the stuff of legend. But not all heroes drive the cars. Some make the cars go fast instead.

Driven to the Past: The Best Way to Slow a Racecar Down

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Once again, one thing leads to another. In trying to explain how easy it is to misjudge a slower speed after you’ve been traveling really fast, I mentioned that I first heard the phrase “You lose your reference to zero” from Dick Trickle. He said that after the first ASA race at Milwaukee, on May 7, 1978. We had never run on anything bigger than a 5/8-mile track, so it stands to reason that most of our guys had never seen the kind of speeds they were experiencing on that big ol’ mile. Neither had I from the flagstand, actually. When the first car went out to qualify, I threw the green flag and then told the tower to wake me up when he got to turn 3.