Speed Thrills at DIS

Taking a look at the speed charts during the Preseason Thunder tests at Daytona last week, I felt like I was at Indianapolis in the early 1980s. A lap at 206 mph? Can I get an amen?

Speed, back in the late 1980s, before the hated restrictor plate surfaced after Bobby Allison’s crash at Talladega, was awesome. Bill Elliott went out and clicked off a lap at 212-mph plus. By himself.

We’re never going to see that again in NASCAR, just so you know. But while it was going on, it was fantastic to watch. The aerodynamics of Elliott’s Ford Thunderbird were nowhere close to the cars of today, but they were slicker than they looked, and Elliott had his foot flat on the floor all the way around.

When Kurt Busch threw out that 206 lap during drafting practice, it was like waking up the echoes, at least to me.

I’m generally not in favor of speed for speed’s sake, but I like a hot lap just like any racing fan. Racing in a pack at 206 is probably a touch much, but hey, it helps the paying fan get up on the wheel, right? Trouble is, you’re going to have the drivers governing the racing by clipping along at a pedestrian 199-202, at the back of the pack, until the final 20 laps. We’ve seen it before, we’ll see it again.

That said, I do like the fact that the cars will be able to race a little more freely this year. The two-by-two Noah’s Ark move will be limited by the fact that the radiator opening has been decreased,

 the radiators have been cut and the spill bucket is no larger than a two-liter bottle of Diet Coke.

That means we’ll see a few choo-choo-train exits from the festivities after the overheating bug gets done chowing down on various components.

Nonetheless, I am very happy to see the pack come back. It’s not perfect, but it’s a darn sight better than the two-by-two, and we might be able to see a bunch of passes among the pack rather than the occasional swoop and swap that we saw last year.

Good to see Kurt Busch doing well in James Finch’s Chevrolet. That car has always been fast, and Kurt, whatever his personal troubles, is a wheelman. It will be interesting to see how he races over the long haul, but for now, he’s back, he’s bad, he’s fast, he’s no longer mad. Or so it seems. Time will tell.

Danica Patrick was a key member of the squad, too, and she did well. Drafting with Tony Stewart will do that for you.

David Ragan finally has a seat, in the No. 34 Front Row Ford. I think he’ll do well there, because the cars have immense backing from Ford and a tech partnership with Roush, so the cars won’t be different by much. Don’t forget he was wicked-fast at times last year, especially on the big tracks, and he could team with David Gilliland to give the team a solid chance to do something this year.

Of course, both Busch and Ragan are probably auditioning for 2013 rides, so we’ll see a lot of up-on-the-chip racing and some stellar charges from both drivers.

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