The 25th Annual Toyota/Save Mart 350 NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Sonoma Raceway started on schedule at noon Pacific Time, but four minutes before, there was a momentary blip on the radar – a couple of isolated, scattered sprinkles. NASCAR doesn’t race in the rain. BUT … it was just a hit and run scattered sprinkle, so the race started on schedule. Doesn’t mean no one stopped watching the radar.
Many of the cars already had on their car covers and GREG BIFFLE’S car was shrink-wrapped.
NASCAR has mandated that the air intake on the hood of the car next to the windshield be covered until the race begins. This is to prevent anything getting into it before the race such as dirt from track cleaning, unauthorized, rain, etc. Then after a driver took off with the cover still in place, NASCAR mandated that a ‘flag’ be installed, so the driver can see that the cover is still in place. The teams have become quite creative in the flags they use. It’s all about branding these days.
Equipment is carried down into the pits in a variety of ways, including war wagons and carry-on luggage wheelies.
Usually one sees people walking around looking down at their smart phones. They must get sore necks. For 25 minutes during Pre-Race Ceremonies, their necks got stretched the other direction, to watch the aerobatics of the nearby Discovery Bay Patriots Jet Demonstration Team, the country’s only civilian aerobatic jet team.
Call me old-fashioned. The National Anthem should be sung or played, not ‘performed.’