One of the best Daytona 500’s on record was staged Sunday. In fact it took most of Sunday to actually finish.
There was some great racing up until lap 123 when a piece of pavement between turns one and two came loose causing a red flag and a repair of one hour and forty minutes.
It happened again with 39 laps to go, causing a red flag for another 30 minutes.
Most of the speculation concerning the cause of the problem centered on recent rains in the Central Florida area. No mention was made though of the massive flooding that hit the area in May 2009.
More then 17 inches of rainfall fell in Daytona Beach, Fla., during the week of May 17 2009. This record rainfall left portions of Daytona International Speedway under water. Pictures showed water levels halfway up the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barriers in some portions of the track. The Turn 1 tunnel that haulers use to enter the track was filled with about 10 feet of water.
At the time, track spokesman Andrew Booth said there was no apparent damage and the track would be ready for the July 4 Sprint Cup race.
"It's a significant amount of water, but all it is, is water,'" Booth said. "We have people living around the speedway and in Flagler County with water in their homes. We believe that is more pressing than water in our tunnel. What happened will not affect what happens in July.'"
Also at the time, NASCAR officials saw the photos of the track and were not concerned about damage. They said no special test would be scheduled to help rubber in the surface.
Booth said there is no way to know for sure there is no damage. "The pictures are very dramatic,'' he said. "It's not a sight you usually see. We'll be good to go in July.'"
Indeed the July race last year went off without a hitch. But that race was run during the heat of the summer. Fast forward to Sunday’s Daytona 500. Not only has there been some rain this week, but record cold temperatures as well. In fact early Sunday morning there was widespread frost at the speedway.
Unlike last July’s warm weather race, the rain this week along with the frigid temperatures may have forced damage from the 2009 floods to show at the worst possible time.
Sunday after the race, Track president Robin Braig took full responsibility for the red flag delays Sunday, but admitted that while they had inspected the track prior to the event they couldn’t have anticipated the problem.
“As we do for every event, we inspected the track this morning and there were no concerns,” Braig said. “We are always prepared for these types of issues. The delay in the repairs was caused by the unusually cold ambient temperatures.”
He also admitted that he wasn’t sure if the cold weather combined with the rain on Friday could have contributed to the problem.
Braig also pointed out the hole, which was nine inches by 15 inches by two inches deep, was in a dip in the track and may have been caused by a racecar scraping the surface. He vowed to find out what did cause the problem and would ensure everything necessary was done to make sure it never happened again.
“We can come back from this,” Braig said. “ We know how to fix it. We own 12 racetracks. We know how to do it right. I apologize for it. This is hallowed ground.”
PHOTO GALLERY: 2009 Flooding At Daytona
Comments