We all like to think we could drive a NASCAR racecar. After all, most of us drive streetcars, so it shouldn’t be too much of a stretch. We might not be able to win as many races as Richard Petty, but surely we could get in a racecar and turn some laps, especially on a long wide Superspeedway like Daytona or Talladega.
Boy would we be wrong.
Brett Bodine is one NASCAR driver whose name won’t appear on any entry list despite the fact he turns laps in every single Sprint Cup race during the season. Bodine’s official title is NASCAR’s director of cost research. But his duties are far reaching. Bodine is a member of the committee that determines if a driver is qualified to compete in one of NASCAR’s top three touring series, and if they can be cleared to race at each track, or only the smaller ones. Bodine’s most visible duty however, is the one most NASCAR fans see every week; Bodine drives the pace car.
Sunday morning at Daytona International Speedway, Bodine took me on several laps in the 2011 Ford Mustang that paced the 52nd annual Daytona 500.
Bodine is a former full time Cup driver. He knows the nuances of every track the circuit travels to and as it turns out Daytona is full of nuances.
As Bodine dove into the 31-degree banking of each turn at 140 miles per hour, he explained that the exit of the turns is what’s crucial. As the banking falls away, the car is still turning and the driver has to be able to smoothly make the transition. Add to that the fact that the track is bumpy and tends to bounce the car around and you begin to understand the real skill it takes to race.
I’ve been around several NASCAR tracks at speed; Atlanta, Indy, Homestead, Dover, to name a few. And one thing is always the same. The tracks look much, much smaller and narrower when you are going fast, and Daytona is no exception.
The laps I rode Sunday morning gave me a better appreciation of the focus needed to not only simply go fast, but race as well. Bodine took laps with the car high in the corners and low. As the car bounces around it can move some six inches side to side, so being able to race three wide is a feat. And Sunday morning we were going over 50 miles per hour slower then a Cup car.
So what’s the key to racing at Daytona? Confidence according to Bodine. A driver has to have the confidence that he can turn his car into the turns and keep control as the banking flattens out. “That’s why drivers need so much practice here,” Bodine said. “The more laps they run, the more confidence they gain.”
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