Quote Originally Posted by FormerFF
During the lunch break, we get our first look at the K & N series cars. I assume their sessions were washed out Thursday by the persistent light rain we had, and they were sent out with the course under yellow. Earlier, I'd gotten a chance to look at one close up. They feature a beefy NASCAR roll cage that is part of the space frame that makes up the car, a carbureted, pushrod V8 engine up front, a 4 speed transmission with what looks like a conventional H pattern shifter, custom bodywork that appears to be identical car to car, and a live axle, and I'm thinking, 1984 is calling and wants its race cars back! I later learn that the bodywork's quarter windows and grille opening are different depending on which manufacturer the car is supposed to be from. In reality they are space frame racing chassis with a custom body and a spec engine package, and not a single part from the Fusion or Camry that they're supposed to represent. What's worse from my standpoint is that they have stickers that are supposed to represent headlights and taillights of the cars they're supposed to represent, and this all seems dishonest to me. I always thought that the "S" in NASCAR stood for "Stock", but I suppose these days it should be "Silhouette". In any case, they're loud and look fast in a straight line and I'm looking forward to seeing them race. After they get off of the track someone comes on the PA system to tell us more about the cars and the series. He also says that the race will be 28 laps, which is the first time we'd heard the race distance. In the schedule it had just been announced as a 90 minute race window.
Your description of the cars is accurate, "silhouette" cars are what these are. You have to follow the evolution of the stock car to see how they arrived at this point. The cars in the showrooms today do not lend themselves very well to conversions into race cars. The cars of the 50s, 60, 70s and even into the early 80s did and were basically stock cars, though with very beefed-up parts. Starting in the mid-60s, unibody construction came in and it could not take the stresses of racing, so frame rails, etc., had to be fabricated, more like those on the cars, pre-mid 60s. The stock bodies were still used, so the cars were still basically, stock cars. It remained that way throughout the mid-80s or so. Detroit went to building more front wheel drive cars and FWD proved to not be able to handle the stresses and forces of racing on the big superspeedways so the silhouette style "stock car" came about. RWD cars had the latest sheet metal placed over them and the cars became more "stock appearing cars" than "stock cars". Detroit continued to move further away from building cars that could be converted into race cars, allot less metal used, allot more fiberglass, plastic, composite materials used, so more and more of the bodies had to be hand fabricated, and they became less and less stock appearing. Then, the "car of tomorrow" came about, far more safety features, but looked nothing like a production car. It all came to a head, last year. The various car companies complained very loudly, that the cars looked nothing like what they were building. NASCAR sat down with the companies and together they developed the "Geberation 6" cars. These cars pretty much look like their showroom counterparts again, so they are back to being "stock appearing cars" Hopefully, the stock appearing look will filter down to the K&N Series in the next year or two. The head and tail light decals have been around for awhile. They first appeared on the cars of the old, now gone, ASA Series. NASCAR and ARCA both adopted them from that series. That, in a nutshell, is a very brief description of stock car evolution, it is far more detailed than that, of course, but it would take a whole lot of bandwidth to cover it in detail.

Quote Originally Posted by FormerFF
Immediately after, the K & N cars get ready to go. i was planning to swing by the merchandise tent to pick up a few more ALMS items before they were all gone, but instead I head down to turns 10A and B to catch this race. After a clean start, one of the drivers towards the back spins in turn 10A, gets going, then stalls right on the racing line. Now, 10A is at the end of the back (not so) straight, and the braking zone is downhill, so this is a puckerish moment, particularly considering how little time most of these drivers had at Road Atlanta, but everyone kept their cool and got through. Once we went back to green, the first and second spots are contested by the drivers who are first and second in the championship. Unfortunately, the second place car has to retire with a mechanical failure, at which time the leader slows a bit, from 1:27 to 1:29. (For reference, the pole time for the ALMS GT class was 1:19) There were a number of minor spins, but the cars seem to spin rather slowly and for the most part stay on the track, and the drivers are able to get going again. To my eye, the cars seem to be on the loose side and may be experiencing wheelspin when exiting 10B.

During the entire race, the announcers keep telling us that this would be a 90 minute race. Since the race had settled down quite a bit, I headed off to the merchandise tent. As I was walking that way, I heard something over the PA about 28 laps, but thought nothing of it, and as i got close to the tent, I hear something that sounds like a PA announcement from the podium area. i also notice things had gotten rather quiet. It turns out the race was indeed 28 laps, and it had finished while I was walking to the tent. Note to Road Atlanta: if the K & N series is scheduled again, get that guy who was telling us about the series during the lunch break up in the announce booth for the race.
So I take it that the guy that did the explaining was a good announcer or would make a good one? Maybe they will get him, if they run there again.

Quote Originally Posted by FormerFF
...While it's pleasant to reminisce about races from years past, racing happens in the here and now, so I'm looking forward. How about you?
VERY true statement! Sounds like you had a good time, my friend. I wish I could have been there, like we originally planned.