Roger Penske Setting New Standards
Friday, January 26th, 2007 12:08am CST
By Luke, Thunder Lounge
Published on Thunder Lounge.
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Roger Penske is taking his dedication to NASCAR to the next level. He’s going to set the standard a little higher than anything previously attempted. This will surely have yet another impact on the NASCAR community, and much like when he said “I’m building a wind tunnel”, people are calling him nuts. As a note, the wind tunnel was and is a major success.
So what’s the big deal going on?
After carefully crunching the numbers on what it costs to test, Roger has had an ingenious idea. Why blow all that dough? Why blow it to go to Milwaukee, Kentucky, or another non-sanctioned track? Lots of logistics being wasted, that could be put to better use.
So instead of going to the test, he’s going to bring the test to them. On their 70 acre property that houses their shops, he’s going to build a race track. Not one with the intention of making it onto the circuit some day, mind you, but with the sole purpose of testing. As a side benefit, it seems they’re considering opening it to law enforcement training, media events, etc. Of course, they’ll possibly let other teams use the facility as well. Naturally there would be a fee for it, I’m sure.
Roger’s planning on making it “more than a half mile”, and incorporating a road course into it. He even joked that he could make it like Bristol.
Think of the resources available though. This would seem, in concept any way, to be brilliant. Roll a car out the door, and put the hammer down. Why wait for that test down in Lakeland, when you can do it in your backyard?
Ah yes. NASCAR builds a better “mousetrap”, and evolution takes over to build a better mouse. Limit the tires, hello Hoosier. Limit the tests and tracks their available at, hello Virginia International Speedway.
Yes. People will, and have, called Roger plum crazy for this.
But then again, they said his wind tunnel idea was crazy too.
Filed Under: Nascar, Nextel Cup, The Water Cooler
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NASCAR builds a better “mousetrapâ€, and evolution takes over to build a better mouse.
And Ray Evernham learns how to build a “better mouse.” (Subtitled: The Law of Unintended Consequences Meets Evolution)
I think it’s a brilliant idea as well. Surprised it hasn’t been done already. The ‘test’ tracks out there are less than thrilled I’m sure.
Darren said this on January 29th, 2007 at 9:13 am
True Darren. I bet they’re flipping a bit.
I don’t think it will kill all the non-sanctioned track tests, but it is likely it will put a dent in some of it.