Almost live from 2014 Winternationals

[Chuck Norton]

Originally Posted by Ellis V. Buth

What was the deal with all of the "no shows" in Round 1?

Ellis, there was no discernible explanation for the surprising number of single runs other than random breakage. By the end of the day yesterday we had heard that Clark Holroyd was broken and that Tom Brown was headed home after slowing inexplicably on the second and third run. There were no teardowns and, as far as I know, no disqualifications.

Due to the overnight rains, it took until approximately 9 AM to get the track into condition for racing. There was no precipitation after sunrise but the humidity was high, the sun was blocked by the departing storm and and the temperature was low. This morning, as per usual practice in Division 7, three pairs were designated to be in the lanes first to begin eliminations. All the broken-car singles were sent to the front of the lanes so the day began with what seemed like an inordinate number of singles.

Other than one extended oil-down that occurred during the seventh pairing, the round was uneventful. Re-capping afterward, there seemed to be common agreement that ETs recorded after about half the field had run seemed to improve unexpectedly although not all weather stations picked up noticeable variations.

It's not much of an explanation but that's what I saw.

c