Daytona 500 rained out

[melissab]

First time in the History of the Daytona 500 it's been rained out completely. Rescheduled for noon tomorrow but with a 70% chance of rain I wouldnt hold my breath. The race has been delayed and rain shortened but never rescheduled. Man I was so looking forward to it too. had pizza and e'thing!

[theresa p]

i am not a fan, per se, but i do feel sorry for those who have travelled especially to see the race. alot of money to spend to be wet.

and melissa----sorry about the pizza! where is the best pizza place near you???

[BCDave]

I was glued to the boob tube for the race - and then.... (sigh)
Try again tomorrow, but......
At least I wasn't in the situation of having flown there, getting a hotel room, renting a car etc, etc and then....

[Greg H]

A bunch of people will call in sick tomorrow.

[BCDave]

At least I won't have to call in as a fake sicko
Actually, since I am retired now, I can watch it, guilt free! (which actually takes some of the joy out of it!)

[melissab]

I just grabbed Pizza Hut's pizza and wings special on the way home from Church today. There aren't really any fantastic pizza places near me. A new Italian Bistro did just open up and they have great Calzones/Stromboli so we will try their pizza next.

Originally Posted by theresa p

i am not a fan, per se, but i do feel sorry for those who have travelled especially to see the race. alot of money to spend to be wet.

and melissa----sorry about the pizza! where is the best pizza place near you???

[Darwin Maring]

Well, Just another day to wait B4 Danica goes ballistic like the other drivers do.

[melissab]

Now it's postponed from noon till 7pm tonight. If they dont get the race in today they will have to re-schedule it for the first off weekend racing has which is Easter. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO O!

[Greg H]

Danica went ballistic when her teammate turned her in the Nationwide race. She said "what the ...." twice.

[BCDave]

So after trying (all day) to get things going on Sunday, it got pushed back to Monday, supposedly to start at noon.

Then, try again for a 7 PM start (Daytona time)

Then after starting the race at 7:00 PM things get silly when Juan hits a jet dryer (yes, I know, not his fault, but still, how many guys do you know who can manage to hit a humongous dayglow yellow jet dryer, all decked out with huge sets of Whelan safety lights, while running under a yellow caution flag?) which delays things to where it is 1:00 AM (Daytona Time) Tuesday Morning before everything is done?

According to finishing positions, Danika was ahead of Jeff, Jimmy and Kurt, so her crew deserves some credit at least!

[melissab]

WOW, what a race!! Poor Montoya, lol. I've seen Pacecars hit but never a jet dryer! Will be interesting to find out what broke that caused him to lose steering control. Just glad e'body was ok and they were able to go back racing again. Not another "pothole" repeat. At least Hendrick got one of his cars to the finish line and 2nd at that!

[Greg H]

That was a real exciting race and I stayed up for the finish, 1:00 am and the alarm clock went off around 5:45 am but it was worth it.

[BCDave]

Originally Posted by melissab

WOW, what a race!! Poor Montoya, lol. I've seen Pacecars hit but never a jet dryer! Will be interesting to find out what broke that caused him to lose steering control. Just glad e'body was ok and they were able to go back racing again. Not another "pothole" repeat. At least Hendrick got one of his cars to the finish line and 2nd at that!

I almost suspect that whatever broke on Juan's car was in the REAR suspension. He had been complaining for a few laps about a vibration that was bad under power, but cleared up when he got off the loud pedal. Said it was getting worse as he went on. During his last pit stop the crew spent a lot of time looking under it, at the driveline (driveshaft, U joints etc)

Sorta makes me think they may have had a bolt coming adrift in one of the rear trailing arms (AKA "truck arms"), which, if it came right out, would result in the arm dragging on the track, causing all the sparks along the track and the way the back end took off on him (followed by locking it up, a partial spin and a full-on Whammo!)